King's Harmonica Quintet

King’s Harmonica Quintet 英皇口琴五重奏

The King's Harmonica Quintet was established in 1987 by five Hong Kong harmonica enthusiasts who created a revolutionary form of harmonica performing art, transcribing classical chamber music into the repertoire of harmonica ensemble and fully exploiting the capabilities of harmonica as a concert instrument. In 1997, the Quintet made a history in Hong Kong by winning the champion title in the World Harmonica Championship in Germany. In the two World Harmonica Festivals (WHF) of 1995 in Yokohama Japan and 1997 in Trossingen Germany, members of the Quintet seized a total of 16 awards, including 2 champions, 3 first runners-up and 2 second runners-up titles. Since 1996 and 2005 respectively, the Quintet appeared regularly in the biennial Asia Pacific Harmonica Festivals (APHF) and the quadrennial WHF as adjudicators, seminar speakers and guest performers. The Quintet has multiple collaborations with all major professional orchestras in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (2002 & 2009), Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (2004, 2008 & 2013), City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (2004) and Hong Kong Sinfonietta (2011), and has been appointed as the Artist-in-Residence for RTHK Radio 4 in 2006 and Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2013. The quintet appeared numerous times on concert stages both locally including the Hong Kong Arts Festival thrice in 2000, 2010 and 2023 as featured artist, and internationally in 33 cities of 16 countries all over the world. The quintet pioneered in original harmonica ensemble music with 30 original musical compositions dedicated to the Quintet by numerous composers since 1999. The Quintet was the chief founder of the Hong Kong Harmonica Association established in 2002 and has hosted the mega-scale 5th APHF 2004 in Hong Kong attended by over 1800 harmonica players and enthusiasts from over 20 countries, setting a landmark in the history of international harmonica festivals.