Four young piano prodigies from Hong Kong will take on their mainland counterparts in a prestigious international contest next February. For the first time, China is an official regional centre for the German-based 65th International Youth Piano Competition.
Two dozen finalists took part in the inaugural Hong Kong Regional Competition for a place in the China Final in Beijing. The pianists were divided into four age groups, from under 10 to 16.
The eventual champion has the chance to represent China at the Steinway & Sons International Music Festival in Hamburg, Germany, next year.
The youngest winner was Cheung Wai-ching, a Primary Five student at Maryknoll Convent School. The 10-year-old Bach lover started playing the piano when she was four, under the guidance of her father.
Wai-ching's short stature belies her mental strength and she says she never sleeps before midnight. She has to play the piano for four hours to be able to sleep soundly.
A mere six months older than Wai-ching, Chan Yi-mei, of St Rose of Limas School, was allocated to the 10- to 12-year-old group and won with her favourite 'story' - The Cat and the Mouse by Copland.
'A cat was chasing a mouse in my mind when I was playing the music,' revealed the shy-looking student, whose appearance contrasts sharply with her confident and instinctive performance. Yi-mei thanked her piano teacher, Gabriel Kwok, who heads the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts' (APA) keyboard studies and was one of the six adjudicators in the regional competition.
