Ruan Tutors

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.