“The sudden death of a respected operations manager has forced the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to cancel a concert just minutes before show time,” writes Oliver Chou in Friday’s (12/20) South China Morning Post (Hong Kong). “Ambrose Yeung, personnel manager for the city’s largest symphony orchestra, died of a heart attack on Wednesday shortly after a badminton game with two musicians following morning rehearsals. ‘He felt uncomfortable after the game, but nevertheless drove himself to see the family doctor, which is when he passed out at a red light,’ Y.S. Liu, the orchestra’s board chairman, said. … Liu … said the news reached them just an hour before the concert was due to start at 8pm, causing many people to break down in tears backstage. ‘It [would have been] particularly hard to do Mahler’s fourth symphony, a work about heavenly bliss,’ he said.… ‘The chairman, music director Jaap van Zweden and I held a backstage meeting with the players’ committee and we decided to cancel the concert. That was just 30 minutes before. We then went on stage to address the audience regarding the decision,’ chief executive Michael Macleod said. Last night, a sell-out performance by the orchestra was dedicated to Yeung’s memory.”
Posted December 23, 2013
