A renowned huqin performer, Ngai Kwun-wa is currently a gaohu and banhu musician of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. He also teaches at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Music Institute. Ngai began learning the erhu and jinghu at the age of six, and became a disciple of the late huqin master, Liu Mingyuan at the age of nine. He has become a true exponent of his mentor’s art after having benefitted from the latter’s tutelage for more than a decade. As a performer, he impresses with his solid musicianship, confident flair, mellifluous timbre, a natural charm, artistic insight and wit. He was already an active performer on stage during his adolescent years, and won the heart of music circles as well as the audiences at large. In 1982, he won the Outstanding Performance Award presented by the Ministry of Culture of China at the First Folk Instrumental Competition. He graduated from the China Conservatory in 1985, where he trained in Chinese music. It was followed by another course of study at the Department of Composition of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1986. He wrote several vocal works which were also award winners.
He premiered the symphonic suite, The Lady Generals of the Yang Family for jinghu, erhu and orchestra at the HKCO’s Five Huqins in Concert in 2004. His concert in May 2006, The Huqin World of Ngai Kwun-wa, presented by the HKCO at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, was a phenomenal success, and its recording is now available as CDs and DVDs.
