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Aria

Eugene A. Birman
Composer / Artistic Director (Music)

A composer of music of “high drama” and “intense emotion” (BBC), Eugene Birman (born in 1987) has written for leading symphony orchestras, choirs, ensembles, and soloists across four continents in venues ranging from London’s Southbank Centre to Carnegie Hall to above the Arctic Circle. A 2018 Guggenheim fellow, he has appeared on CNN, BBC World TV, Radio France, Deutsche Welle, and others throughout his highly public career. Awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, his work is characterised by a fearless focus on socially relevant large-scale compositions covering the financial crisis, Russian border treaties, and more. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford, Columbia University, The Juilliard School, and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.

Kingsley Ng
Artistic Director (Visual)

An interdisciplinary artist specialising in site- and context-specific work, Kingsley Ng uses intangible media, such as light and sound, to cast light on what is usually overlooked. Recent projects include Twenty-Five Minutes Older, which transforms moving trams into mobile camera obscuras, and After the Deluge, presented in an underground stormwater tank the size of 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools. His works have been featured in many notable institutions, such as IRCAM – Centre Pompidou in France, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome in Italy, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre in Canada, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial in Japan, Guangzhou Triennial in China, Lille Europe Pavilion in Shanghai Expo, Land Art Biennial in Mongolia, etc.

Stephanie Cheung
Curator

Stephanie Cheung specialises in art outside the white cube, curating process-based projects in public spaces and communities. She sees curating as caring, and art as an arena for exploring better ways to inhabit the world. Recent projects include Hi! Hill, a community-based art project in a 600-year-old village; Haneure Byeolttagi, a public art project co-created with families in Gyeongju, South Korea; and The Practice of Everyday Life, a cross-disciplinary exhibition about sustainable living at Oi! (Oil Street Art Space).

Jason Wong
Technical Director

A set and video designer, Jason Wong has worked with groups such as All Theatre Art Association, Hong Kong Dance Company, and the children’s and youth troupes of the Company, among others. He is active in multi-arts productions and has overseen technical designs of Twenty-Five Minutes Older (Kingsley Ng) and Hi! Houses (Jaffa Lam x Sam Tung Uk Museum), in which he skilfully blended audio, visual and kinetic elements with his inventiveness.

Voyu Tsui Wai-hong
Stage Manager

Voyu Tsui Wai-hong holds an Associate Degree of Arts in Applied Japanese Studies from the the Community College of City University, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Event and Stage Management from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He works as a production manager, technical consultant and stage manager, and has taken part in local productions such as After the Deluge and To the Moon (inter-media works by Kingsley Ng); FAME and FLOOD (Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival); Songs of Portrait (orleanlaiproject); Contempo Lion Dance (Daniel Yeung); Hong Kong Dance Exchange 2020; Threading Through Time (Jockey Club New Arts Power – Art Walk x The Mills), etc. In 2019, he founded Siu Fung Production whose professional services include stage production, management and technical support.

Ho Tak-ching
Deputy Stage Manager

Passionate about performing arts, Ho Tak-ching is interested in performing, working at backstage or simply being an audience member. Also an active member of the Hong Kong Theatre Design Company and Hahaha Concept Band for the Theatre. Currently a freelance project coordinator and deputy stage manager.

Lee Chi-wai
Lighting Designer

Lee Chi-wai is active in the Hong Kong dance community as a stage designer. During his formative years, he was fortunate enough to work at the City Contemporary Dance Company’s technical department. His many encounters during that time had a far-reaching impact on him. Now in a passive yet concentrated stage of career, he hopes to keep a clear head in this big era and insists on making works that he will remember. His recent lighting designs include After the Deluge and Over The Ocean (inter-media projects by Kingsley Ng), Almost 55 (Chou Shu-yi, CCDC), ON VIEW: Panorama (Sue Healey), Dan's Exhibitionist (Daniel Yeung), Dancing Blue (Mui Cheuk-yin and Lee Chun-chow), Never-never Land (Ong Yong Lock and Chou Shu-yi), and Sticks (Sang Jijia, Guangdong Modern Dance Company), etc.

