17th Rehearsal Camp and Tour -- 2007

Open letter to AYO family and friends:

From full house concerts in Hong Kong through six performances in China and a half-dozen more in Japan ahead of sold out concerts in Tokyo, we are excited, proud and humbled by the cheers and applause, the kind words and enthusiastic support accorded AYO throughout our 17^th season and the summer's fast-paced tour.

A year of hard work and thousands of miles traveled for auditions and preparation brought 103 top musicians from across the region to Hong Kong for three weeks of demanding rehearsals -- 162 hours in all -- and a concert tour that saw us play 17 concerts in 24 scorching days.

The formal accolades began coming in almost before the shouts of "Bravo!" had settled into the walls at the Cultural Centre. "Superb . . . . The young musicians were magnificent," wrote long-time Hong Kong resident Lynn Grebstad. "It was an absolutely wonderful concert."

Former AYO Board Chairman Nick Sallnow-Smith, whose insightful comments mean a great deal to us, wrote: "I tend to judge orchestras these days on their overall sound. Each has a character which has nothing to do with technical competence, style or feel. . . . For AYO to have such a strong, resonant and 'characterful' sound after three weeks is simply amazing."

Our opening concerts in Hong Kong set the stage for the demanding tour ahead and for the free matinee concert we'd organized for 1,500 disadvantaged and special needs children in Hong Kong. The orchestra was in the Concert Hall ready to go when -- less than an hour before the concert -- the typhoon signal number 8 was hoisted, forcing government-mandated closure of the Cultural Centre, sending our audience home and locking the orchestra in the backstage area.

Some of the children, for whom travel is exceptionally difficult, had been bused to the Cultural Centre much earlier and were waiting patiently in the lobby when the typhoon signal was raised. For most, this was their first look inside Hong Kong's main cultural venue. It was a hard thing to face them and heartbreaking to see the disappointment in their faces when Richard and I told them we had to cancel. We can only hope we'll have the opportunity next year to share our music with them, along with the chance to have them touch, pluck, blow and beat their favorite instruments.

One by one each child in the lobby shook Richard's hand, some more than once, and then we had to think of the 103 orchestra members locked in backstage. We were scheduled to fly to Shanghai at 8:30. Would we make it? AYO patron David Tran was also concerned. He called with news that his son, a pilot for Dragonair, had just flown to Beijing. We should expect our flight to be okay. It was a reassuring call.

Indeed we did depart Hong Kong on schedule and arrived at our hotel in Shanghai at 1 am. The ugly part is that we had to get up at 6:00 to play a concert at 10:00 in the Oriental Arts Center. We were all wondering what condition the orchestra would be in with only a few hours of sleep. Amazingly, and with only 45 minutes of warm-up, they played a bravo performance. What champions!

Our Shanghai concerts were followed in quick succession by performances in Ningbo -- a long and sometimes terrifying five-hour bus ride from Shanghai -- and Tianjin. What a contrast in circumstances. Our Ningbo audience gave us enthusiastic applause but the local audience is clearly not used to classical music concerts. With mobile phones going off during the performance, people walking up and down the aisles, friends talking to each other, I don't know how guest conductor Okko Kamu, cello soloist Soo Bae and the orchestra kept their concentration -- and their cool. Tianjin was a different story. The crowd listened to every note, they waited outside for autographs and after the concert an 80-year-old gentleman came back stage and told us: "This is the best Scheherazade I have ever heard." His kind words made the three-hour ride back to Beijing seem much shorter!

Beijing gave us our first day off since leaving Hong Kong a week earlier. We could see the relief on the faces of every member of the orchestra. I wonder what they think as we travel and perform on tour. I can only imagine the impact that AYO has on their lives, the friends they make from so many different countries, the networking that goes on, the interaction between the Mainlanders and Taiwanese, the Vietnamese, Thais, Malaysians and Singaporeans, the Japanese and Koreans, the Japanese and Chinese. On purely musical terms, the time each orchestra member spends with our artist-faculty during the Rehearsal Camp is likely more than they share in a year with their teachers back home.

