The Hong Kong Hymnos Festival 2023 Closing Concert “Tribute to Maestro Doming Lam” Successfully Performed
December 2, 2023
The Hong Kong Hymnos Festival 2023 Closing Concert "Tribute to Maestro Doming Lam" was held at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on December 2, 2023. It was co-organized by the Hong Kong Hymnos Festival Society and the Macao Catholic Culture Association (ACCM) and held in Macao for the first time. Guests who attended the event included Bishop Stephen Lee Bun Sang, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Macau and Chairman of ACCM; Ms. Chan Lei Lei, the Acting Director at the Macao Conservatory of Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government; Ms. Fong Ieok Mui, the Coordinator of School Inspection of the Education and Youth Development Bureau of the Macau SAR Government and other prestigious guests.
Performed by Coro Perosi, conducted by Ms. Katrine K. Wong and accompanied by Ms. Basilla Sam, the concert featured several sacred repertoires that brought memories of the times when Maestro Doming Lam received his training as a young man, thus paying tribute to this outstanding musician who had passed away this January.
Ms. Kathy Lam, daughter of Maestro Doming Lam, opened the concert by speaking about the life of her father, in particular his childhood in Macao, his life in St. Joseph Seminary, his relationship with Father Guilherme Wilhelm Schmid, his musical studies, and his sacred music compositions. The concert featured a number of Lam's classical repertoires, including "Missa Laudis", a large-scale liturgical music with a creative, Chinese-inspired and Western approach; "Magnificat", "Ave Maria" and "Pater Noster – Quia Tuum Est Regnum". The concert also featured some of Father Guilherme Wilhelm Schmid's repertoires, including "Corona Aurea", "Leatentur Coeli", and "O Bone Jesu", arranged by Lam and Mr. João Ng, conductor of Coro Perosi. The concert ended with the "Gloria Patri".
The "Tribute to Maestro Doming Lam" provided an opportunity for music and culture lovers in Macao to listen to the Maestro’s works and, at the same time, hoped to inspire more music professionals to work on developing local sacred music through the example of Maestro Lam.
Maestro Doming Lam (1926-2023), hailed as "The Father of New Music in Hong Kong," was born in Macao. The seeds for his love of music were sown when he was studying at the St. Joseph's Seminary. There he took up violin, choral singing and conducting with Austrian priest Father Guilherme Wilhelm Schmid. Lam was the Founding Director of the Asian Composers' League, the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Composers' Guild. Lam studied music in Canada, the US and Darmstadt in Germany. From 1964 to 1994 he worked in Hong Kong, where he composed, conducted, taught, and produced music programmes for radio and television. A goal of Lam's was to create new Chinese music by instilling avant-garde techniques into traditional sensibilities. His music had been performed in over 50 cities and had influenced many younger musicians.
Doming Lam's compositions are in the collection of the Music Library of the University of Hong Kong. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001) includes a detailed biography of Lam. He was a former composer-in-residence of the University of Hong Kong, and the winner of 2010 and 2012 CASH Golden Sail Music Awards. To recognize Doming Lam's contribution, he was named an Honorary Member of the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) in 2007, and conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2020.