Cover Premiere Performances’ founder Andrea Fessler speaking at Tony Siqi Yun’s recital in 2025 (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
Premiere Performances’ founder Andrea Fessler speaking at Tony Siqi Yun’s recital in 2025 (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
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Premiere Performances founder Andrea Fessler reflects on how she helped shape Hong Kong’s chamber music scene and shares her hopes for the industry as the organisation approaches its 20th anniversary in 2027
As Premiere Performances, the city’s leading classical chamber music platform, turns toward spring, anticipation is building for who its founder, corporate lawyer-turned-chamber music champion, Andrea Fessler, will be bringing to Hong Kong.
Over the years, Fessler and her team have introduced the city to a remarkable roster of musicians, including Chinese pianist Yuja Wang and guitarist Montenegrin Miloš Karadaglić, both of whom performed their Hong Kong debuts under the organisation’s banner. “I’ve always focused on bringing artists from overseas and giving them a platform,” Fessler says. It’s a philosophy reflected in Premiere Performances’ motto: you heard them here first.
Its next chapter will feature a jazz programme that starts on March 3 and recitals that take place from April 1, stretching the organisation’s creative reach. Among the new season’s stars is American singer Stella Cole, whose smoky, vintage-inspired voice has drawn millions of fans online. Her Hong Kong debut at West Kowloon will usher in a dynamic season that continues Premiere Performances’ nearly two decades of mission of connecting Hong Kong audiences with world-class artists before they become household names.
Above From left: Yuja Wang and Andrea Fessler, who presented the Chinese pianist’s Hong Kong debut in 2009 at a Premiere Performances concert (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
From left: Yuja Wang and Andrea Fessler, who presented the Chinese pianist’s Hong Kong debut in 2009 at a Premiere Performances concert (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
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When Fessler founded the non-profit in 2007, Hong Kong’s classical music scene looked very different. “At that time, there were already three professional orchestras in Hong Kong—the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the City Chamber Orchestra. But there was no platform for recitals or chamber music,” she says. Large-scale orchestral performances thrived, but opportunities for smaller ensembles or rising soloists were nearly non-existent.
She was inspired by the Vancouver Recital Society, of which her parents were early donors; Fessler spent her teenage attending its concerts. For many years, the organisation has been giving the stage to rising stars. Fast forward to Fessler’s early days in Hong Kong, she attended a concert by the HKPhil, which had a last-minute replacement for the pianist. The orchestra brought in then rising star Kirill Gerstein, a Russian American pianist.
“[The HKPhil] called Kirill up in Germany on a Thursday. He got on the plane and the concert was Friday night, and he was so good at the concert that I went back the next day to hear him again, which I had never done before,” she recalls. With a little research, Fessler found out that Gerstein had played at the Vancouver Recital Society just the year before. “I was amazed: from 1980 to the 2000s, [the society’s founder Leila Getz] has been finding these amazing young talents and giving them their debut [and stage]. And so that made me think about how it would be so wonderful if Hong Kong could have an organisation like that too.”
Above From left: Fessler and Taiwanese-American violinist Cho-Liang Lin at a Premiere Performances concert (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
From left: Fessler and Taiwanese-American violinist Cho-Liang Lin at a Premiere Performances concert (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
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It wasn’t the obvious career move for a corporate lawyer. Having practised in London, New York and Tokyo before relocating to Hong Kong in 2004, Fessler had built a demanding international career. But a sense of purpose—and a self-help book about finding meaning—set her on a new path. “I kept saying someone should do it, but it never occurred to me that I could. Then one day it did,” she says. She began calling artist managers around the world, planning her first concert series at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre later that year. By her second season, she was bringing British pianist Stephen Hough to City Hall. “When that happened, Hong Kong’s arts community took notice.”
The first edition of what became the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival followed in 2009, after which Fessler left law altogether to focus full-time on the organisation she had built. In those early years, she faced sceptics who questioned the viability of chamber music in Hong Kong. “People asked, ‘Why are you doing a chamber music festival? Nobody in Hong Kong cares about that.’ But after the first festival, suddenly the message was, ‘This is exactly what Hong Kong needs.’”
Her instincts turned out to be right. Before the festival launched, Fessler said, there were only around 15 chamber music concerts presented annually by a handful of organisations. By 2016, that number had risen to more than 130 concerts presented by over 20 groups. Beyond audience growth, institutions took note too—RTHK formed a resident quartet, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts made chamber music compulsory, and a local ecosystem flourished.
Above From left: Clara-Jumi Kang, South Korean violinist, and Van Cliburn gold medalist Yekwon Sunwoowho performing at a Premiere Performances concert in 2024 (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
From left: Clara-Jumi Kang, South Korean violinist, and Van Cliburn gold medalist Yekwon Sunwoowho performing at a Premiere Performances concert in 2024 (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
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For Fessler, the charm of chamber music lies in its intimacy and humanity. “Music-making is often described as a lifelong activity, but that’s especially true of chamber music,” she says. Historically written to be performed in living rooms rather than concert halls, chamber works bring musicians into direct collaboration. “If you play an instrument well enough, you can get together with friends and play. It’s like a conversation.” Compared to large orchestras, where dozens of musicians follow a single conductor, chamber music demands equal participation and deep listening. “It teaches soft skills: listening, teamwork, even negotiation.”
Those values flow naturally into Premiere Performances’ education work. Since 2012, the organisation’s Chamber Music in Schools programme has reached over 130,000 students across Hong Kong. Fessler observes that many children learn instruments but not joy. “There’s almost no love of music being taught,” she says. The school concerts aim to change that by mixing classical repertoire with pop, film and television themes, showing children that instrument-playing can be creative and social. According to surveys, nearly two-thirds of students who already study an instrument report feeling motivated to practise more after attending. “When kids realise they can play music they enjoy with friends, it gives them a reason to keep learning,” she says.
That commitment to nurturing young talent extends to the professional level. Following this year’s festival, Fessler has recently announced a new string quartet mentoring programme, developed after an impressive round of auditions for the schools initiative. “We realised an entire generation of Hong Kong musicians has grown up loving chamber music,” she says. The new scheme will provide three young quartets with coaching, mentorship and performance opportunities—a natural progression of the festival’s educational mission.
Above Musicians performing at Premiere Performances’ ’Beare's Premiere Music Festival’ (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
Musicians performing at Premiere Performances’ ’Beare's Premiere Music Festival’ (Photo: courtesy of Fessler)
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As Premiere Performances approaches its 20th anniversary in 2027, Fessler is already looking forward. The celebrations will feature returning artists who made their Hong Kong debuts under her leadership, including pianist Kirill Gerstein and, notably, Wang, now a global superstar, who will perform with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in a milestone event. “Twenty years later, I feel ready to take on something bigger,” she says with a laugh.
While she embraces innovation—from concept recitals to new jazz ventures—Fessler remains a staunch advocate for the live concert experience. “There’s something about being in the hall and receiving the vibrations, about the energy between artist and audience. You can’t replicate that through technology.”
With her signature blend of practicality and passion, Fessler has helped transform Hong Kong into a thriving hub for live classical music. What began as a one-woman idea inspired by a pianist’s last-minute substitution has matured into a cornerstone of the city’s cultural life. As she prepares to open the next season this spring, her vision remains elegantly simple: discover talent early, share it widely, and remind audiences—young and old alike—why live music still matters.
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
