“The HK Phil’s journey from an amateur orchestra to one of the best orchestras in Asia is a good journey. This is also a journey of my life. After all, I started to play with the HK Phil when I just turned 14,” says Fan Ting, formerly the orchestra’s principal second violin and now a member of the HK Phil Board of Governors.

The anniversary also feels intimately personal for Andrew Simon, the orchestra’s principal clarinet. “I moved to Hong Kong [from the United States] in 1988 and joined the HK Phil when I was 25. Today, I am 60 years old and serving my 35th season, which makes me perhaps the longest-serving principal clarinet in the world,” he says with a note of awe.

Simon adds: “When I started, the HK Phil was a reasonably new institution. Today, it has hit the half-century mark and is imprinted in the psyche of the community as a permanent and iconic arts institution in Hong Kong – a source of education, culture and pride, both domestically and abroad.”

Simon’s sentiments, lofty as they may sound, are not uncommon among his peers.

“The 50-year anniversary feels like we are in our golden period. The orchestra today is the best it has ever been,” says Richard Bamping, the HK Phil’s principal cello. “I am so proud to be on stage with all my wonderful colleagues. Every time I go on stage, it’s just a tremendous feeling of pride, which is a really great feeling.”

Making its mark locally and globally

Having played with the HK Phil for more than three decades, Simon has accumulated a collection of memorable stories that he happily recounts. Some highlights include his 84-year-old mother being in the audience when he was the soloist at the “Swire Symphony Under the Stars” concert in 2018, and performing at Hong Kong’s 1997 handover ceremony in the presence of Britain’s then-Prince Charles.

Simon also brings up his experience performing with Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, one of the world’s greatest opera singers, as another major highlight of his career.

“There’s a famous duet for tenor and clarinet in Tosca in which the clarinet starts, and Pavarotti wanted it differently. So he stopped the orchestra, turned to me and said, ‘I want it like this’. He then sang, for two minutes, my whole solo to me,” Simon recalls. “The most famous classical musician ever serenaded me in front of people on my duet. I still remember the sound in my ears.”

Among so many significant moments for the orchestra, one that is perhaps most widely regarded as a landmark achievement took place in 2019, when the HK Phil was named Orchestra of the Year at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

“I felt incredibly proud,” Bamping says. “We had worked so hard on four box sets of CDs, featuring incredibly long operas and difficult music – a task that took four years and a brutal schedule to complete. So it felt like we had really earned some sort of recognition.”

Fan agrees. “I had just left the orchestra then, but was part of that recording. I would describe that experience as the maximum tension of work,” he says with a chuckle. “It was an honour to see the orchestra receive the award. For me, it proved that the HK Phil – after all these years, on a good day – could be the best orchestra in Asia.”

For Simon, who was one of the orchestra members who flew to London to collect the award in person, the recognition was special, to say the least. “There was controversial news going on in Hong Kong at the time, so it was really wonderful to have an achievement, both to show the world and Hong Kong that good things can still happen, and that a lot of great art is created through difficult, stressful periods,” he says.

“It’s really important to remember that the arts remind us of how we are the same as humans, and that our job as musicians is to bring people together.”

The unique HK Phil sound

People can certainly expect many more impressive showcases and performances from the HK Phil, especially during its golden jubilee season. “I would put us against any orchestra at the moment. We have an excellent ensemble and can tackle the biggest, most challenging pieces of the repertoire,” Bamping says. “We are always trying to be a little bit better, more consistent and just make the audience even happier.”

Fan is confident that the orchestra is ready to go to the next level. “It is ready musically and technically. The standard is there, and as far as I can see, it is also building its own unique style – a mix of European, American and Asian traditions,” he notes. “It is time we let the whole world know that this is a great international-level orchestra, not just a regional orchestra.”

Simon agrees. “Every famous orchestra has their specific idiosyncrasies that make up their sound. But we have so many nationalities here that we’ve actually had to latch on to some kind of universal musical concepts,” he says. “That is what is so special about the HK Phil. We don’t come from the same conservatory and study from the same maestro. It’s in fact the opposite, but when it comes down to it, we blend while preserving our individuality at the same time.”

The 50th season promises to be yet another memorable one in the ongoing history of the HK Phil. Bamping is especially looking forward to the orchestra’s upcoming European tour, which will include stops in Germany, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium.

“We will give and deliver top-quality music and entertainment, and the level will be really spectacular,” Bamping says. “We are on a mission to really make this the best that Hong Kong has to offer in music. I can guarantee that with my hand on my heart.”