Musical Tutors

Ms. Hilary (mezzo-soprano) holds her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Voice Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee (Massachusetts, USA) and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). She is currently the Fellow-In-Residence (Vocal) at Yew Chung International School and the conductor of the girl’s choir at C.C.C Kei Yuen College. She also received her LTCL in Singing with Distinction. Since 2019, her vocal students have won 90 top three prizes in both local and international competitions, she was also awarded multiple teaching prizes to recognize her excellent contribution to musical teaching; including ASCO International Music Competition, Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition (New York, USA), London Young Musician (London, UK), Grand Prize Virtuoso Salzburg Competition (Salzburg, Vienna), International Young Musicians Music Competition (Wien, Austria), Taipei International Youth Music Competition (Taipei, Taiwan), Rising Star London Festival Competition (London, UK), Brilliant Talent Discovery Awards International Music Competition (Singapore), and over 40 local competitions.

Ms. Hilary has taught as the Full-time music/choir director at the Boston Trinity Academy, Natick High School, Canton High School, Christa McAuliffe Charter School, Watertown Middle School, and Forest Hills Covenant Church in Massachusetts, USA. In addition, she was a young artist with multiple opera programs, such as Opera Naples Young Artist Program (Naples, FL), Martina Arroyo Prelude to Performance Program (NYC), New England Opera Intensive (Boston, MA), Utah Lyric Opera Young Artist Program (Provo, UT), Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (Montreal, Canada), Russian Opera Workshop (Philadelphia, PA). She was also a professional alto choir member with the prestigious Philadelphia Symphonic Choir and Boston Symphony Orchestra Tanglewood Festival Chorus (USA).

Miss So is an American born, conservatory-trained soprano. She has been teaching in Hong Kong for a number of years and is currently a Crew Performer with World Family Club.

Miss So graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Cleveland Institute of Music (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) and soon after began teaching in a suburban music school. In 2012 she was appointed to Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Malone University (Canton, Ohio, USA) where she continued to teach until 2017. During this time she completed her Master of Music degree in Voice from The University of Akron (Akron, Ohio, USA). In 2017 she moved to Hong Kong to pursue an opportunity to teach voice there.

During her time studying, Miss So had the opportunity to sing in Italy and Switzerland through participation in the Sessione Senese per La Musica e L’Arte, based out of Siena, Italy. She was also a participant in the Resonanz Opera summer program (Ohio, USA) and the Nightingale Opera Theatre Masterclass Series (Ohio, USA). She has also participated in workshops studying Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Alexander Technique, and the Feldenkrais Method.

While living in Cleveland, Miss So was a regular gigging musician, singing with Great Lakes Light Opera and also maintaining choral positions with various churches and synagogues. On stage, she performed the role of Mother in “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” Baba in “The Medium,” and Announcer in “Gallantry,” all with The University of Akron Opera Theatre. Miss So also had the pleasure of performing alongside her students in various Malone Opera Theatre productions. She performed La Zia Principessa in “Suor Angelica,” Marcellina in “Le Nozze Di Figaro,” and First Lady in “Die Zauberflöte.” In Hong Kong, Miss So has done various musical and acting performances. She sings with the St. John Cathedral Evensong Choir and is a member of the Hong Kong Bach Choir.

Praised for a voice of “deliciously deep and rich,” (Birmingham Post), Hong Kong baritone Michael Chun Ting Lam trained at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Hungary. He received his Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he was awarded the St Clare Barfield Memorial Bowl for Operatic Distinction and Joseph Weingarten Scholarship, and was supported by Opera Hong Kong K Wah International Vocal Scholarship, Foundation for the Arts and Music in Asia Limited (FAMA) Vocal Scholarships and Birmingham Conservatoire Scholarship Fund. Prior to that, he gained his Bachelor of Music from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where he received a number of scholarships, including Welsh Male Choir Scholarship, the Bernard van Zuiden Music Fund, Mr Ng Fung Chow Memorial Scholarships, The Hong Kong Children’s Choir Chan Ho Choi Memorial Scholarship and Michael Rippon Memorial Scholarship.