Lou Jin-ming
Sound System Designer

Graduated in 2012 from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts majoring in Sound System Design, Lou Jin-ming has over 10 years of experience in theatre sound system design and optimisation. He has taken part in over 100 shows with different companies such as Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, The Radiant Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong Disneyland, Wynn Palace and Studio City in Macau, etc. He was the Chief Sound System Engineer for the main stage of Macau Chinese New Year Parade in 2017 and 2018. From 2019 to 2020, he worked as a production officer for Hong Kong Arts Festival, overseeing technical coordination of sound, lighting and stage for over 30 international shows.

Giovanni Santini
Sound Engineer

A composer and pianist with a strong background in programming, computer music and sound processing, Giovanni Santini received a PhD in Music from Hong Kong Baptist University. His research focuses on explorative work in new technological applications for Augmented and Virtual Reality in music creation and performance. He has designed and implemented several pieces of software for live performance in the context of multimedia and live audiovisual processing. Currently Research Assistant at the City University of Hong Kong where he teaches Machine Learning and Python.

Scott Diel
Librettist

Scott Diel is an American writer. Aria is his sixth project with Eugene Birman.

Hofi Man Ho-yin
Costume Designer

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hofi Man Ho-yin graduated from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Institute of Textiles and Clothing, and Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy of Visual Arts. He is currently completing an MA in History of Design and Material Culture at the University of Brighton. His research focuses on the reconstruction of meanings of objects and space, objects as testimony to human existence, and the aesthetics of ordinary objects. He traces residues of life and intimate feelings in clothes, so as to recover the essence lost in extreme capitalism. His works have been exhibited internationally. The Museum of Innocence and Mukoda Kuniko's Love Letter were finalists of the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers’ Contest in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Having been a fashion designer, stylist, cinematic costume assistant, culture editor and more, his greatest joy is still making clothes for people he likes.

Nicky Liang
Project Manager

Graduated from the Faculty of Arts of The University of Hong Kong, Nicky Liang is now an arts administrator after a stint in journalism. He previously took part in Storyline (2018), a socially engaged art programme; and The Practice of Everyday Life (2020), a cross-disciplinary exhibition at Oi! exploring a sustainable tomorrow. He was also a curatorial team member of the site-specific project Hi! Hill (2018).

Felix Yiu
Floor Manager

Felix Yiu is a jewellery designer. After learning about handmade jewellery in Europe, she discovered that the ancient craft is an art. As a homegrown Hong Konger, she puts her own spin on traditional European techniques. Besides designing jewellery, in recent years she has also helped organise arts and cultural activities, by which she feels the healing power of art and keeps her creativity flowing.

Jessie Coo
Video Coordinator

Born in Hong Kong, Jessie Coo graduated from The University of Hong Kong majoring in both Comparative Literature and Media and Cultural Studies. Currently an arts and community project coordinator and a film producer. Her work Piled Cloud has been selected by Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, South Taiwan Film Festival and others. It is also the winner of Silver Award (Open Category) at the 23rd ifva Awards, and Best Screenplay at the 11th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival. Ever since she has produced other programmes commissioned by Radio Television Hong Kong, including Bethanie, Ding Feng Po and Along the River.

On the Paper
Video Production

Photography is a commonly used medium in everyday life; On the Paper believes that the most beautiful images are presented on paper. Founded in 2009, On the Paper specialises in camera-based work, from photography to videography and virtual reality. Besides the key moments of presentation, good documentation and representation are also indispensable for contemporary art. On the Paper thus seeks to help artists and performers leave their marks through its professional and artistic lenses.

Prof Johnny Poon
Conductor

The inaugural Dr Hung Hin Shiu Endowed Professor in Music, Professor Johnny Poon is the newly appointed Associate Vice-President (Interdisciplinary Research) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). He is serving concurrently as the Head of Department of Music, the Music Director of HKBU Symphony Orchestra and Collegium Musicum Hong Kong. He is an elected fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities.

Professor Poon has maintained a highly successful and distinguished professional career as a conductor, appearing regularly in concert halls and festivals across the globe including Carnegie Hall in New York, Glinka Capella Hall in Russia and National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and more. He has conducted such ensembles as Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Capella Orchestra and Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie. Previously, he held positions as Director of Opera at University of Evansville (US), Music Director of Evansville Collegium Musicum (US), Associate Conductor of Operafestival di Roma (Italy), Artistic Director of Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival (UK), and Manhattan-Hong Kong Music Festival (US/HK).

