Honorary University Fellow
Ms Barbara Fei is a persona extraordinaire of the Hong Kong music scene. She began her music studies as a piano student under Professor Ding Shande and later Professor Yih Kaichee at the National Music Conservatory in Nanjing. In 1950, she came to Hong Kong and started vocal lessons with Professor Chao Mei-pa. In 1956, Ms Fei went to France to refine her art at Conservatoire de Lyon, majoring in vocal music, and later at Schola Cantorum in Paris, under the world famous soprano and eminent voice teacher, Madame Lotte Schoene. Since her return to Hong Kong in 1960, Ms. Fei has given many recitals and performed in radio and television. In 1964, she founded the Allergo Singers. Ms Fei was also invited on many occasions to perform in the US, New Zealand and other Asian cities. In 1980, Ms Fei was the first Hong Kong artist invited by the Chinese Musicians Association to perform in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou; and also with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Fei has made possible the production of two Chinese contemporary works on the Hong Kong stage, Sweet Maiden and The One Hundredth Bride, in both of which she was the producer as well as appeared in the title-role.
Ms Fei also participated actively in public service. She is at present the Chairman of the Music Committee of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council; Music Director and Conductor of the Allegro Singers; Chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Choral Societies; Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre of Asian Studies, the University of Hong Kong; Chairman of the Hong Kong Ethnomusicology Society; Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Oratorio Society; and Senior Advisor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.
In 2006, Ms Barbara Fei was appointed as a member of the National Committee of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Honorary Committee Member in 2006 and 2011 respectively. In 2008 and 2010, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Hong Kong Institute of Education respectively. She was also appointed as Artistic Advisor to the Vienna World Peace Choral Festival in 2011. Ms Fei was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star in 2001 and Silver Bauhinia Star in 2012 by the Government of the HKSAR. In July 2013, she was awarded “Hong Kong Women of Excellence in the Six Arts” by the Hong Kong Federation of Women.
Ms Fei is particularly well-known for her contributions to many music activities. She has been the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Association of Choral Societies since its establishment in 1987, and has presented many choral seminars, conferences and grand choral concerts, such as The Galaxy of Chinese Choral Works and Asia Vocal Competition in 1994, and the “Melodies of New Era” in the 1997 Reunification Music Festival. In 2007, to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR, she planned, organised and made possible the grand concert The Long March Suite. In 2010, she organised the large scale ethno-symphony Mount Taishan and in 2011 a sizeable symphonic concert. In June 2012, to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR, she again organised 400 choral members to perform at the “International Military Tattoo”.
Ms Barbara Fei’s ties with the Hong Kong Baptist University date back to many decades ago. She has graced the students of University with her talents even in the early 1960s by directing the Girls’ Choir. Between the 1960s and 1990, she was Adjunct Lecturer of vocal music in the University and has given valuable advice to various concert performances. Not long ago, she was invited to serve as member of the Accreditation Panel for the implementation of the 4-year curriculum of the Music Programme of the University under the new academic structure.
Ms Barbara Fei has made distinguished achievements as a world-class musician. Her many contributions to the development of music in Hong Kong and on the Mainland, and her utmost support to music education and development of the music curriculum in the University have been most invaluable.