CUHK
News Centre

The Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has approved the appointment of Prof. Victor CHAN Wai-kwong, Professor in the Department of Music, as Head of Chung Chi College for a period of four years from 1 August 2014, succeeding Prof. Leung Yuen-sang who has served as College Head for 10 years.  Professor Leung will continue to be Dean of Arts of the University.  The University Council is deeply grateful to Professor Leung for his dedicated service and significant contributions to the College.

Prof. Victor Chan is currently Associate Head of Chung Chi College.  He was a Chung Chi student of the 1983 graduation class and served as a teaching assistant at the University for two years after graduation.  He continued his studies in music composition at the University of York on the British Council Scholarship and the Commonwealth Scholarship, and received his DPhil degree in 1988.  He returned to his alma mater in 1989 and has been teaching at the Department of Music since then, currently in charge of the department’s Composition Programme and MA Programme. 

Over the years, he has taken up numerous administrative duties in the University and Chung Chi College.  He is currently Chairman of the Arts Steering Committee of the University and a member of the Faculty Board.  On the college level, he has served as chairman of various Chung Chi committees, including the Integrated Basic Studies Committee, the Assemblies Committee, and the Educational Conferences Committee.  He has been a member of the College Assembly of Fellows since 2001 and College Cabinet since 2004.  He was appointed Dean of General Education in 2004 and Associate Head of the College in 2011.

Professor Chan is pleased to accept the appointment.  And yet, it is in Cardinal John Newman’s prayer that he sees his challenge ahead.  ‘I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me,’ he said.

Prof. Victor Chan is an active composer, conductor and contemporary music promoter. He has produced over 200 works to date, ranging from opera, orchestral music, to numerous chamber works, choral pieces and songs, many of which have been published and released on CD.

Major works of him include commissions for the 1997 Hong Kong Reunification, the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the centenary of the Citigroup, and the 30^th anniversary of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.  His music has been performed in many parts of the world and has officially represented Hong Kong on various international occasions.  These include the International Society for Contemporary Music Festivals, the Asian Composers’ League Festivals and Conferences, the International Federation of Choral Music Festivals, the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers Conferences, the Beijing International Music Festivals, the World Symposium on Choral Music, the Sapporo Pacific Music Festival, the Amsterdam International Composers Festival, the Manhattan Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival.

For twelve consecutive years since 1993, Professor Chan served as Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild.  From 1997 to 2000 he was appointed as Composer-in-Residence of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.  In the year 1998, he was granted the ‘Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award’.