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Attention TV/radio announcers: Please broadcast the following as soon as possible: The Hong Kong Observatory has issued the Very Hot Weather Warning. To prevent heat stroke, avoid pro… read more
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London (London ETO) promoted Hong Kong’s thriving arts and cultural life by co-presenting a concert with the Hong Kong Children’s Choir (HKCC) at the Finlandia Chamber Music Hall in Helsinki, Finland, on August 6 (Helsinki time).
Once again performing in Finland after its previous appearance in 2012, the HKCC, heading towards its 50th anniversary, delivered a special concert that also featured the renowned Tapiola Choir from Espoo, Finland. The music comprised a varied repertoire of songs from East and West, including works by some of Hong Kong’s best-known and up-and-coming composers. Conducted by its Music Director and Principal Conductor, Kathy Fok, as well as conductors Dominic Lam and Vivian Suen, the HKCC performed, among other pieces, “Ave Maria” by Giulio Caccini, “Laudate Dominum” by John August Pamintuan and a specially commissioned piece by Darius Lim, “Children of Light”. It also performed pieces by its resident composer Steve Ho: “Let Music Flow”, “Kung Fu”, “MTR Song” and “In Search of Plum Flowers in the Rockies”.
The Tapiola Choir, conducted by Pasi Hyökki, performed several songs composed by Finnish composers at the concert. They also performed “The Ritual Dance” – a spectacular five-part “primitive music” composition by Jukka Linkola in which they sang as a mass choir alongside the HKCC and the Yuen Long DAC Treble Choir, another guest choir joining the concert. The concert ended with the theme song of the HKCC’s 50th anniversary, “I Just Want to Sing”, performed by the HKCC and the Tapiola Choir together.
Speaking at the opening of the concert, the Director-General of the London ETO, Ms Priscilla To, welcomed the choirs and talked about the closer collaboration between Hong Kong and Finland. “We are pleased to see that Finland and Hong Kong have in recent years built even closer ties on various fronts, including arts and culture collaboration. Last year, we collaborated with a number of Hong Kong arts groups, including the Musicus Society, the Hong Kong String Orchestra and the Hong Kong Arts Centre, to organise music concerts and a comics exhibition in Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen,” she said.
“In addition to being an international financial and business centre, Hong Kong has emerged as a leading arts and culture hub in the region. Orchestras, jazz ensembles, international film and arts festivals, art and design exhibitions and street performances reflect the diversity and vibrancy of Hong Kong’s cultural life.”
Founded in 1969, the HKCC has grown into a diversified arts organisation for children. The HKCC has gained international acclaim for its performances and has earned a reputation as one of the best children’s choirs in the world. The Helsinki performance was part of a European tour in which the HKCC also took part in a major international choral festival in Tallinn, Estonia.
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session before the Nam Pak Hong Association 150th anniversary ceremony this evening (August 8):
Reporter: Why do you insist that Fred Ma should stay, because a company certainly can do without one man and shouldn’t he also be responsible? And secondly, why should Transport Secretary Frank Chan stay too? Should he be accountable for this whole incident surrounding the Shatin to Central Link?
Chief Executive: Well, I understand that in some quarters, whenever an issue like this happens, people want all the heads to roll, but we have to be reasonable and take the appropriate actions. I have explained at length that when we talk about responsibility and accountability, there are different levels of responsibility and accountability.
In this particular incident, the director or the project director and the works team have the most important responsibility that they have to shoulder, and that’s why we are very decisive in taking actions on that front. But as far as the senior management is concerned, because there is division of labour within a company, the senior management perhaps could have done better in terms of monitoring, especially after the incident has hit the news. They have been given a period of time to produce and submit report to the Hong Kong SAR Government, the senior management should have exercised an even higher level of diligence and vigilance to ensure the accuracy of the report. So Mr Lincoln Leong has also taken responsibility for that.
Then finally is the Chairman and the Board of the MTR Corporation. I have a look at the facts and asked my government directors on the MTR Board. They have been kept in the dark. They have performed their role in asking a lot of questions from the management, especially the project team, but they have been kept in the dark. My consideration is based on this sort of analysis of responsibility and accountability. But practically, the MTR Corporation is a very sizeable company. It has several business areas. One is of course the projects, the railway projects. The other is operating railway every day, transporting 5 million of passengers on a daily basis, and they have the property side as well. For such a big company to have all these senior people leaving at the same time would not be a very sensible proposition. So despite Mr Fred Ma himself wanting to take accountability for this matter and step down, I have invited him and persuaded him to stay for a while in order to help us to undertake the various functions.
As far as the Secretary for Transport and Housing, the considerations are very much the same. He is also a member of the Board, and I think the government directors have also exercised their diligence in scrutinising the work of the project team and asking questions. In terms of a monitoring role, of course the Highways Department is assisting the Secretary for Transport and Housing in monitoring and the discovery this time that we could come out to tell the public about is part and parcel of that effective monitoring.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: The online registration of HKMC Annuity Plan has resumed services at around 7pm tonight (August 8). Applicants can register online their intent… read more