Tsang Yip Fat Richard Tsang Yip Fat Richard
Born in Hong Kong, Tsang Yip Fat Richard is a creator and advocate of contemporary music active both locally and internationally. He was the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Composers' Guild, served as vice president of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) and the Asian Composers League from 1990 to 1996, and in October 2002 was elected president of the ISCM, the first non-European to hold the post since the society's founding in 1923. He has received numerous commissions from local and international arts organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Stockholm Wind Symphony, the Japan Foundation for Folk Arts, Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Tsang has been guest conductor of many ensembles, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Taipei Chinese Orchestra. He was also the first music director of Hong Kong Sinfonietta from 1990 to 1993, and has conducted several choirs, including the Hong Kong Oratorio Society, the Allegro Singers and the Cecilian Singers.
Over the years he has received many awards, including Ten Outstanding Young Persons in 1988, an Artist of the Year award from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Composer of the Year in Hong Kong in 1990, and in 2002 the CASH Golden Sail Music Award for Best Serious Composition for “Dragon Form” (龍形). A music educator and veteran broadcaster, Tsang has worked at Radio Television Hong Kong since 1979, serving successively as producer, head of Radio 4 and head of English radio, and has taught at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Kingston University in the United Kingdom. Since 2009 he has been professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts and dean of students at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and is dedicated to research on bringing musical creativity and expressiveness to every level of society through the new concept of “Creative Musicking.”