Title Sponsor
Since 2024, the Artist-in-Residence Programme successfully promoted international exchange opportunities for Hong Kong students. We are pleased to announce that this year, a total of 5 primary and secondary schools are participating in the program, each paired with an overseas expert. In the following period, the choir conductors will maintain close communication with the overseas experts to set appropriate program and rehearsal strategies for the choirs.
During the Choral Festival, the overseas experts will serve as resident conductors for the matched school choirs, providing multiple coaching sessions to the same choir. Ultimately, the experts will lead the coached choirs in the Artist-in-Residence Programme Finale Concert at a large performance venue, showcasing the highest level of choral music in the choral festival.
The programme also aims to foster a spirit of cooperation and friendship among the top school choirs in Hong Kong, who are often rivals in traditional competitions. HKICF hopes that through this programme, the students will realise that there is much to gain from working together and sharing their experiences with each other.
COMPONENTS
A commencement workshop will be held in February 2026, bringing the participating school choirs together to meet, collaborate, and learn collectively under the guidance of overseas experts.
After the commencement workshop, overseas experts will serve as resident conductors for the matched school choirs, providing multiple coaching sessions to the same choir, bringing their professional insights to the choirs to elevate the choirs’ performances even more.
After intensive training sessions by world-class choral experts, the award-winning Hong Kong school choirs will present a choral music extravaganza of the highest calibre for the audience.
Hang Lung Properties Proudly Sponsors: HKICF2026 Artist-in-Residence Programme Finale Concert
Resident Conductors
Resident Conductors & Participating schools
Resident Conductor
CCC Kei Wan Primary School (Aldrich Bay)
The Kei Wan Primary School (Aldrich Bay) Choir was established in 1991 and is currently active in inter-school and international competitions, having achieved remarkable success in world-class music events. It has been honored as the “Grand Prix” at the Singapore International Choral Festival in 2014 and the International Youth Music Festival in 2024. Notably, during the 2024 International Youth Music Festival, the children’s choir distinguished itself by outperforming adult choirs, string orchestras, and symphonic ensembles from around the globe, securing the highest accolade and demonstrating artistic achievements and exceptional capability that transcend age.
Furthermore, the choir has received numerous international gold medals and category championships, including accolades at the Grand Prix of Nations in Gothenburg 2019, the Taipei International Choral Competition 2022, the Tokyo International Choral Competition in 2023 and the Hong Kong Inter-school Choral Festival. It also attained the highest honors in the Hong Kong School Music Festival for two consecutive years in 2024 and 2025, the choir was recognized as “The Most Outstanding Primary School Choir of the Year” and “The Best Primary School Senior Choir” in the HK Region and the Kowloon Region.
Resident Conductor
Diocesan Boys’ School
The Diocesan Boys’ School (“DBS”) Choir consists of the school’s most outstanding choristers in the senior forms and is currently conducted by Mr. Felix Shuen. It is a group that performs and competes frequently in Hong Kong and overseas.
For decades, the DBS Choir has received accolades such as the “Best Boys’ Choir of the Year” and the “Most Outstanding Choir of the Year” at the annual Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. Since 2000, the Choir has also travelled overseas to various countries in Asia, Europe, and North America to compete and perform in international choral festivals including the World Choir Games, International Johannes Brahms Choir Competition, International Youth Choir Festival, International Youth Barbershop Chorus Festival, and Taipei International Choir Competition, receiving various awards and critical acclaim.
In the latest world rankings of choral groups published by INTERKULTUR, the choir is ranked 11 among the top 1000 choirs and ranked 1st in the Male Choirs category.
Resident Conductor
Heep Yunn School
Heep Yunn School is a Christian Girls’ High School and has a long tradition in choral singing since the 1950s. The choristers have great passion for choral singing and the repertoire covers a wide range of genres, from Chinese to western, local to international, classical to popular, folk to contemporary.
