RECENT NEWS
16 August 2004: Jena is called to the Roll: I qualified as a solicitor, I am now an officer of the Supreme Court.
Summer 2004: I have be elected the Strings Convenor of the Leigh on Sea Musical Festival
September 2004: I visit Vancouver Canada to be Best Man at Stephen Se's and Rhea Low's wedding.
November 2004: Joined Lindops solicitors to become Associate Solicitor to the partners, John Lindop and Malcolm Pratt.
November 2004: Dear friend Biranda Ford comes to Southend to give her first Lunchtime Recital at the Council Chamber,Civic Centre, Southend-on-Sea. An enjoyable programme of violin sonatas by Schubert, Schumann and Saint Saens' Havanaise.
7 February 2005: My first case is reported in the Times News Paper and the All England Law Reports - High Court
April 2005: My cousin Jamie Cheung visits London from USA
April 2005: Best firend Chisato Kusunoki comes to Southend to visit and to play her programme for the Dudley International Piano Competition
May 2005: Home to Hong Kong to be with family
June 2005: Leon Yu, Joanne Wong, Roxanne Lee, Syon Lee, James Choi and Anita Ng perform music by Bach, Kuhlau, Clementi, Gurlitt and Kabalevsky at the EPTA student concert.
July 2005: I resume my Pianoforte studies with Lora Dimitrova after a period of 10 years since my last lesson with her. Programme included Bach-Busoni chorales preludes, Chopin Nocturne op 48/no 1 and Liszt's Second Legende 'St Francois of Paule walking on the waves.
October 2005: Home to Hong Kong to be with family, we stayed at the penthouse in Sheung Shui, New Territories.
8 November 2005: My Second reported case in the Times Newspaper: Court of Appeal
12 November 2005: Best friend Stephen Se visits London from Toronto.
16 November 2005: Dear friend Biranda Ford comes to Southend to give her second Lunchtime Recital at the Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Southend-on-Sea. An enjoyable programme of Mozart and Saint Saens Violin Sonatas.
18 December 2005: University friend Jackie Leong visits London, having not seen each other for nine years! Jackie - Good to see you again!
18 December 2005: I went to see the exhibition called the "Three Emperors" (Hong Hei, Yongzhen, and Qin Long of the Ching/ Manchu Dynasty) at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
December 2005: Lesson with Lora Dimitrova. Programme of Liapunov, Liszt and Chopin
29 January 2006: I perform music by Chopin at a small sunday afternoon piano recital in Biggin Hill, Kent.
4 February 2006: Visit to Teddybears of Witney, Abingdon School and St Peter's College, Oxford. Small shopping spree only! :-)
February 2006: I join the selection committee of the pianoforte section of the Southend on Sea Music Festival.
5 March 2006: I present Leon Yu, Syon Lee and Roxanne Lee for a piano recital at Westcliff United Reform Church, Westcliff on Sea, Essex. These talented promising youngsters each perform a programme of 15-20 minutes by memory.
15 March 2006: Best friend Chisato Kusunoki comes to Southend to give a Lunchtime Piano Recital at the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre in Southend-on-Sea. A wonderful programme of Balakirev's sonata in B flat minor and Ronald Stevenson's Symphonic Elegy for Liszt.
19 March 2006: EPTA UK Piano competition - Joanne Wong and Roxanne Lee win the intermediate I and intermediate II sections and go through to the next round in oxford. Well done and congratulations to these hard working students!
May 2006: Home to Kowloon Tong in Hong Kong to be with family and to celebrate by grandfather's 85th birthday. Met up with friends Junius and Cecilia Ho and their children, John and Carmen Suen and baby Chloe, and Vanessa Lee.
14 June 2006: Old school friend Joanne Smith and her fiancee hold a piano duet recital at the Lunchtime recital series at the Civic Centre, Southend-on-Sea.
13 July 2006: Chamber music evening at home with old German teacher John Culley and friend Cora Adcock. Music by Kodaly, Telemann, Bach and Albrechtsberger.
16 July 2006: The European Piano Teachers Association garden party at the Mayor of Southend -on Sea's formal residence 'Porters', Southend-on-Sea.
