The Artists

Born in Hong Kong and enjoyed an exceptional Anglo-Chinese education, Sharon Andrea Choa excelled in the violin at an early age and first began conducting while still at school at the age of 16. She was later accepted at the Royal Academy of Music as a violinist to study under the great quartet leader Sidney Griller. Choa also holds a First Class B.Mus. and Ph.D degrees from King’s College London. During her studies at King’s, her talent for conducting was rediscovered and led to coaching from the conductors Lawrence Leonard, Diego Masson, Georg Tintner, Janos Fürst, Jiří Bělohlávek, and Sir Colin Davis.

In the U.K., Choa founded Chamber Orchestra Anglia, a professional ensemble that draws together creative, cultural and academic strengths in the country. Whilst there, Choa has been awarded many performance and academic prizes and has been given individual grants by Arts Council England, the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Council to further her many musical and entrepreneurial activities. She was awarded the Norfolk Arts Award and the A.R.A.M. in 2014, the same year when she returned to her birth place, Hong Kong, to take up the position as Dean of Music at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA).

In Hong Kong, she guest conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil), and was the Principal Guest conductor of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble – taking the ensemble on tour to the Tongyeong International Music Festival and Asia Cultural Center’s Performing Arts Festival in Gwangju, Korea, as well as performing in a series of high-profile concerts in Hong Kong. In 2016, she and her colleagues at the HKAPA founded an ensemble - Philharmonia APA - made up of the most distinguished graduates from the School of Music. Since then, Choa has taken the ensemble on tour to Vienna, and performed in venues in Hong Kong to considerable acclaim. In 2020, Choa joint hands with the HK Phil to develop ‘The Orchestra Academy Hong Kong’ that allows HKAPA students to receive the highest professional training. Recently, she worked with the London Symphony Orchestra to produce two CDs for Warner Music, the recordings will be available by the end of 2024.