The choir actively participates in local and international music festivals. It was chosen as the Best Girls’ Choir and the Most Outstanding Choir of the year 2018 and 2019 in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. In July 2023, the Choir competed in the 12th World Choir Games, Gangneung 2023 and came back with two gold medals in the championship competitions. The choir was the champion in the Senior Girls’ Choir (first division), singing in Chinese class in the 77th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. The choir is currently under the baton of Heep Yunn School music teachers, Ms. Queenie So and Ms. Joyce Yu.
Resident Conductor
HKBU Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School
With a vision to engage students in a diverse and challenging repertoire, A-Singers is an auditioned mixed choir of students in Grades 7–12, founded in 2022. The ensemble regularly collaborates with secondary and primary division choirs and orchestras to present major choral-orchestral works from across music history—including excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung—performing at school events as well as local and international competitions.
A-Singers has garnered exceptional acclaim, earning Gold Awards at the Singapore International Choral Festival (2023), the World Choir Games (2024), and the Grand Prix of Nations Aarhus (2025), as well as the First Prize in the 8th National Arts Performance for Primary and Secondary School Students (2025). The choir was also honored with the distinguished title of “The Most Outstanding Secondary School Choir of the Year in the Second Division” at the 77th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival (2025), among numerous other accolades.
In 2025, A-Singers embarked on a choral exchange tour to Germany and Austria, which included a landmark cultural collaboration with the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir—marking the first time any school choir from Hong Kong has achieved such an exchange. In October 2025, A-Singers was honored to receive an invitation to perform at the prestigious Hong Kong Culture and Arts Communities for Celebration of the National Day of the People’s Republic of China. The performance took place in the presence of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and other distinguished guests, underscoring the ensemble’s standing as a leading youth choir in Hong Kong. Other significant appearances by the choir include performances at the Kaleidoscope of the Arts 2025, hosted by the Education Bureau, and the World Choir Festival 2025.
Resident Conductor
St. Paul’s Co-educational College Primary School
With a strong choral tradition spanning over six decades, St. Paul’s Co-educational College Primary School has established several choirs for different age groups with a two-fold objective of nurturing musical talents and cultivating a passion for choral singing.
As an active participant in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival since 1959, the Choir has enjoyed continued success in the competitions and was crowned “The Most Outstanding Primary School Choir of the Year” in 2010 and 2015. Internationally, the Choir has won in several competitions, earning a Gold Medal at the 7th World Choir Games (2012) in Cincinnati, USA; the championship of the Junior Children’s Choirs Competition in Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod 2015, United Kingdom, was the champion “with outstanding success” of the Children’s Choirs Competition at the 11th Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival (2017) in Vienna and another Gold Medal at the 13th World Choir Games (2024) in Auckland, New Zealand.
Of equal importance to the participation in competitions are the performance experiences the choristers receive. Over the years, the Concert Choir has performed on many important occasions, for instance, the 70th Anniversary Gala Concert of the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival and Speech Festival in 2018, the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui 20th Anniversary Celebration Concert in 2018, the Gala Concert of Hong Kong May 4th Youth Festival in 2011, as well as the Butterfly Concerto’s 50th Anniversary Gala Concert with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in 2009. The Concert Choir also performed alongside the world-renowned vocalist, Mr. Bobby McFerrin in the 2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival.
To further enrich the choristers’ experience and horizons, the choir embarked on performing tours to Beijing (2010), the United States (2012) including concerts at The Yale Summer School of Music and New York City, Singapore (2014) with the renowned American composer, Mark Hayes, the United Kingdom (2015), and Vienna and Prague (2017). The Choir was also the dedicatee of Mark Hayes’ anthem, I Will Lift My Eyes, which was commissioned and recorded on the CD album, Faith Hope Love on Naxos in 2010.
Past Event highlights
Other programmes
Choral Repertoire Reading Session
We provide music teachers and conductors with professional development sessions that aim to connect theory and practice in music education.
School Choir Advancement Programme
The School Choir Incubator Programme is an extension programme of HKICF, which aims to enhance the quality and diversity of choral music education and to better cater for the needs of music teachers and conductors on the journey of choral music.
Virtual Choir Project
HKICF is committed to promoting choral music as a means of social engagement and empowerment.