Dominic Lam
Associate Conductor

Dominic Lam is an alumnus of The Hong Kong Children's Choir (HKCC) and holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at Westminster Choir College, US. Now a visiting professor at the Department of Music, Hong Kong Baptist University, he also conducts the university's choir. As a conductor and pianist, Lam has toured the Mainland, Portugal, Australia, Estonia and Finland with the group. He has premiered various works written for HKCC by Dr Steve Ho, including Kung Fu and I Just Want to Sing, the HKCC’s 50th anniversary theme song. Concurrently he is working with the SingFest Choral Academy as a conductor, chorister and keyboardist. In summer 2018, he collaborated with Paul Phoenix, the Grammy Award-winning tenor, in leading the first International Boswil Choral Summer Academy.

Vivian Suen
Associate Conductor

Vivian Suen is an active choral conductor, soprano and music educator in Hong Kong. After graduating from the Department of Music of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, she received scholarships to study at Westminster Choir College and completed her Master of Music in Choral Conducting with distinction. She served as assistant conductor of Grammy-nominated conductor, Dr James Jordan, and has worked with world-renowned orchestras, including New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic.

Alumnus of the Hong Kong Children’s Choir (HKCC), Suen is now its artistic coordinator and conductor of senior and intermediate classes. With the group she has toured the Mainland, Australia, Estonia and Finland, performed and conducted in large-scale choral festivals “Europa Cantat” and “Festival of Voices”. She was chorusmaster for the film Find Your Voice, and prepared choral performance for the Grand Variety Show to Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Return to the Motherland, other TV shows and concerts.

Paul Hillier
Conductor, Theatre of Voices

Paul Hillier is the founding director of prominent groups such as the Hilliard Ensemble and Theatre of Voices, and currently Chief Conductor of Ars Nova Copenhagen, with a career embracing singing, conducting and writings on music. His books about Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich, and numerous anthologies of choral music, are published by Oxford University Press. He has taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Davis, and from 1996-2003 was Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University. In 2006 he was awarded an OBE for services to choral music. In 2007 he received the Order of the White Star of Estonia and was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Recording with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. In 2008 he was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Chamber Choir Ireland, and in 2009 invited to form the new Coro Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal. In 2010 he won his second Grammy for The Little Match Girl Passion. In 2013 he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark.

Theatre of Voices (Denmark)
Choral Performers (via hologram)

Founded by the English conductor and artistic director Paul Hillier, the ensemble received a Grammy Award for The Little Match Girl Passion in 2010 – the year of the group’s 20th anniversary; and was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2013. Projects cover music ranging from Perotin to Dowland, Buxtehude and Mozart, and today’s most eminent composers such as Pärt, Saariaho, Reich, Gudmundsen-Holmgreen and Stockhausen. The group works and records with some of the world’s best instrumentalists, and have appeared at Teatro Real in Madrid, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Barbican Centre, Kings Place, Elbphilharmonie, Sydney Opera House and many more. Tracks from the group’s close to 40 recordings are heard in films as La Grande Bellezza, Good Things Await and Arrival. Selected 2019-22 commissions include Michael Gordon (US), Arnannguaq Gerstrøm (Greenland), Helena Tulve (Estonia), Sunleif Rasmussen (Denmark), Pablo Ortiz (Argentina) and John Luther Adams (US). Sponsored by the Danish Arts Council, Holbæk Municipality and Augustinus Foundation.

Hong Kong Children’s Choir
Choral Performers

Founded in 1969 as the first children’s choir in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Children’s Choir (HKCC) is a registered non-profit charitable organisation making tremendous contributions to children’s arts training in Hong Kong. It is now the biggest children’s choir in the world with over 5,000 members and has grown into a diversified arts organisation for children.

As the children’s choir that best represents Hong Kong, HKCC took part in many historical moments, including the Hong Kong Handover Ceremony in 1997, the Hong Kong International Airport’s opening ceremony in 1998, the East Asian Games in 2009, and celebratory performances for the HKSAR’s establishment. In 2019, HKCC presented the Asia Pacific Choral Summit, and garnered the 14th Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Arts Promotion in 2020.

