First is cross-cultural collaboration. When Lee co-founded Musicus Society – an organisation that focuses on bringing together Hong Kong and international artists – with his sister Lee Chui-inn in 2010, he discovered the twofold benefits of such collaboration: it could help elevate the skills of Hong Kong musicians while showcasing their talent to international musicians.
“I saw a lot of young people here [in Hong Kong], like myself, studying classical music, but not everyone could go further and make a career of it,” he says, noting the lack of opportunities for young artists to collaborate with world-class musicians on stage and make professional connections with renowned soloists.
In 2022, Lee established Musicus Soloists Hong Kong (MSHK), a chamber music ensemble consisting of soloists from Hong Kong, in particular to bridge the gap between Hong Kong and Europe. As well as performing locally, the ensemble has also embarked on two overseas tours, performing in concert halls including the Konzerthaus Berlin, in Germany, and Budapest’s House of Music Hungary.
As part of Musicus Society’s annual Musicus Fest this year, MSHK will debut a newly commissioned concerto at the Salle Gaveau in Paris, where musicians such as French composer Maurice Ravel have premiered notable works in the past.
“I noticed from all the young Hong Kong artists I’ve been performing with in the last few years [that] the level has just been phenomenal,” Lee says.
He adds that 20 years ago, there were not nearly as many musicians of the calibre that could win international competitions.
“Every time [MSHK performs abroad], the response has been: we can’t believe Hong Kong produces such an amazing level of playing from these young people, because nobody thinks of Hong Kong as a musical place. They think: finance, business, import and export.”
MSHK received a warm welcome in Budapest in June, where Lee and the ensemble played a mostly Hungarian programme with leading Hungarian violinists.
“The Hungarian music managers and critics came up to us and said, ‘You guys sounded Hungarian,’ which is the biggest compliment you can ever get, because they’re so proud of their music.
“Stylistically, they’re like, ‘We can’t believe you’re all from Hong Kong.’ So this kind of thing really puts Hong Kong on the map.
“What was really important to me, from the very beginning, was that we show the world that young Hong Kong artists are just as good, if not better, than all of the other [artists] that they are going to play with.
“Everyone in France knows Hong Kong, but how many of them know about Hong Kong musicians? They’d know some, I’m sure, but not enough. The vast majority still come to [Hong Kong] for business, for work. So I think it’s important we continue to grow that kind of exposure for Hong Kong.”
For an artist to grow, and for the cultural scene in general to grow, you need individuals to have the breathing space to be able to try out new things
Aside from using cross-cultural collaborations to grow Hong Kong’s music scene, Lee also believes that presenting authentic and unique experiences is a good way to reinvigorate the city’s arts and culture scene, and help drive tourism through the arts.
“If it’s just about, ‘Oh, how do we get more bums on the seats in a concert hall?’ Fine, you can do something very superficial, like a nice poster that’s attractive. But if you want people to be engaged for the long term, and see a reason why music and art is so important and necessary, then I think we need to go a little deeper into why we’re doing it,” he says.
“It’s important to sometimes pick the more difficult route.”
He points to his organisation’s Musicus Heritage, an initiative that has seen world-class musicians perform at notable heritage venues in Hong Kong, including at the Old Aberdeen Police Station and the Former North Kowloon Magistracy.
“What do tourists want? They want something authentic, they don’t want just cookie-cutter experiences that you can get anywhere,” Lee says. “Why bother travelling to Hong Kong? Well, for example, if they come to one of our concerts in this uniquely Hong Kong-style architecture, they’re not going to find that anywhere else in the world. So that’s a reason to come.
“These are buildings that were not built in the last five, 10 years to look old,” he adds. “These are truly Hong Kong’s history, and when we do our concerts there, we have real stories to tell because there is a century or two of history … to go with the music.”
To help expand the prominence of arts and culture in Hong Kong, Lee says that governments, institutions and venues like those in the West Kowloon Cultural District should give young musicians more access to performance spaces and opportunities to experiment, such as with other art forms or non-traditional pieces.
“For an artist to grow, and for the cultural scene in general to grow, you need individuals to have the breathing space to be able to try out new things,” he says.
“Nowadays, a lot of people, especially young people, want to be challenged. They don’t just want to hear the same old, same old every time. I love the same old, like everybody, because they’ve endured, but at the same time, it’s nice to be tickled in your ear by something different.
“If you have something that’s unique, it doesn’t matter where it is – you can take it on tour to one of our concerts overseas, and it’ll still be unique,” he adds. “Especially with computer-generated content nowadays, we have to really look into ourselves and find something that is still as human as possible.”
In that vein, Lee notes that young artists should aim to use their music to engage with society. “You need to really find how your music fits into the world.”
In May, Lee released his latest album Seasons Interrupted, which addresses the climate crisis through rearrangements of season-themed works originally by Franz Schubert and Astor Piazzolla, and includes another by Kirmo Lintinen.
“What’s the point of just putting out yet another album of standard music that’s been done 1,000 times already, if not more? I thought there needed to be a purpose,” Lee says.
“This project, for me, is a really good example of how not just Hong Kong artists, but artists in general today, need to go outside of our practice room and the concert hall, to do something that really makes people think.”
