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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

Musical events during the year included visits, under the auspices of Mr. Harry Odell, by the instrumentalists Jean Fournier, Moisewitsch, Maurice Wilk, Enrico Mainardi with Carlo Zecchi, and Blaise Calame; by the singers William Warfield, Jan Peerce, Inia Te Wiata; by the comedienne Anna Russell; and by Jack Teagarden and his Sextet. The Music Society organized concerts for the pianists Halina Czerny-Stafanska, Walter Hautzig and Gary Graffman; for the Korean Symphony Orchestra and Classical Dancers, the Amadeus Quartet, for Alan Grishman and Joel Ryce (Duo Concertante), Edmund Kurtz, 'cellist, Ian Wilson, oboist, and McHenry Boatwright, baritone. Other items arranged by the Music Society included lectures by Kurt Woess and Thor Johnson, symphony orchestra conductors, Erwin Jospe on American music, and Dr.-John F. Williamson on choral technique, church music and conducting.

The Schools Music Association continued to encourage musical appreciation among the young by presenting ten concerts which gave opportunities for children to hear visiting and local artistes. The Schools Music Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary and it is estimated that 12,000 students, a record number, took part. Lady Claughton (Helen Henschel) visited Hong Kong for the second time to act as adjudicator. Professor Brian Nash of the Royal Academy of Music and Dr. Kenneth Barrit, Director of Studies of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, visited the Colony as examiners for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. This year saw a further increase in the number of entries (Practical 1,676 and Theory 529).

Hong Kong children submitted thirty six entries to a UNESCO Exhibition of Child Art in Japan and won twelve awards in an exhibition of 2,000 items.

In the visual arts, photography again had a notable year and the Photographic Society continued to maintain its international reputation.

The British Council, which takes part in many cultural activities in the Colony, opened an additional centre in Kowloon at the end of the year. The centre initially contains a lending library and reading room. The usual facilities that the Council offers through its libraries of films, film strips, records and photographs