HKAPA

Once described as “the greatest Chinese musician alive today”, Fou Ts’ong represents a perfect fusion of Eastern and Western cultures.  His father believed strongly that only someone with a profound knowledge of his own traditional culture could understand other cultures; so, at the same time as he was learning the piano and exploring western music, Fou Ts’ong, under the guidance of his father, became familiar with the great works of literature, read books on political and aesthetic theory, and was constantly persuaded to ask questions and to seek answers.

Fou Ts’ong started to learn the piano at 4, and often spent 8 hours a day at the keyboard, sometimes with his finger tips covered in plasters.  However, it was not until he was 17, when he gave his first concert with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra that Fou Ts’ong’s father was persuaded that his son could dedicate his life to music.  At the age of 19 he was the 3^rd prize-winner in the Bucharest Piano Competition, and then went on to become a prize-winner in the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he studied for your years. Fou Ts’ong is known all over the world, wherever western music is performed.  He is particularly celebrated for his performances of Chopin and Debussy, and in his realization of harpsichord music on the piano.  His insights into Mozart were particularly useful to the competitiors when he was one of the judges for the Mozart Bicentenary Piano Competition of Asia, held in Hong Kong in December 1991.  Fou Ts’ong regrets very much that he is unable to be present today to receive the certificate of his fellowship, but Gabriel Kwok, the Head of the Keyboard Department will accept it on his behalf.