Leon Tong
As an international renowned choral conductor, adjudicator and festival advisor and organizer, Leon Tong has visited more than thirty countries. His conducting is full of imaginations and charisma, therefore children are being inspired and convinced.
Tong devoted most of his time and effort to choral music as well as music education. He served as the Head of Music Department at St. Stephen's College for twenty-nine years, the Associate Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Hong Kong Children’s Choir for seventeen years. He is the President of the Hong Kong Treble Choirs' Association since its establishment in 1997 and the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Hong Kong Treble Choir since 2000. He is the advisor of a series of Hong Kong secondary school textbooks Music Journey which was first published in 2000 and he had edited 18 textbooks for both secondary and primary schools in 2006.
Under Tong’s professional music training, the Hong Kong Children’s Choir won the champion in the International Choral Festival in Spain in 1985 while St. Peter’s Primary School and St. Stephen’s College won more than eighty champions in both choral and orchestral items in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.
Tong is also an experienced participant in various international choral festivals. In 1993 and 1999, he led the Hong Kong Children’s Choir and the Guangzhou Children’s Palace Choir to perform in the World Symposium on Choral Music respectively. In 2004, he was invited to join the international jury committee of the International Choral Kathaumixw, Canada. He conducted a choir which comprising singers from over ten countries in the Closing Concert of the Festival. In 2006, he led the Guangzhou Children’s Palace Choir and the Hong Kong Treble Choir to perform in Polyfollia (France) and the ISME World Conference in Malaysia respectively.
Furthermore, Tong is enthusiastic in organizing international choral festivals such as the China International Children’s Choir Festival in 1998, 2001 and 2005, the 2005 World Children’s Choir Festival and the Hong Kong International Youth & Children’s Choir Festival in 2006 and 2008. In 2007 and 2009, the Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc from Lyon was invited to a tour in China. In 2008, the World Youth Choir, which comprises dozens of talented singers from over thirty countries, was invited to host their summer session in Hong Kong and perform in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Macau. In 2008, Mädchenchor Hannover was invited to a music tour in China.
For all the contributions he made, Tong has earned worldwide recognition in music. In 1994, he was offered the Fellowship Award by Asian Cultural Council to further his study in the U.S.A. He was invited to be the Honorary Artistic Consultant for the Vienna Boys’ Choir China Tour 2001. In 2004, he received the China Treble Choir Achievement Award from the China Chorus Association in acknowledgement of his contribution to children choral music in Mainland China. Tong was elected as the Vice President of the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) in 2005, the first Chinese holding that post. In 2007 and 2008, he was honoured to receive the Award for Arts Achievement (Music) and the Silver Award for Arts Promotion given by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council respectively. In 2009, Tong was appointed as the Guest Professor of Tianjin University (China).
In 2007, Tong was listed in Who is Who in Choral Music, a book about worldwide well-known choral experts. He is often invited to submit articles for authoritative journals on choral music and music education and he is currently authoring a book about choral conducting theories.
He is now the First Vice President of IFCM, President of Asian Youth Choir Council, Vice President of Children’s Choir Commission, China Chorus Association, Guest Professor of Tianjin University, Music Director and Principal Conductor of Guangzhou Children’s Palace Choir, Artistic Advisor of Shenzhen Middle School Choir, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Macau Children’s Choir, President of Hong Kong Treble Choirs' Association and Artistic Director, Principal Conductor of Hong Kong Treble Choir and Member of the Advisory Committee of HKFYG Melody Makers.