Yiu Song Lam

Hong Kong-born Yiu Song-lam is a distinguished oboist who has worked in the music industry as performer, educator and entrepreneur. He was appointed as Head of Winds, Brass and Percussion of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) in 2015. Yiu has been Visiting Professor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music since 2016 and was elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) by the Royal Academy of Music for his significant contributions to the music profession.

A graduate of the HKAPA, Yiu was awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarship to study at the Queensland Conservatorium in Australia, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Rotterdam Conservatorium in Holland and at the Köln Musikhochschule in Germany, where he received the Diplom der Künstlerischen Abschlußprüfung with distinction.

He has worked extensively as soloist with renowned orchestras worldwide, and has been invited to perform with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner and with the London Virtuosi on their Spain tour.

Yiu is the founding Artistic Director of Hong Kong Wind Kamerata and the Vice-president of the Asian Double Reed Association; he is highly regarded for his contributions in developing the double reed network regionally and internationally.

Yiu is frequently invited to perform at prestigious music festivals around the world, and has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Benjamin Schmid, Christopher Warren-Green, Peter Damm, Pierre Yves Artaud, André Cazalet, Carlo Colombo, Christian Schmitt, Guy Touvron, Philippe Cuper, Michel Arrignon and Florent Héau. He is also an avid promoter of contemporary music and has premiered numerous works by local and overseas composers for the International Society for Contemporary Music and other occasions.

Yiu receives regular invitations to give masterclasses and adjudicate at international competitions. He has given masterclasses at top institutions in Germany, France, Switzerland, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and China. He has served as an adjudicator for the Muri International Oboe Competition in Switzerland, the IDRS Fernard Gillet-Hugo Fox International Oboe Competition, IDRS International Young Artist Oboe Competition, the Concours International Musique de Chambre in Lyon, France and the Geneva Competition 2021.

His students have won major prizes in many international competitions and have been appointed major positions at renowned orchestras across Europe and Asia.

Yiu attributes his achievements to the efforts of his teachers and mentors, including Chan Kwok Cheung, Martin Gatt, Peter Cooper, Anthony Camden, Celia Nicklin, George Caird, Emanuel Abbühl, Christian Schneider, Thomas Indermühle, Lothar Koch and Maurice Bourgue.

Yiu Song Lam has been trusting Rigoutat since 1993.