Found Space

Chung Chi Choir

2024-04-20

Campus Newsletter / Found Space

Chung Chi campus culture is prominently characterised by its music advocacy. As early as 1952, the College Chaplain Revd. Luke Wing Ngok Cheung (1916-1979) initiated a Choir, aspiring that “students’ clarion voices would reverberate through every corner of the Chung Chi campus, invigorating our College and fostering its vibrant growth.” The Choir was initially led by Chung Chi teachers on a part-time basis. Ms. B.M.F. Rudd, Associate Professor of the Department of English; and Revd. James Tak Ming Pong (1911-1988) and Rev. Revd. Loren E. Noren (1918-1992), Lecturers teaching the Philosophy of Life, had been the Choir Conductors. Ms. Sara B. Downer, Professor of the Department of Physics, also taught a lesson on “Music Appreciation”. Later, Mr. Gabriel C. S. Chi (1922-2009), a famous composer of sacred music, took over the role of the Choir Conductor. The Choir would perform live in significant events held on the campus, such as weekly assemblies, Thanksgiving worship, or Christmas concerts.

 

With over 50 members in the early 1960s, the original Choir has developed into the Chung Chi Choir today. At that time, the students either majoring or minoring in music were obliged to join the Choir in their first, second, and third years. Later, the Choir invited the famous sacred musician Dr. Wong Wing Hee (1917-2003) to serve as its conductor. The College Choir is responsible for leading the singing of hymns and school songs in weekly assemblies, which has become a Chung Chi tradition. The Choir’s annual concert held in the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong City Hall was a grand College event, signifying the Choir’s appreciable scale and professional excellence. In addition to sacred music, the repertoires selected for the Choir’s concerts must feature elegant Chinese and Western classics, which truly extends the College’s founding spirit of “worshipping Christ”, incorporating “the quintessence of Chinese and Western cultures”, and “never forgetting our ancestors”.

 

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