16 August 2006: Qualified as a solicitor for 2 years today!
3 September 2006: Back to Hong Kong to be with family.
7 September2006: Trip to Shanghai China with Grandma, Mummy, Aunty Eva and Aunty Anita.
10 September 2006: Back to Hong Kong to be with family and friends.
27 October 2006: John and Carmen Suen visit London with their daughter Chloe. We met for dinner in London China town.
11-14 November 2006: Southend on Sea Music Festival String Section. Brilliantly adjudicated by Andrew Sherwood, some stunning performances by Sophie-Anne Chaplin, Katharine Robb, Vincent Morris, Timothy Sentence and Kyiah-Rose Marks.
17-19 November 2006: Southend on Sea Music Festival Piano section. Graeme Humphrey adjudicated this year, and the competitors were of a particularly high standard. Notable performances included thoses by William Church, Sarah-Kay Ballard, Tom Heslop, Sophie Lythgoe, Roxanne Lee and Leon Yu. A very enjoyable if not exhausting weekend!
9 January 2007: A day of decadence! Morning - trying out violins at Guiviers. Lunch with friends Cora and Shelley at the St James Restaurant in Fortnum & Masons,shopping galore, tea with Biranda at Liberty's, and dinner at Chancery Court Hotel.
10 January 2007: attended my friend Chisato Kusunoki's Purcell Room debut recital of contemporary music. Super playing as ever from this gifted pianist with so much talent!
14 January 2007: attended my friend Annette Forkin's recorder recital of music by Telemann. Lovely playing masterfully accompanied by David Galbraith/Wood on the harpsichord.
18 February 2007: Chinese New Year 2007!!!!! Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!! 15 days of celebration.
25 February 2007: A day to remember - the Hugglets Bear Fest in Kensington Town Hall, London. Hundreds of teddybears by branded makes and artist makers from all other the world stuffed into 3 floors. Really super exhibits ranging from vintage old bears to brand new bears. A small shopping spree for me :-)
25 February 2007: Lunch at Ciao Bella in Holborn with old BPP Law School friends Drs. Ludwig & Mireille Zrinzo and their baby Ella, Alpa and her husband Olivier, and Naveed. Great food but with even better company of friends!
11 March 2007: Piano Lesson with Lora Dimitrova. Inspirational as usual! Programme of more Balakirev, Liszt and Chopin. Billy bear by Ingrid Schmid and Old Nick by Paula Strethill-Smith came along too!
18 March 2007: EPTA(UK) piano competition first round Essex: Connie Yu won the elementary section, Syon Lee won the Intermediate 1 section, and Roxanne Lee won the Intermediate 2 section. The playing in the Intermediate 2 class was of an exceptionally high standard with nearly all competitors playing by memory and very well prepared. Well done boys and girls!
9 April 2007: Easter Monday. My old law school friend Angie Soon came to visit Southend. A lovely day of walking on the pier, fish and chips, and Rossi's ice cream!
6 May 2007: Piano Lesson with Lora Dimitrova. We settled on a nice programme of Bach, Chopin, Liszt and Ravel. Old Nick and Georgie bear came along too!
15 May 2007: Canadian violinist James Ehnes came to Southend with the Philharmonia to perform the Elgar concerto in B minor. Superb playing and a really nice sounding violin (Strad ex Marsick 1715). Something funny happened during the performance though, a huge spider came down from the ceiling just next to James Ehnes and then made its way to the floor. I think all the people in the front row jumped! :-) Old Nick and Cedric came to listen
19 May 2007: Leigh on Sea Musical Festival young musician of the year competition: Thrilling playing by the winners Sarah Kay Ballard (piano), Tammy Thorn (bassoon), and Ben Gershinson (oboe). A very high standard of playing this year. James Gregory (piano) and Sophie-Anne Chaplin (violin) should also be mentioned for their commendable performances.
17 July 2007: It is with great sadness that I heard that Dr Helene La Rue, curator of the Bate Collection and the musical instruments of the Pitt Rivers Museum, died on 13 July 2007 from cancer. 'H' as she preferred to be called, lectured in Ethnomusicology and was extremely knowledgeable about the instruments in her care. She will be missed very much by many people. She was a very kind and considerate person.