The passion they have for music and the way they accept responsibility for what they do is fascinating. When allowed, some go to the concert hall two, three or even four hours before the concert to warm up and "get the feel" of the venue. Taiwanese concertmaster Lukas Chou Chien Yin, 21, whose solos in the Brahms Symphony #1 and Scheherazade are inspiring, seems never to put his violin down. Small groups gather to tune. I overhear Richard complimenting Thai flutist Jakkrit Maliwan on a solo he plays in the Sorcerer's Apprentice and having a quiet moment with Japanese horn player Ota Naoki, asking if a slightly slower tempo would give him more time to secure the low notes in his solo. Hong Kong flutist Chan Tsz Chun says in a whisper, "Mr. Pontzious is so encouraging." I shake hands with some of the members and can feel their nervous perspiration. Just before they walk onstage Richard reminds them to "focus on the music" and "have a good time." I think the kids are courageous.

In Beijing AYO is booked into the Forbidden City Concert Hall, where we'd played to enthusiastic audiences last year. This year our concerts are part of the venue's "Gateway to Music" summer series, introducing classical music to a broad Beijing audience. Ticket prices are affordable, and some tickets include a free ice cream.

Once again the shouts of "Bravo" are followed by email messages: "The performance put together by Maestro Kamu, cello soloist Ms. Soo Bae and the talented musicians of AYO was truly a memorable one. The extremely high level of concentration paid by the 103 young members translated into music that greatly touched the audience, leaving us limited ways to express our heartfelt appreciation but clapping our hands as long as we could."

A columnist and critic from That's Beijing magazine writes: "I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the performance. The China Philharmonic performed Scheherazade last year, and you may like to know that AYO outshined them - sometimes in technique, yes, but even more impressively, I actually heard the piece sing with AYO under Maestro Pontzious' direction. Between that and Pictures at an Exhibition and Sorcerer's Apprentice, I'm not afraid to say that it was one of the most memorable concerts of the past year in Beijing."

China Broadcasting and Film Orchestra conductor Li Ling attended both Beijing concerts and was so impressed that he extended an invitation to Richard to return to Beijing to guest conduct his orchestra in April.

We opened the Japan segment of our tour in Fukuoka, where the orchestra played in the magnificent ACROS hall. We had played here with the late Sergiu Comissiona, but it was still a surprise to see the local stage manager wearing an AYO 15^th anniversary t-shirt. Not to be outdone our Hong Kong stage team dug into our supplies kit, pulled out a new t-shirt to present to their Fukuoka colleague, and old friendships were renewed.

The Fukuoka concert was made possible largely by one of Richard's old friends, Mr. Katsumi Sasaki, who was Nishi-Nippon City Bank's manager in Hong Kong 20 years ago and had volunteered to write the Japanese text for the first AYO brochure. Today Mr. Sasaki is Deputy President of the Bank. Not only did he get his bank to support AYO, he also asked several companies to join him, essentially covering our Fukuoka expenses!

Mr. Sasaki is one of many, many new friends and old who made us feel welcome in Japan and made our tour this year a phenomenal success, all orchestrated and coordinated with Herculean effort by AYO volunteers Ken Kano and Susumu Sato.

Committed to taking AYO to the next level in Japan, Kano-san and Sato-san completely restructured our volunteer office in Japan this year and, with volunteer support from Shuri Fukunaga and her colleagues at Burson-Marsteller Japan, put all of their efforts into promoting the Asian Youth Orchestra and showcasing AYO as a representative of Hong Kong. Their long hours of hard work raised money for our Japan Tour, brought us the kind of intense media attention usually reserved for sports heroes, and opened the door to many, many exciting opportunities, not least of all the opportunity to play in some of Japan's most beautiful concert halls, in Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo. We cannot say enough to praise and express our appreciation to Kano-san and Sato-san.

At their suggestion, Richard opened every concert with a four-minute speech in Japanese to give the audience some background of AYO. Now we all know that Richard speaks Japanese, but this speech was written in such an elegant, formal way and delivered so "perfectly" (we were told), that it thoroughly surprised and impressed our audiences, many of whom commented about the speech before they said anything about our music! 

From Fukuoka we took the Bullet Train to Hiroshima. It was a thrilling trip for most orchestra members experiencing this famous train for the first time. I still can't believe we moved the entire orchestra from Hiroshima Station to our hotel by streetcar! Well, two streetcars, actually. It gave the kids an immediate feel for the city, and they were quickly off, eager to visit the atomic bomb site and museum. Phoenix Hall, where we performed, is located in the basement of the museum. The concert was sold out, undoubtedly thanks in great measure to a local newspaper's half page story about AYO.

