‘The best saxophonist in Hong Kong’: jazz album by Timothy Sun showcases music by young composers in the city
- Manager of record label issuing Sun’s album full of praise for the in-demand saxophonist, who has played at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Barbican in London
- S’way with Me album features tunes written by young Hong Kong composers, and will be launched on CD on August 13, with two live performances a day later
It’s unusual for a jazz record to be released in Hong Kong, let alone one made up of new music by local composers. But thanks to a young record label called Ginger Muse, saxophonist Timothy Sun will soon fulfil his dream of having a solo album.
His album S’way with Me is being launched on August 13, and features 10 new compositions by promising young composers such as Joyce Cheung, Pong Law, Perry Lau, Harris Ho, Joe Lei and Yin Ng. A live performance is scheduled in the West Kowloon Cultural District on August 14.
Sun, 38, was born and raised in Macau, where he was first taught the violin by his late grandfather. “But I was quite upset because I could not play it in tune, so I changed to the saxophone when I was 10 or 11,” he says.
At the age of 13, he enrolled in the Ellen Wilkinson High School of Art in the UK to study saxophone and clarinet. He then won a full scholarship to pursue his bachelor’s and master’s degree at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.
Since then, Sun has performed in top venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, and has been much in demand in Hong Kong, where he is a saxophone coach at two universities and where he co-founded Contrast Trio with two college friends, violinist Kitty Cheung and pianist Jenny Ng, and Smash, a harmonica-piano-saxophone music group.
During a pre-launch event for the album, pianist Pong Law accompanied Sun in a performance of his piece Clap Clap, a playful tune buzzing with energy.