Bank Holiday Weekend August: Uncle Simon, Aunty Lynn, cousins Fabienne and Stephanie come visit for the weekend with their huge puppy Tobey!!!!!
2 September 2007: The Hugglets Teddies 2007 show. I acquired bears by Mister Bear, LJ Bears, Maw Paw bears and Tonni Bears. Student Kyiah and her Daddy Russell and my Mum came too. We all had a lovely day!
3 September 2007: My first day as Partner at Lindops Solicitors.
7 September 2007: It is with sad news that I learnt from Marjan Jorritsma that the great American teddybear artist maker, Kathy Wallace (Stier Bears), died last week. Her bears are exquisitely made and stuffed with Straw. I write this sitting surrounded by 5 of her bears. I have 7 in total. I wish I had had the opportunity to have met her to tell her how happy she has made me with her work.
20-3 November 2007: Trip to Sydney, Australia, to visit Uncle YO and Aunty Lena Lau.
November 2007: Southend on Sea Music Festival. Kyiah Rose Marks, James Choi, Leon Yu and Joshua Bishop win prizes. As usual, fantastic playing and compositions from Sarah Kay Ballard and William Church. Well Done!
January 2008: My birthday. Luch at Quaglino's with friends Sian Tichar, Emilce Vega, Angie, Shelley White and Mark, Tracy and Stephen. Old Nick came too!
January 2008: Visit to St Albans to see dear Lydia Mordkovitch at her new home, can't believe it has been so long since I last saw her!!
24 February 2008: The Hugglets Winterbearfest, Kensington, London. A super teddy show with thousands of bears to adopt. I met Marjan Jorritsma again, from whom I had commission a new bear.
16 March 2008: EPTA(UK) piano competition first regional round. Kyiah Rose Marks (intermediate 1 (grades 4-5) class), James Choi (intermediate 2 (grades 6-7) class) and Joshua Bishop (Advanced 1 (grade8) class) are through to the next round of the competition in London on 11th May 2008. Chloe Pang (Elementary (grades 1-3) class) and Leon Yu (Advanced 1 (grade 8) class) were both awarded high commendations for their playing. Well done and congratulations to them all.
May 2008: EPTA(UK) piano competition London regional final. Kyiah Rose Marks, James Choi and Joshua Bishop compete. I thought all students from the Essex region played the best in the Intermediate 2 class, and I thought James Choi should have won the class as I thought his performance had the most conviction, poise, dynamic range, control and confident execution, and the audience seemed to indicate the same judging by the amount of applause! Nevermind! There is always next year, but I think poor James was disappointed with the reasult, as was I. That's competitions for you!
May/June 2008: Home to Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong for my grandparent's and Aunty Lena Lau's birthday party. Good to see all family and John Suen, Carmen and Chloe again
20 June 2008: Dinner at Eve and Martin Garwood's home. An evening of food, chat and a mini piano recital from me (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt)
August 17: John, Carmen and Chloe Suen visit London for dinner with us at Ciao Bella in Lamb Conduit Street.
21 August 2008. A day out at Buckingham Palace with our friend Eve Davies. We viewed the royal collection at the Queen's Gallery, the State Coaches/ Carriages at the Roayl Mews and the State Rooms and Gardens at Buckingham Palace. All the tours of Parliament were fully booked and Westminster Abbey was disappointly closed. Then tea at my favourite London haunt, Fortnum & Masons, followed by dinner at Ciao Bella, which is a super Italian restaurant in Lambs Conduit Street, and a place to star watch. Actor Rupert Everett popped in. All in all, a really lovely day, and the sun shined too (a very rare thing this summer) Old Nick and Cederic bear came along, and I adopted a Russ teddy from the Buckingham Palace Shop.
31 August 2008. Treated by my student Joshua Bishop to two concerts at the Proms as a thank you pressie for teaching him. How nice! We watched Lang Lang and Marc Yu play the piano, and Verdi's Requiem. A very nice day with dinner at the Bistro One Ninety Queen's Gate, the Gore Hotel South Kensington.
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