Dennis Wu / Biography

Dennis Wu

Photo © Cheung Chi-wai

Photo © Cheung Chi-wai

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Dennis Wu is a specialist for classical music in Hong Kong with vastly diverse activities and outputs: writer, critic, copywriter, editor, producer, curator, programme host, composer, arranger and more. His rich experience in the industry makes him a sought-after writer and speaker of eminent institutes on classical music.

Dennis Wu (b. 1978) completed his undergraduate study of music in The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2000, and further obtained a master’s degree in music composition in 2002. His composition repertoire includes a number of chamber music, choral music, vocal music and arrangements for various ensembles. His four-movement choral suite Below the Kau To Shan was premiered by the The Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus and is repeatedly performed in Hong Kong. His music is currently published by Apple Tree Music Publishing.

Mr. Wu is frequently demanded as speakers in talks and workshops, delivering an average of 40 talks a year in concert venues, lecture theatres, school halls and classrooms. These include pre-concert talks for concert audience, programme host for live concert and concert telecast, seminars of music criticism for secondary school students, public lectures on music history, meet-the-artists and music appreciation for school children on a wide variety of topics. These are commissioned by numerous parties, including the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong), Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, Macao International Music Festival, Musicus Fest, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and many others. His lecture series Journeys through Music, presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, focuses on composers and the historical contexts of music at the time, has run for eight weeks in three consecutive years between 2013 and 2015, with warm receptions from a well attended audience.

Being an active music writer, Mr. Wu’s writings are widely printed on major Hong Kong newspapers and magazines. He is a regular contributor of Hifi Review and appears on RTHK Radio 4 as a music critic. He writes music annotations for Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival and musicians like Angela Hewitt, Louis Lortie, Colleen Lee and Die Konzertisten. He is a part-time lecturer at the School of Professional and Continuing Education of University of Hong Kong on courses of writing for classical music.

He has also curated several concert projects, among them A Poet and His Muse dedicated to the poet Yu Kwang-chung in 2013, with himself reading the poet’s selected writings in the concert. The concert received critical acclaims, with the presence of the poet in the première and four sold-out performances. In this occasion he had his music The Fire of Rebirth premiered, together with numerous world premières by Hong Kong composers. This concert was performed again in Singapore, Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Mr. Wu has been appointed a number of advisory posts, including a jury for Macao Cultural Affair Bureau and examiner at the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. He is currently the executive editor of the Hong Kong Classical Music Yearbook, a project funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, with the first volume published in 2015. He is also a regular freelance presenter and producer at Radio Television Hong Kong, having regular programmes on Radio 4 and DAB Channel 31.

Other than works on classical music, he spends some of his time on web technology, being a technical consultant and analyst on web builds, mobile app developments and digital marketing strategy. He is a mentor of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks mentorship programme, being a mentor to one of the incubating technology companies. He builds his own website, www.denniswu.com, as an online archive of his writing activities.

胡銘堯

胡銘堯 畢業於香港中文大學,2000 年取得學士學位,主修音樂,並於 2002 年專修作曲,獲頒音樂碩士。他的作品以室樂、合唱及聲樂創作為主,其中四樂章合唱組曲《九肚山下》由香港中文大學合唱團首演,並曾多次在香港演出。他的音樂現由蘋果樹音樂出版。

在過去幾年,胡銘堯經常於不同音樂活動演講,每年在演出場地、演講廳及學校舉行平均四十場音樂講座,包括音樂會前講座、樂評工作坊、系列講座、與藝術家會面與學生音樂講座等等。委約講座的機構,包括康樂及文化事務署、香港管弦樂團、國際演藝評論家協會(香港分會)、香港國際室內樂音樂節、澳門藝術節、澳門國際音樂節、垂.誼國際音樂節、香港創樂團等。其中由康樂及文化事務署主辦的「音樂遊蹤講座系列」,以作曲家為焦點,放眼歷史演進與文化衝擊,2013 至 2015 年間每年舉行八場講座,廣獲好評。

胡銘堯是一位活躍的音樂作家及樂評人,文章見於香港各大報章及雜誌。現時他是《Hifi 音響》音樂版主筆之一,並在香港電台第四台擔任樂評人。他在《大公報》的音樂專欄,曾結集成《筆愛音樂》一書。他為香港管弦樂團、香港藝術節及演奏家如休伊特、洛堤、李嘉齡與 Die Konzertisten 等撰寫樂曲介紹。他現時是香港大學專業進修學院的兼職講師,教授古典音樂實用寫作。

他亦擔任音樂會的籌辦者,為古典音樂會提供新的表演形式。2013 年胡銘堯擔任了《余光中詩歌音樂會》的聯合藝術總監、文本寫作、朗讀及作曲家。在余光中親臨欣賞其間,他的作品《火浴》在音樂會首演。音樂會連演四場,全場爆滿,亦曾於新加坡、臺北及高雄重演。

胡銘堯獲委為澳門文化局及香港藝術發展局的資助評審員。他是《香港古典音樂年鑑》的執行編輯,年鑑由香港藝術發展局資助,首部年鑑於 2015 年出版。他現時固定在香港電台第四台及數碼  31 台兼任節目主持及監製。除了古典音樂有關的工作外,他亦有從事網路科技的工作,為網頁架設及手機程式發展作技術顧問及分程。他現為香港科學園創意培育計劃其中一間公司擔任顧問。自 1998 年起他設立了個人網頁 www.denniswu.com,現已成為他寫作文章的存庫。