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KUOK-MAN LIO

Conductor 

　　Born in Macau , Kuok-Man Lio began his piano lessons at the age of five . H e was awarded the Oriental Foundation Scholarship to further his piano studies with Gabriel Kwok, Head of Keyboard Studies of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Mr. Lio received his Bachelor Degree of Music with first-class honors. He has been awarded the Macao Cultural Institute Scholarship, Asian Cultural Council Dr. Stanley Ho Fellowship, as well as the Julliard Scholarship and Assistantship to pursue the Master's degree at the Juilliard School of Music, where he study piano with Robert McDonald, conducting with Virginia Allen and chamber music with Michael Tree and Joseph Kalichstein. After graduation from Juilliard, he was awarded first place in the Curtis Institute of Music conducting department audition, and was also awarded full-tuition scholarship to further his conducting study with Maestro Otto-Werner Mueller from fall 2005.

　　Mr. Lio has conducted the Curtis Lab Orchestra, Portland Repertory Opera Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra, the New Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria and the premier of the composition by a Japanese composer, Yui Kitamura. Mr. Lio has appeared in several music festivals, including the Juilliard Chamber Music Festival and the FOCUS International Contemporary Music Festival in Lincoln Center .

　　As a frequent concert pianist, Mr. Lio has performed as a soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Bacau Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), Macao Chamber Orchestra, Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, HKAPA Symphony Orchestra and the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared in many concerts in Taiwan , Japan , Austria , Germany , Canada and United States . Mr. Lio was invited to the Radio & Television of Hong Kong as a recording artist for a young artist program. He performed as a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Macao Chamber Orchestra for the former Chinese Chairman Ze-Min Jiang, and was invited to give another performance for the present Chairman Jin-Tao Hu.

　　Mr. Lio has won numerous awards in local and international piano competitions; including First Prizes at the Tenth Hong Kong ( Asia ) Piano Open Competition Hong Kong final in 1999 and the First Toyama Asian Youth Music Competition in 2002. In 2003 he was awarded Second Prize in the 6 th Mauro Paolo Monopoli International Piano Competition ( Italy ). He was also awarded the Critics Jury Award, as well as the Asian Pianist Award in the same competition. Besides, he has studied master classes with great pianists; such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitri Bashkirov, Boris Berman, Peter Donohoe, Sergei Dorensky, Christopher Elton, Vladimir Krainev, Murray Perahia, John Perry and Arie Vardi.

　　To recognize the achievements in many areas, Mr. Lio is one of the youngest and the only artist, who is awarded the Honorary Diploma by the Macau government in 2003.