Wu Chun Hei is Suona Assistant Principal and
guan virtuoso of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, and concurrently a faculty member of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He started his training in
suona at the Music Office under Ko Tit-kwan at the age of eight, then went on to train in
suona and
guan under Guo Yazhi, and
suona under Law Hang Leung. He was awarded The Hongkong Bank Foundation Hong Kong-Mainland Exchange Scholarship twice, in 2008 and 2006, which enabled him to go to Beijing to receive
guan training under Hu Zhihou and to Shanghai to receive
suona training under Liu Ying. Between 2011 and 2013, he completed a Master’s degree course in Music Performance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, with a double major in
suona and
guan under Xia Boyan and Lo Wai Leung. Wu is a winner of many awards, which include a Bronze Award at the first All China Suona Invitation Competition in 2013, the Best Performance Award at the first China Chuige Art Competition held in Handan, Hebei, in 2011, and was the Champion of the Suona (Senior Class) for four consecutive years at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival while still in secondary school.
Wu is a seasoned performer. In 2016, he was a guest
suona solo at the ‘Music of South China’ concert at the invitation of the Hong Kong Cantonese Orchestra, which was followed by the ‘Suona and Guan Concert by Wu Chun-hei’ presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department as part of its Our Music Talents series. This enabled him to collaborate with a number of renowned composers through commissioning new works and premiering them. In 2014, he joined the Windpipe Chinese Music Ensemble on the concert stage with his solo performance in the guan concerto,
Silk Road Fantasia Suite. In 2012, he presented the ‘Wu Chun-hei & Friends’ concert as part of the Street Music Series.
As a member of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Wu’s notable performances in recent years include playing
suona solo at the Athens & Epidaurus Festival in Greece (2019) and the Sochi Winter Festival in Russia (2017), and as soloist in the Orchestra’s concerts, ‘Ode to Water’ (2017), ‘Music of Character’ (2016), ‘Music from the Heart’ and ‘Surf’s Up!’ (2015).
