Kwan Hon Gordon Lau
Biography:
Kwan Hon Gordon Lau was born in Hong Kong in 1999. He started playing the violin at the beginning of his musical life but switched to the viola in 2014 because of the fuller, warmer sound. Since winter semester 2015/2016, he was a student of Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, studied with Prof. Werner Dickel. Since the winter semester 2017/2018, he is a student of the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, studying with Prof. Tabea Zimmermann and her assistant German Tcakulov. During his studies in Berlin, he completed an Erasmus semester in Geneva with his mentor Prof. Máté Szűcs.
Gordon is an active chamber musician. He studied Chamber music with Prof. Eberhard Feltz and the Artemis Quartet. His chamber music partners include Sayaka Shoji, Rainer Schmidt, Daniel Hope, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Peter Bruns, Bruno Delepelaire, Niklas Liepe, Stephan Picard, Roland Glassl and many other well-known artists.
He also had successful experiences as a guest principal violist in orchestras at a very high level such as Kammer Akademie Potsdam and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra.
During Corona time in 2020, he and his brother were invited by violinist Daniel Hope and ARTE.tv to the renowned TV show “Hope@Home”, and the performance was a sensational success.
He had various opportunities to attend master classes with viola masters such as Nobuko Imai, Nils Mönkemeyer, Lars Anders Tomter, Amihai Grosz, etc.
He has often been invited to various music festivals, such as the Seiji Ozawa Academy Switzerland, Zermatt Music Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Moritzbug Music Festival and many others.
Gordon has been a scholarship holder of the “Villa Musica” Rhineland-Palatinate since the 2019/20 season and was awarded as “Star of Villa Musica 2023”.
In addition to playing the viola, Gordon is also a passionate singer. He was a member of the Hong Kong Children’s Choir, which has given concerts worldwide. He has performed with the choir in Germany, Finland, Italy, England, Japan, Korea, China, etc. In the semester 2015/2016 he had singing lessons with Prof. Kai Wessel in Cologne, a well-known countertenor in Germany.
Gordon plays an instrument by Patrick Robin, built in 2013, generous loan from HfM Hanns Eisler.