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 (grade 8) 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)
17 August 2008: 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.
14 September 2008: A trip to the Hugglets Teddies Show 2008 at Kensington Town Hall with our friends, Eve Davies, Kyiah Rose Marks and Russell Marks. A very lovely day at the show, Chinese Dim Sum lunch, and walk around China Town and Covent Garden and more star spotting - Rupert Everett again!
2-4 October 2008: A weekend at Potton Hall, Weselton, Suffolk, to help my violin teacher Lydia Mordkovitch with her latest recording project (a cd dedicated to her teacher David Oistrakh for the 100 years anniversary of his birth) for Chandos Records. Lots of music and page turning and playing and holding a Stradivari violin and a Landolphi viola. Her playing with Nicholas Walker (on piano) was inspirational, and it was a good learning experience to see the recording process and Ralph Couzens at work. It was also very nice to meet Jeremy and Helen Hayes and their two lovely children who were most charming and hospitable.
12 October 2008: A lovely day visiting my violin teacher Lydia Mordkovitch in St Albans. We had a lovely stroll in the very special Verulamium Park, lunch at Waffle House, and then a violin lesson after. All in all, a very nice day with summer weather in October!
12-23 November 2008: Southend on Sea Musical Festival: Students Kyiah-Rose Marks (violin and piano) and Samuel Wright (violin) performed and won prizes. Well done Kyiah and Samuel!!
29 November 2008: The Freda Parry Scholarship Award Competition 2008: Tiffany Redman won this year's competition with a varied programme of songs/arias. Well done!
30 November 2008: The Southend on Sea Musical Festival Prizewinners' concert 2008. Lots of wonderful performances from many talented people from Southend on Sea and South East Essex.
14 December 2008: A visit to St Albans to see my beloved violin teacher Lydia Mordkovitch. Had a lovely lesson playing several Caprices by Rode, Dont and Locatelli, as well as Nardini's sonata in D Major.
1 January 2009: Lunch in Chinatown to celebrate New Year!
11 January 2009: Lunch at the Ritz Hotel, London with Mummy, Shelley and Eve, and Timmy bear too!
12 January 2009: Met up with old Oxford Uni friend Francois Perrodo and his Mum Auntie Carrie. Haven't seen them in ages, so good to see them!
17 January 2009: A visit to Newark to see Glen A Collins, luthier and maker to the late Yehudi Menhuin to collect my violin!!
26 January 2009: Celebrating Chinese New Year of the Ox! Moo!!
February 2009: I become a trustee of the Freda Parry Scholarship - an annual scholarship award for singers aged under 29 who are permanently resident in Essex who have attained grade 8 singing and intend to pursue further professional tuition and or are about to be students at an institution/ musical college/ school studying singing.
22 February 2009: The Hugglets Winterbearfest, Kensington Townhall, London. I lovely day full of teddies and meeting fellow teddycollectors Anjo Noija and Elisabeth Schorr. Then lunch at the Golden Dragon, Chinatown with Eve, Kyiah, Russell, Carol, Amelia and Ken
23 February 2009: A wonderful violin concert by my beloved teacher, Lydia Mordkovitch, in tribute to her teacher David Oistrakh, celebrating 100 years of his birth. A wonderful concert with Lydia's own arrangement of Bach's Chaconne with violin ensemble accompaniment, Prokofiev solo sonata played ensemble, Rachmaninov's Romance and Danse Hongris for violin ensemble, Prokofiev's sonata for 2 violins and Alfred Mendelssohn's Prelude and Fugue for solo violin. a really enjoyable time.
15 March 2009: A visit to my beloved violin teacher, Lydia Mordkovitch. We have a lovely time playing Nardini' s sonata in D, first movement of Goldmark's concerto, and Vitali/ Charlier Ciaconna. We also listened to the first edit of her new CD recording of Russian music by Khanduskin, Volkonsky, Kabalevsky and Prokofiev
25 March 2009: At the Royal Courts of Justice to issue an appeal in the Court of Appeal. A visit to New Square Chambers to see friend Shelley White with time for lunch and Krispy Kreme doughnuts!
29 March 2009: A visit to my beloved violin teacher, Lydia Mordkovitch. A lovely afternoon of playing
May 2009: Back to Hong Kong for the annual Grandparents' birthday bash
7 June 2009: A violin lesson with beloved Lydia and then a lovely evening at a dinner party at Elena and Nick's house with Lydia, Juliet, Tania, Felix Andrievsky and his wife and Natasha Boyarsky and her husband.
21 June 2009: A violin lesson with Lydia Mordkovitch, works by Barber, Vitali and Tartini
25 June 2009: A visit to see luthiers Glen and Suzie Collins at Holly Bush Cottage, Newark. Glen check my violin's sound post, fitted a new tailpiece with the gold and enamel Guarneri family crest and put new strings on for me. Then lunch at Zizzi with them both and their two lovely children.
27 June 2009: A visit to Lydia in Napsbury Park, followed by a visit to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Stoke D'Abernon to watch a concert with some of the school's talented students performing. A really lovely evening with some super playing!
12 September 2009: The Freda Parry Scholarship Award. I was one of the adjudicators for this year's singing scholarship. A really lovely evening of several competitors singing varied programmes for the competition
September 2009: The Hugglets Teddies Show 2009 at Kensington Town Hall. A few new friends to take home! Lunch in Chinatown :-)
October/ November 2009: Back to Hong Kong to visit my family
November 2010: Southend Music Festival. Congratulations to students Aviv Cohen and Kyiah Marks for he highest marks and most promising performers awards
26 December 2009: A hear sad news of my Daddy's passing.
16 January 2010: Attended my Daddy's funeral in Fan Ling village, Hong Kong. Met family I have not seen or known, traditional Fan Ling village funeral was a spectacle and an ordeal, very different to quiet English funerals.
28 February 2010: More happy times at the Hugglets Winterbearfest at Kensington Town Hall, a cold day but warmed up by the teddies inside. A few new friends to take home and a nice lunch at the Georgian Restaurant at Harrods after. All in all a fab day
21 March 2010: Attending beloved Lora Dimitrova's live recorded Grieg Concerto performance with the Bromley Youth Orchestra at the Ravensbourne School in Bromley, followed by a dinner with students Aviv and Samuel at Penninsula restaurant, Docklands. Lovely inspiration playing as always!
20 April 2010: Attended beloved Lydia Mordkovitch's concert held by the Richmond Concert Society. A wonderful programme of Brahms sonata in D minor, Prokofiev 5 pieces from Cindarella, Tchaikovsky Meditation and Beethoven's thrilling 'Kreutzer' sonata
26 April 2010: I gave a talk on Powers of Attorney and Deputyship at Carewatch for their Dignity and Dementia event held at SAVS in Southend on Sea.
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