Kobe, Nagoya, Ebina, Ota-Ku - five concerts in five days in four cities. We moved so quickly it became a blur - arrive, set-up, grab a snack, play the concert, pack up, jump on the streetcar, bus, bullet train . . . .

Next to the performances, one of the highlights of the tour was the home-stay experience in Ebina, a suburb of Tokyo, where the orchestra members had a chance to live for three nights with host families in private homes. We've done this before in the twin cities of Ebina and Ayase, and it never fails to be a success. More than 50 host families were involved, all organized by our dear friend Mrs. Uchimura and her home-stay association.

Naturally the orchestra members were at first a bit nervous and worried about communication with the host families. But when they gathered for their concert the next day they all had big smiles on their faces. Overnight they had developed close relationships with their host families. A few of the girls in the orchestra wore kimonos borrowed from the host families. On the day we left Ebina for Tokyo, all of the host families came to say goodbye and many tears were shed.

The move to Tokyo gave us a last free day before our final concerts. Some of the Japanese members took the Taiwanese and Chinese members to Disneyland. Some Chinese visited Yasukuni Shrine to see for themselves what it's all about. Many members explored the big music stores searching for CDs and music supplies that are often hard to get in their own countries.

The beautiful Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall has been AYO's "home" in Japan for many years. Again the hard work of our Japan team and advance media paid off. Both concerts were sold out, and as the orchestra began its acoustic rehearsal I could see people queuing up outside the hall, hoping to purchase any tickets that might be returned for sale. 

First Eastern, a new AYO patron this year, had undertaken sponsorship of our concert on the 30^th, and chairman Victor Chu was at the hall entrance to meet his guests. After the concert he hosted a reception for 100 VIPs, including Japanese Ambassador Jun Yokota, Japan's former Consul General in Hong Kong, several orchestra members, Maestro Kamu, Soo Bae, Richard, and Kano-san and Sato-san. The concert was a huge success, with many in the audience standing and shouting "Bravo!" as the orchestra and Maestro Kamu took their bows.

That set the stage for the tour finale, a year of hard work and detailed planning coming down to one final curtain. Richard's acoustic rehearsal was demanding as ever. Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade was the last major work on the program. The Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations, our traditional season encore, followed Scheherazade, and was this year dedicated to the memory of a friend lost last year, Mrs. Eri Fukunaga. The Nimrod is our very public way of saying goodbye to one another. We play it at the opening of the Rehearsal Camp and as the final encore of the tour, recognizing that many of us will never meet again. Even when greeted with sustained applause there are few dry eyes as the music dies away.

Richard hosted a farewell dinner for the orchestra at the Hilton Hotel after the concert, and with just three hours sleep we were down to the hotel lobby to see the orchestra members off to the airport. It is 5 am. The orchestra members are hugging and kissing. "See you on MSN," say many. "Will you try again for AYO next year?"

"Thank you for taking care of us," reads a note left for Richard and signed by three Japanese members. "We are proud to play with you." "AYO gave many things to me -friends, happiness, sadness, skill, experience," wrote one Thai. "The things I have learnt in AYO will last with me for the rest of my career," says a Filipino boy. "Your dreams made our dreams come true."

With the orchestra members on their way home, Richard and I walk back to the hotel lobby. It is hauntingly silent. No orchestra members running around, no panic over a forgotten pair of shoes, our tour schedule board already taken over by the Bolshoi Ballet, ready to enjoy their turn at Tokyo Opera City. . . .

In each of its 17 years, there has always been something that has made the Rehearsal Camp and Tour special - concerts with the legendary Yehudi Menuhin, tours with Sergiu Comissiona, performances in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, at the White House, in New York's Lincoln Center, in the Sydney Opera House as part of the Olympic Arts Festival, touring with Yo-Yo Ma, performing where no international orchestra has gone before in China, Malaysia, Vietnam. Our good fortune has helped to keep us in the public eye for these many years, and this year was no different.

