2022 Advanced String Quartet Intensive Fellows
Cong Quartet
A string quartet in demand based in Hong Kong & the Netherlands, which has performed around Asia, Europe & the United States, Cong Quartet was the first prize and Grand Prize winner at the 2019 Salzburg Mozart International Chamber Competition in Tokyo and the 2nd prize in the 2021 Kreutzer International Competition in Belgium and was a finalist of several international chamber music competitions including the 2021 Storioni Competition in Eindhoven. The quartet is currently the Artist in Residence of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) music department, where they held the role of the Ensemble-in-Residence from 2019 to 2021.
Supported by the Emerging Artists Scheme of the Hong Kong Art Development Council (ADC) and the Stichting Utopia (The Utopia Foundation), Cong Quartet is a currently participating in the Nederlandse Strijkkwartet Academie (NSKA) in the Netherlands, and participate the Musethica sessions around Europe. The members of the quartet has previously attended the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar & the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute in New York, the Ashkenasi/Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar at The Heifetz International Music Institute, the Intensive String Quartet seminar at Music Academy Hörpu in Iceland, the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy in Japan, the Chamber Music Residency in Great Mountain Music Festival in South Korea sponsored by the Artsylvia Foundation, and many other chamber music seminars and festivals. They have also coached and taught many young chamber groups at CUHK, the Madeline Island Chamber Music and the Indiana University Summer String Academy.
Cong Quartet’s important mentors include Marc Danel and Luc-Marie Aguera at NSKA, Pacifica Quartet at Indiana University, Shmuel Ashkenasi & Nicholas Kitchen at the Heifetz Institute, Ivan Chan at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Borromeo, Dover, Ebène, Juilliard & Shanghai Quartet. Our members have studied with musicians of the Borodin, Guarneri, Takacs, Tokyo & Ying Quartets individually. They have also collaborated and performed with world-renowned artists such as Yuri Bashmet, Joshua Bell, Jorja Fleezanis, Antonio Lysy, Mai Motobuchi and Rachell Wong among others.
Cong Quartet believes that the humanistic experience of chamber music is a treasure to the community. They share the philosophy of promoting chamber repertoire from their generation and from their hometown, Hong Kong, as well as integrating chamber music into the daily lives of the audiences. The name of the quartet, “CONG” originated as a combination of the quartet founding members’ last names that allude to Hong “Kong”, which is where the members grew up and played together since their teenage years before the Quartet was officially formed at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in the United States in 2015.
Highlights of their recent seasons included concert tours in New York, Japan, Germany, Netherlands and France, performed as guest artists in recitals at various universities across the United States and a residency at the Composers Forum of the University of North Texas. They have also performed and were guest judges of the New Generation call-for-score competition of Hong Kong Composers' Guild, and enjoy regular collaborations with local venues, universities & organizations in Hong Kong such as Hong Kong Arts Festival, Musicus Society, Tai Kwun, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong Jockey Club, World Culture Festival, City University, Asia Society, St. John‘s Cathedral and many others.
Cong Quartet Members:
Francis Yiu-Ting Chik, violin
Hua Zhang, violin
Caleb Wong, viola
Yan-Ho Cheng, cello
Meet our other 2022 String Quartet Fellows, the Terra String Quartet
Photo credit: Calvin Sit