Chin Kwok Wai

Assistant Principal Percussion of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Chin joined the HKCO in 1989 and took his current position in 1994. As a local renowned percussionist, Chin entered the School of Music of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1985 under the tutelage of Ho Man-chuenand Yim Hok Man. Majoring in Chinese and Western percussion and composition theory, he graduatedwith distinction. In 1995, he received the Lee Hysan Foundation Scholarship to further his studies in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music of the United States. He was presented with the Award for Outstanding Young Artist by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and was one of the successful nominees in theTen Outstanding Young Persons Selection organised by the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong in2008. He was appointed Honorary Artist-in-Residence of the Hong Kong University of Education in 2010,and Resident Conductor of its Chinese Orchestra from 2014 to 2017.

A veteran performer in both Chinese and western percussion instruments, Chin has represented Hong Kong in various performance tours around the world. In 1996, he became the first Hong Kong percussionist to be invited by the Percussion Arts Society to give a solo performance at their annual International Convention (PASIC) in Nashville, Texas, and received unanimous acclaim. Since 2000, Chin’s name has been included in Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century published by the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge University. In 2007, he was invited by the Vanderbilt University of the United States to perform and hold percussion talks at the Blair School of Music. His album Prince of Qin Takes His Roll Call, released under the HUGO label in 2013, was chosen for the 2013 Hi-Fi Album Award in Guangdong Province for Percussion Album of the Year. His another album The Drum of Love, also released by HUGO in 2019, won the Best Performance Award.

Chin’s name was included in China Music compiled by the China Nationalities Orchestra Society. In 1998,he founded the Hong Kong Drum Ensemble to actively promote Chinese drum music and participate incommunity and charity events.