Ma Wai Him

Principal Suona and guan player of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Ma joined the HKCO in 2014 and has served as Principal Suona since 2016. Ma learned Chinese wind instruments from his father, Ma Wing-shing, at a young age. He completed his Master’s degree programme with double major in suona and guan at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. His teachers included Guo Yazhi, Law Hang Leung, Liu Hai, Xia Boyan and Lo Wai Leung. He also attended advanced courses in suona under Liu Ying and guan under Hu Zhihou. He was invited to teach at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts after his graduation.

In 2017, he won the 2016 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards – Award for Young Artist (music) and was invited to be a Visiting Artist at the School of Music, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He was the winner of the Silver Award-Folk Instruments section at the 16th Osaka International Music Competition in Japan in 2015.

He curated several of the HKCO concerts between 2015 and 2018, such as ‘In the Mood – Suona and Guan Ensemble Concert’, ‘The Chinese Music Time Machine’, ‘The Chinese Music Time Machine II’, on which occasions he also performed as soloist and host to critical acclaim. Ma has performed many crossover concerts with singer-songwriters of pop music, such as Anthony Wong Yiu-ming, Steve Wong Ka-keung, the Taiwan rock group Sticky Rice, Hong Kong jazz legend Eugene Pao and many more. Ma was invited to hold crossover concerts by the LCSD, Hong Kong International Airport and the West Kowloon Cultural District, he also actively participated in community performances.

In recent years, Ma has tried to explore possibility between traditional and innovative music in the field of composition. After the release of his first single La mémoire, Ma has been frequently invited to hold performances online and also film music videos.