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Julianna Louise Untiveros Barcela

Time is running out for the Hong Kong Blind Orchestra (HKBO).
Last month, the six-year-old orchestra was given until August 31 to move out of the school it uses for rehearsals and storing instruments.
Timothy To Wing-ching, the founder of the HKBO, a charity, warns this may finish it off.
To says he received three letters from the Chinese YMCA College in Ma On Shan, in the New Territories, in late July ordering the orchestra to pack up and make way for the installation of a large LED screen in the school hall.

“I have sent letters and emails to the principal’s office explaining that the short notice makes it impossible for us to find alternative storage,” To tells the Post a week before the deadline.
“For our organisation, it’s horrible news.”
Given the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, the college will not be able to continue renting out the venue to the orchestra after completion of the renovation
The Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong
In an email received by the Post on August 26, the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong denied that the school, which it manages, had ever entered into a “venue partnership” with the orchestra.
It said the orchestra had only rented the school hall on an hourly basis for rehearsals in the past and the college had offered free storage on a voluntary basis for the orchestra’s instruments and equipment.
The number of rehearsal bookings had declined during the pandemic but the instruments and equipment had stayed, the YMCA pointed out. It also made clear that the orchestra would not be allowed to use the venue again in future.
Hong Kong runners prove love is blind
“Given the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, the college will not be able to continue renting out the venue to the orchestra after completion of the renovation,” it said.
The HKBO has trained more than 80 visually impaired musicians, including the first blind scholarship student at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Blind musicians and their tutors have, since 2017, been going to the Chinese YMCA College to rehearse on three Sundays every month. The school was the only one that, five years ago, offered to help house the orchestra.

Other institutions that To has reached out to since he received the letters have said that, even if they wanted to lend a hand, they would need time to get approval.
“The money that we might have to spend on moving and on temporary storage can sink us,” To says. “I supported the orchestra with my own savings until last year, when we received our first ever grant from the Social Welfare Department which covered a third of our expenses.”
To, who studied conducting in South Korea, set up the HKBO in 2016 after his close friend and trombonist Johnny Chang Siu-lung became blind. To modelled it on similar, well-established orchestras in places such as Seoul and Cairo, Egypt.
“There are few jobs for the blind in Hong Kong,” To says. “Most of them spend their lives relying on government allowances or family support. But blind musicians have such potential. They are incredibly sensitive to music – they can memorise pieces much more quickly.
“We just want to put them on the path of getting qualified and getting jobs as teachers or performers.”

The orchestra was struggling even before this most recent crisis. The 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic led to a drop in membership as visually impaired students felt discouraged from travelling to rehearsals.
It has nearly been three years since the HKBO’s last performance, at a wedding ceremony in a church in October 2019. The event in Clear Water Bay, in Sai Kung, celebrated the union of multiple blind couples.
That same year, the HKBO held its first and only concert at the Chinese YMCA College. To says the “Pride in Dark Concert” had not been successful since many of the guests could not make it to the venue because of traffic disruptions related to the anti-government protests.

“The most difficult thing for a blind person is to have positive thinking that [music] could be their career,” To says. “They think there are lots of obstacles for them.”
That is why the success of someone like former HKBO member Ding Yijie is so important. Four years ago, the 21-year-old violinist was the first blind person to be offered a full scholarship by the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. She has recently graduated.
To believes Ding is an important role model for other visually impaired people.

He wants more HKBO members to get the chance to perform with professional groups – but it is a dream that, without a practice venue, will be almost impossible to realise.


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‘It’s horrible news’: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra may have to disband as the group loses place for rehearsal, storage

The HKBO has trained more than 80 visually impaired musicians. Photo: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra

The Hong Kong Blind Orchestra has been asked to vacate the Chinese YMCA College. Orchestra founder Timothy To Wing-ching (centre) says this may finish it off entirely. Photo: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra

Blind musicians and their tutors have, since 2017, been going to the Chinese YMCA College to rehearse on three Sundays every month. Photo: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra

It has nearly been three years since the HKBO’s last performance, at a wedding ceremony in October 2019. Photo: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra

HKBO held its first and only concert at the Chinese YMCA College in 2019. Photo: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra

Kenneth Tsang (left), HKBO’s senior adviser, and his family attended former HKBO member Ding Yijie’s graduation recital at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2022. Photo: Hong Kong Blind Orchestra

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Violinist Nicola Benedetti performs Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert recorded in London to mark Hong Kong’s City Hall’s 60th anniversary. Photo: London Philharmonic Orchestra 

The audience at Hong Kong City Hall watch one of two concerts the London Philharmonic Orchestra recorded to celebrate the venue’s 60th anniversary. The LPO performed in the same venue in 1962 for the inauguration of the Central landmark. Photo: LCSD

The London Philharmonic Orchestra under Malcolm Sargent performs at one of five concerts to open the new Hong Kong City Hall in March 1962. Photo: LCSD

Conductor Edward Gardner and violinist Nicola Benedetti during the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor in a recorded concert to mark Hong Kong’s City Hall’s 60th anniversary. Photo: London Philharmonic Orchestra

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Composer Henry Cheng (centre) leads a performance of his “Suite to Army”, a 15-minute-long piece drawing on BTS hit songs and classical greats such as Bach and Wagner, at “BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Seoul” in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng

BTS perform Butter at the Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, the US, on April 3, 2022. Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Cheng admits that in creating the work, he also hopes to spur BTS fans to think more about classical music. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng

Cheng is artistic director of the Klangkraft Orchestra in Duisburg, Germany. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng

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Works by artist Vivian Ho will be shown during two Hong Kong Sinfonietta concerts called “Seeing beyond the sound & notes” on August 6-7, 2022

Yip Wing-sie is the music director Emeritus of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. She will guide the audience through a selection of classical music accompanied by art during two concerts called “Seeing Beyond the Sound & Notes”. Photo: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Works such as this one by artist Vivian Ho will be shown as part of a Hong Kong Sinfonietta concert programme. Photo: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Jessica Zoob is another artist whos work will be shown during the Sinfonietta concert. Photo: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Vivian Ho Pok-yan is artist associate at the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Photo: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

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The Hong Kong Blind Orchestra has been asked to vacate its rehearsal space at the Chinese YMCA College – and founder Timothy To says it may not have a future
The HKBO has trained more than 80 visually impaired musicians, including the first blind scholarship student at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts



The Hong Kong Blind Orchestra has been asked to vacate its rehearsal and storage space at a school in Ma On Shan, and the orchestra’s founder warns it may have to disband.


Music