Natalie Chan Mei-kuen
Dancer

Natalie Chan Mei-kuen graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (Hons), majoring in Contemporary Dance. A recipient of multiple scholarships, she is currently a freelance dancer and dance instructor. Her major performances include Swanning Around – Dance & Cultural Exchange Project (English National Ballet) at the Shanghai World Expo, and Dance of the Shaman Spirits (New Vision Arts Festival). She has also performed in cross-disciplinary projects such as The Solitude of Jing Hua (installation art), Interactive Dance Theatre – Hug the O and Dance Theatre – Dance Bao Shan (Community Cultural Ambassador), Stellar Encounter with B612 (the 9th China International Youth Arts Festival), Maze 3.0 (Festival Hong Kong 2019 – A Cultural Extravaganza@Shanghai).

Carman Li Ka-man
Dancer

Carman Li Ka-man graduated in 2014 from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (Hons), majoring in Contemporary Dance. She is currently a freelance dancer active in both local and international productions. Her previous collaborators include Ronly Kong, Noel Pong, Mui Cheuk-yin, Abby Chan, Man Chan, Dick Wong, Chloe Wong, Katie Yau, King Lo King-san, Emily Ng Mei-yee, Tidus Ngan, Unlock Dancing Plaza, Passoverdance; Cho Yi (Taiwan), Kao Chia-ying (Taiwan), Aida Redza (Malaysia), Namstrops (Japan), Emmanuelle Vo Dinh (France), Dam Van Huynh (UK), Laura Ais Alvarez (Spain), John Utans (Australia), Rodger Belman (US), Manuel Pelmuş (Romania), amongst others.

Hui Ka-chun
Dancer

Hui Ka-chun graduated in 2014 from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (First Class Honours). While at school, he was awarded scholarships from the Asian Cultural Council and The Hong Kong Jockey Club to participate in the American Dance Festival and Vienna International Dance Festival. After graduation, he joined Hong Kong Ballet and started to choreograph. From 2015 to 2016, he completed Panta Rhei and Re...; he also created and performed When Pain, You Love for the inaugural performance of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Awardees Association. In 2017, he became a freelance dancer and performed Rock Hard with a cappella company Yat Po Singers. Later he joined the Danish Dance Theatre and then moved to Germany to dance with Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. During his stay in Germany, he choreographed 1 to 1 and Portrait Me. The latter was showcased at the independent choreographer platform Raw & Polished in Nuremberg.

Liu Heung-man
Dancer

Liu Heung-man graduated in 2008 from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Contemporary Dance. He received a scholarship to participate in the 2006 Guangdong Modern Dance Festival. Currently a freelance dancer, he has worked with many dance companies, including DanceArt, Hong Kong Dance Company, Unlock Dancing Plaza, Y-Space, The Spring-Time Group, E-Side Dance Company, Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies, Free Counterpoint and more. Previous performances include Toppling the World, Maze 1.0, In Search of Hui Sin, etc. Recent choreographic works include Gradient, Repeat and Metamorphosis.

King Lo King-san
Dancer

King Lo King-san graduated in 2015 from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts majoring in Contemporary Dance, and received his master's degree from London Contemporary Dance School in 2017. He is currently a freelance dancer, actively engaged in collaborations with local and international artists and dance companies, including Laura Aris (Spain), Clod Ensemble (UK), Neon Dance (UK), Philippe Blanchard (France), Panorama Dance Theatre (Switzerland), Y-Space, Katie Yau and Wayson Poon, just to name a few.

Emily Ng Mei-yee
Dancer

Emily Ng Mei-yee started ballet training at age 4. Graduated in 2014 from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (Hons) majoring in Contemporary Dance, she is currently a freelance dancer, choreographer and instructor. In 2017, she co-choreographed and performed In the Air between our Particles (supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council) with Carman Li Ka-man. In 2014, she choreographed In the Cycle of Uncertainty at Imagination Bloom 2 presented by E-Side Dance Company. She has worked with many artists including Dana Katz (Israel), Laura Aris (Spain), Anh Ngoc Nguyen (Vietnam), Vanessa Voskuil (US), Dam Van Huynh (UK) and Mui Cheuk-yin (HK). Recent performances include My Daddy, My Flying Car and Me (Blue Ka Wing and Wilfred Wong), Voyage by Ivan Chan (City Contemporary Dance Company 2019 Dancers’ Homework), Where is our sea? (Littlebreath Creative Workshop), Claustrophobia (orleanlaiproject), Paradise: Epilogue (Wind is the Grass series) and Danz Up (Hong Kong Arts Festival).