It’s not that often that we get to go on a choir tour but when we do, we love them, and this one is fantastic. The London Philharmonic Choir are off to Hong Kong to sing Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, twice, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, The Learners Chorus, St Paul’s Co-educational College Senior Mixed-Voice Choir, Ying Wa College Choir and the Hong Kong Children’s Choir – all under the baton of the dynamic young Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski who launches his first season as Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. What could be more exciting than opening the new season with this colossal “Symphony of a Thousand”!

So how did this fantastic opportunity come about for us? Well, it’s because our dynamic new treasurer and LPC tenor, Kevin Cheng, was part of the choirs in Hong Kong where he grew up, studied and sang from childhood. He’s still involved with them now as a long-distance choral director so when the opportunity arose to work with them and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra he jumped in and secured this wonderful opportunity for us.

“I started singing as a child in YIP, a children’s choir in Hong Kong. I took a short break during secondary school as I was busy studying but as soon as I got into university I found the Union Choir and jumped right back in to choirs again, not only singing but also as assistant chorus master. After university, where I studied science, I wanted to keep singing and being involved with choirs so I joined The Learners Chorus in 2006, where I was not only a tenor but also Assistant Conductor and Vice-Chairman. This chorus was founded in 1979 by former members of the Hong Kong University Students’ Union Choir, and despite its name is actually one of Hong Kong’s leading independent choirs, the “learners” title comes from the fact that it was initially made up of postgraduate singers.

My wife and I sang with this chorus until we left Hong Kong in late 2021; we made the decision to leave because of the political change there and quite a few of our friends left too. There had been increasingly uncomfortable times and demonstrations – there were times when I left work (in equity investing) that I could smell the tear gas in the air, and there was definitely a political tension where we knew we couldn’t’ speak freely anymore. Although I left Hong Kong physically I definitely did not leave spiritually or chorally. I continued to run the Learners Chorus (the joys and positive brilliance of technological contact), and I will be singing with them in these fantastic concerts. My wife and I also sang in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus which is where the connection for these concerts came from, so I am thrilled to be singing with all three of my choirs in these opening performances.

As soon as Sally and I arrived in London we started to look for a choir to join here and the first one we reached out to was the London Philharmonic Choir, which is why I am here now and which is why the LPC are going to Hong Kong. I’m really excited to reunite with all of my ‘old’ choirs and to introduce new London friends to ‘old’ Hong Kong friends, and for us to sing this fantastic piece together in the concert hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The tour was originally planned for earlier this year, but then the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra appointed an exciting and dynamic new Finnish conductor, Tarmo Peltokoski. His passion is for big pieces, so here we are performing Mahler’s fabulous 8th Symphony, twice – on November the 7th and 8th – with him in the opening concerts of his season, in the concert hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. You couldn’t get any bigger than this Symphony of a Thousand or anything more exciting than this multi-choir performance which is also part of the 6th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival.”

 

Young LPC alto Mia Hobson is also thrilled to be part of this epic adventure:

“I’d only been in the LPC for six months when I had the great privilege of singing my first “Mahler 8” in April 2025 and it was utterly thrilling, an incredible experience which you can read about here.

I can’t believe now that after only two years in the choir I’m not only getting the privilege of singing this amazing piece again but that we’re actually doing it twice, and on tour. I think it will be great to be singing with other choirs, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus who I think haven’t sung the piece before. I never expected my first choir tour to be something so exciting and so far away; we’re very lucky that we have Kevin in the choir who has set this all up and is helping to guide us.  

I’m particularly excited about the sense of community we’re going to feel on tour. The LPC is already a great community but there isn’t always time to meet each other, especially across the sections when we’re busy rehearsing in London. I’m sure we will all get to know each other much better on this tour, especially as we’re going to be in Hong Kong for more than a week. I think it’s going to be amazing to bond with more people, not only from the LPC but also the other choirs, and to really connect over something we all love.

This tour was initially scheduled for July 2026 which was great for me as that’s academic holiday time and I wasn’t starting my Masters in Theatre Directing until this September. When the dates changed to November, I had to work quite hard to persuade my tutors that I really should be on the tour and that it would benefit my course as well as just me! I’m going to have to do some work while we’re away and send pieces in to my tutors but hopefully that won’t stop me getting out and about as well as singing.

I’ve not been to Hong Kong before so I’m keen to be a bit of a tourist amid all the rehearsals and coursework. I particularly want to see the islands and all of the famous Hong Kong architecture, which looks amazing. I love Asian food too so I’m excited to get into that locally. I know this tour is going to be something that will be really, really special for all of us and which we will remember and talk about for years to come.”

Our new LPC chair, Alex Marshall, is also very excited to be going to Hong Kong, his first tour as chair of the choir and something he’s especially excited for LPC members to be able to experience:

“Ever since I joined the choir – which is around three years ago now – I’ve been keen to get involved and give something back for all the marvellous pieces that we have the opportunities to perform. I work from home as a software engineer at the moment, so I also like to get out of the house and work together with the membership as a singing team to produce fantastic concerts. I think singing in a choir is very much a team sport and something I hope to have continued success with in the future, which is why I decided to step up and do more than just sing.

I became the tenor liaison representative eighteen months ago and when the opportunity to become chair arose this year, I thought I would take the plunge and step up. It’s perhaps a bit more work than I had anticipated at the moment if I’m honest – there is so much going on behind the scenes to run a huge and successful choir like ours. I suppose it’s a measure of how well it’s run that you don’t always realise what it takes to make everything happen so smoothly and so well, until you’re up there having to do it!

Fortunately the people on the board are a great help, as are our MD and associate MD, so it’s all made massively more easy for me with their help, and that of the LPC membership which is made up of such amazing people who not only sing to such a high standard, but are also all very professional people and easy to work with and happy to help. For me, it’s an amazing privilege to sing with the LPC and I’ve made a lot of friends in a relatively short time. People make really good friendships in choirs, and they also make great friendships on tour so I’m really happy that we can go on tour again now, after almost twenty years since our last trip to Hong Kong. We also have a whole new generation of singers coming along with us who will be able to make similar good friendships, new connections and great memories.

I think it’s especially amazing that we get to do “Mahler 8″ again, such a huge and epic piece that isn’t performed often simply due to the sheer scale of it. Singing it in London last year was incredible and, for all its enormity, it also has these special moments of stillness and beautiful pure singing. We can take all the work we did last year, plus the additional work we’ve done on it this year, and share that with the choirs and orchestra in Hong Kong to create something truly special. I’m sure we will deliver an amazing performance – and I can’t wait.”

Click here for more details about our upcoming concerts in Hong Kong.