AYO is proud to have been invited to play an official role in the 10^th anniversary celebration of Hong Kong's reunification with China, and enormously proud to be the only Hong Kong institution to celebrate this occasion with concerts in Hong Kong, China and Japan, where our concert on the 31^st was sponsored by the Economic and Trade Office of the Hong Kong SAR as a 10^th anniversary event.

The uniqueness of AYO and the impact we make bringing all of Asia together also led to our being invited and recognized as a signature event in the "Japan-China Year of Culture and Sports 2007," marking the 35^th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. As a result, a half-dozen newspaper reporters from various cities in Japan visited AYO's Rehearsal Camp and wrote major feature stories about the orchestra - and Hong Kong - for their papers back home.

But the success onstage of the 103 musicians in the orchestra, guest conductor Okko Kamu, cello soloist Soo Bae and our own artistic director and conductor Richard Pontzious, tells only part of the AYO story. Behind the scenes, and working year-round in support of our tiny staff of three are the members of AYO's Board and an ever-growing family of sponsors, contributors, volunteers and friends whose commitment to all that is AYO make our existence possible.

Cathay Pacific, Fuji Xerox, Barclays, the Financial Times, Outblaze, Sino Land, Mr. Ricky Lo and his creative colleagues at Digital Express and Miracle Printing, the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, Burson-Marsteller Japan, the Lee Hysan Foundation and the Lee Foundation Singapore are long-time AYO patrons whose support has helped build AYO's reputation as "a jewel in Hong Kong's crown of cultural assets."

Once again RTHK Radio 4 and RTHK Television have helped us take our music beyond the walls of the Cultural Centre through broadcast of our concerts.

Many new sponsors joined us this year. Primasia Securities and its subsidiaries sponsored scholarships for all 22 of our orchestra members from Taiwan and our opening concert in Hong Kong. Primasia CEO David Tran and his wife May also hosted a dinner for the orchestra and visiting journalists during the Rehearsal Camp. I have mentioned First Eastern. CC Land sponsored our concerts in Beijing. Support from the Starr Foundation helped with our China tour expenses, as did a grant from Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund supported scholarships for many of our Mainland Chinese members. Dr. Tam Wah Ching hosted our Rehearsal Camp Opening Ceremony luncheon.

Support from our many friends makes it possible each year to bring to Hong Kong an artist-faculty that is the envy of music festivals around the world, soloists, concertmasters and principal players from the Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, National and San Francisco symphony orchestras, Monnaie Opera, Triple Helix Trio and Hong Kong Strings.

Not only did they work nine hours a day in individual and sectional rehearsals with the orchestra, but all of them made themselves available for master classes with virtually anyone in Hong Kong who wanted a lesson, a projected supported by the Arts Development Council in Hong Kong, while Okko Kamu, William Pu, Jay Liu, Rhonda Rider, Steve Barta and Tom Perazzoli found time to rehearse and perform for the orchestra and RTHK Radio 4 the magnificent Brahms Clarinet Quintet and a Mozart Flute Quartet.

AYO Board member Dato' SJ Wong, Japanese Consul General Shigekazu Sato, former AYO concertmaster Ichimaru Ayako, Cathay Pacific CEO Tony Tyler and AYO Board member Mrs. Anson Chan made the Rehearsal Camp Opening Ceremony a memorable occasion. In her remarks, Mrs. Chan pointed to AYO's important role in Hong Kong's aspirations to become a centre for the arts in Asia, saying, "As a purveyor of musical training, the Orchestra is second to none in the world."

We are grateful for continued support from Dato' SJ Wong, the AIA Foundation, Lawrence Yu, Bong Consing, Colin Shaftesley, the Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson Memorial Fund, the Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation, Mrs. Anne Marden, Singapore's National Arts Council and the Suen Chi Sun Charitable Foundation.

Beyond the tangible successes of our performances, our fundraising and the great sense of accomplishment that comes from knowing that this Hong Kong project really does bring the region together and inspire so many, is the less tangible but perhaps overriding importance of the impact of AYO on music in Asia and beyond, on cultural understanding, on the quality of life in Hong Kong, and on people who influence business, governments and government policy.

This is confirmed in so many comments sent to us by audience members, perhaps none more simply stated than this from a teacher in Nagoya: "When AYO played I forgot they come from different countries and have different languages. I thought, "the world is one."

Our sincerest appreciation to all,

Keith Lau
General Manager

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