bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Oliver Chou

The city has lost a musical luminary with the passing of Barbara Fei Ming-yi.
The renowned soprano and founder of choral group Allegro Singers, which groomed generations of choristers, passed away on Monday night at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital.

She was 85 and is survived by two sons.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying expressed his “profound sadness” and said Fei “contributed her expert knowledge to the government in formulating policy on music promotion as well as other arts and cultural matters”.
Undersecretary for Home Affairs Florence Hui Hiu-fai told the Post: “Every time we met she would generously share thoughts on music and arts development, especially for our young people. She was a treasure and will be dearly missed.”
Born into an intellectual family in Shanghai in 1931, Fei’s musical talent was evident from an early age, when at four, she could perform from memory The Family Song, from a movie directed by her father, Fei Mu, one of China’s top film directors.
Fei studied piano and voice at the national conservatory in Nanjing in the late 1940s before she relocated to Hong Kong with her family in 1949.
She made her debut in 1951 at a concert presented by the Sino-British Orchestra to inaugurate the new hall at Queen’s College.

It was the only time her father would hear her sing however, as he died of heart failure shortly after working on a film in Yuen Long.
Fei continued to develop her career as a soprano under the wing of her uncle Fei Yi-min, director of Ta Kung Pao, the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China.
After a debut at the new Empire Theatre in North Point in 1956, she joined the Sino-British Orchestra to perform in Guangzhou, and, later that year, flew to Paris to study under illustrious European soprano Lotte Schöne for three years.

The opening of City Hall in 1962 offered Fei a platform for vocal arts, especially her signature repertoire of Chinese folksongs sung in western style.
With the founding of the Allegro Singers in 1964, she commissioned Chinese composers to arrange folksongs for chorus, a practice she kept at every annual concert up to 2016.
With her unique family background, she was also welcomed with open arms both in Taiwan and on the mainland.

She was the first artist from Hong Kong to perform in Shanghai after the Cultural Revolution, exchanging ideas with mainland musicians and introducing works by local composers such as Doming Lam Ngok-pui.
She was also instrumental in organising forums that brought Chinese music circles around the world under one roof.
Fei was a long-time member of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, serving also as head of music until late last year.

She was awarded the Bronze and a Silver Bauhinia medals in 2001 and 2012 respectively.
Her last performance was in City Hall Concert Hall last November when she conducted the Allegro Singers at the concert series “Our Dream 2016”, presented by the Chinese Women Composers’ Association, of which she was honorary president.
She was supposed to lead her group to a Taipei performance this weekend.
In what would be her last interview in a long and stellar career, Fei told the Post last Friday that she wished to return to the stage of the Empire Theatre, which was renamed the State Theatre but closed in 1997.
“Even if I have no more teeth and I can just stand there, I hope that day will come,” she had said on her hospital bed.


‘Fitness King of Hong Kong’ Eddie Phillips dies of lung cancer aged 74

Val Kilmer, star of Batman Forever, Tombstone and Top Gun, dead at 65

Stuntman Richard Norton sparred with Jackie Chan and made Chuck Norris ‘a better person’

Richard Chamberlain, star of Shogun, Dr Kildare, and The Thorn Birds, dies at 90

Obituaries

Hong Kong soprano and Allegro Singers founder Barbara Fei Ming-yi dies at 85

Acclaimed soprano Barbara Fei was supposed to lead her choral group to Taiwan this weekend. Photo: Jonathan Wong

***PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE REUSE*** File picture of Barbara Fei Ming-yee, music performer and conductor.

***PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE REUSE*** This image shows conductor Barbara Fei Ming-yi with the Allegro Singers performing at the Goldener Saal (Golden Hall) in Vienna. 22MAY08 [13JULY2014 feature POST MAGAZINE

Barbara Fei conducting a group of allegro singing in rehearsal at Christian Church, Kowloon. 28NOV67

File picture of Barbara Fei Ming-yee, music performer and conductor. Circa 1950 in Hong Kong.

This image show the cover for the programme "Allegro Singers Annual Concert", featuring conductor Barbara Fei Ming-yi and held at the Concert Hall, City Hall in Hong Kong. 02OCT77 [13JULY2014 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE]

News

Hong Kong

Education

She was a cultural trailblazer and instrumental in uniting circles of Chinese music around the world