Passionate about opera, Michael has sung more than 30 operatic roles and performed for opera companies in Asia and Europe in many major theatres and festivals, including Opera Hong Kong, Musica Viva, Winslow Hall Opera, OperaUpClose, Passaggio Oper, Opéra de Baugé and more. His operatic roles include Macbeth(Macbeth), Tonio(Pagliacci), Escamillo(Carmen), Count Almaviva(Le Nozze di Figaro), Figaro(Il barbiere di Siviglia), Don Pasquale(Don Pasquale), Giulio Cesare(Giulio Cesare), The Four Villains(Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Colline(La Bohème), Renato(Un Ballo in Maschera), Rigoletto(Rigoletto), Giorgio Germont(La Traviata), Forester(The Cunning Little Vixen), Bottom(A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Sharpless & Bonze(Madama Butterfly), among many others. A fan and advocate of contemporary music, Michael has also created roles in contemporary operas, including the role of Sakyamuni in the world premiere of Anna Vienna Ho’s Buddha and the Monkey King (2020) and The Monk of the River (2021) for Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival.

On the concert platform, Michael has appeared as a soloist in Haydn’s Nelson Mass (The Really Big Chorus and Hong Kong Police Choir); J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in D Major (Hong Kong Oratorio Society); Felix Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht (Hong Kong Oratorio Society); Handel’s Messiah (Hong Kong SingFest); J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in D Major (Village Voices UK); Faure’s Requiem (Chesterfield Co-operative Choral Society); Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (The Guild Consort Choir). He has also performed as the baritone soloist in Opera Galas for Red Earth Opera, Midland Opera, Oxford Opera Society, Józsa Judit Galéria, and Holy Trinity Church Coventry. He has also been giving solo recitals regularly, including the one at St Andrew’s Church Rugby as part of the Rugby Festival of Culture 2019, and a recital organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong at Hong Kong City Hall as part of the “Our Music Talents” series. Recently, he has sung the role of Konfuzius in Gustav Ka Lok Mak’s Die Legende von Konfuzius(excerpts) with the Budapest MÁV Symphony Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna under the baton of Maestro Mak.

Michael was a first-prize winner of numerous international and national singing competitions, including Hong Kong International Music Festival Vocal Competition, International Music Competition ‘London’ Grand Prize Virtuoso, International Music Competition “Rome”, Leamington Spa Competitive Festival, Abergavenny Eisteddfod Y Fenni, Birmingham Conservatoire Singing Prize, Philip Bates Trust Ashleyan Opera Prize, The North International Music Competition, International Music Competition “Таланты XXI века”, Quebec International Music Competition, International Music Competition “ИСКУССТВО! ДРУЖБА! МИР!”, IYMC Classical Music International Competition, King’s Peak International Music Competition, Odin International Music Competition, Swiss International Music Competition, Danubia Talents Liszt International Music Competition, Global Genius Music, Grand Music Collection Italian International Competition and International Vocal Competition “The Song”, to name a few. He has been given the Gil Rodriguez Scholarship Award from Opéra de Baugé for his outstanding contribution to the 2019 Operatic Season.

Besides performing as a singer, Michael frequently appears as a Zhongruanist. He was the leader and the principal Zhongruanist of Ng Wah Chinese Orchestra and, a Ruanist of Hong Kong City Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Bright East Chinese Orchestra and Sonata Elite Chamber Orchestra. In addition to participating in large-scale concerts held in concert halls, such as “A Concert of Popular Chinese Music” and “A Concert of Guided History”, Michael has also actively participated in chamber performances in various community events, dinners, and cocktail parties. In 2020, he has been involved in the project “It Gets Lighter From Here”, organized by Birmingham Opera Company and Culture Central. He has also participated in the world premiere of Anna Vienna Ho’s The Monk of the River as part of the Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival 2021. He was the first prize winner of the International Art Festival & Contest “Talents of Europe” 2021.

An enthusiastic educator, Michael has been teaching Voice, Ruan and Liuqin for many years. He was a music tutor at Canon Music & Arts Centre, Greenery Music & Arts Center and Parkland Music Limited. A member of the Hong Kong Music Tutors Union, he organized his first students’ concert at Parsons Recital Hall in Hong Kong in 2015. In 2016, he has successfully organized “No Vocalists Allowed”, an opera workshop for non-vocal major students, and an opera scenes concert at the New Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Conservatoire, UK. He worked as an assistant vocal coach in K. Wah Opera Hong Kong summer school programme 2017. In 2020, he has been invited to be one of the language coaches for Vopera in their award-winning production of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. He has been the adjudicator of the “Festival of Instrumental and Vocal Arts” International Online Music Competition, Russia, in 2021 and 2022, and International Competition for Musicians “Virtuosos”, Russia, in 2022. He has also worked as a singing teacher and choir conductor at the Christian Alliance S W Chan Memorial College, Po Leung Kuk Lee Shing Pik College and the Salvation Army William Booth Secondary School. He is a singing teacher at Hong Kong International Institute of Music and Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School, and a tutor at Yip’s Children’s Choir.