Dr. Lam Bun-ching, internationally renowned composer, has been invited to serve as Chung Chi College Siu Lien Ling Wong Visiting Fellow 2011–12. During her visit from 30 January to 10 February 2012, she shared her experiences in life and composition with College staff and students in a series of activities.

Dr. Lam was the keynote speaker of the College’s Annual Education Conference ‘Identity and Difference: the Contemporary Artist in Global and Local Culture’, held on 4 February in Lee Hysan Concert Hall. She used her instrumental piece Omi Hakkei, performed by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, as a point of departure to show how we no longer are restricted by national boundaries in our creative work as we are well informed in what goes on in the rest of the world.

‘Omi Hakkei’ refers to the eight scenic views of Omi by Lake Biwa, near Kyoto, Japan, allegedly selected to echo the eight scenes of Lake Dongting in China. These views have been immortalized by the woodblock prints of Hiroshige (1797–1858), whose work was very much influenced by Chinese landscape paintings. Dr. Lam visited these scenes in 1998, and was intrigued by the cross-cultural references of the same subject matter. She then sought similar cross-cultural approach in her music by combining Chinese and Western instruments (erhu, zheng, dizi, vertical bamboo flute, viola, harp and flute); eastern aesthetics with western compositional techniques. She also quoted from Debussy (1862–1938) and Takemitsu (1930–1996) in two of the movements.

The choice of Omi Hakkei as a prelude to the conference was nothing accidental. It is interesting to note that while Debussy is well-known for the oriental touch in his music (La Mer evidently owes inspiration to Wave by Japanese painter Hokusai (1760–1849)), Takemitsu is applauded for his successful integration of western modern music and traditional Japanese music. In such a context, we may be able to trace the interwoven cross-cultural and cross-media influence behind the rich timbre of Omi Hakkei, a work by a contemporary composer who was born in Macau, educated in Hong Kong and the US, and now lives in Paris and New York.

Other invited panelists included Prof. Tsang Yip-fat Richard, professor of the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts, the Hong Kong Institute of Education; Dr. Leung Hio-ming, director of Macao Conservatory and Mr. Leung Man-tao, a media and cultural critic.