CUHK
News Centre
CUHK Department of Music Organises Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professor Public Lecture on “Music as Creative Practice” by World-Renowned Musicologist Professor Nicholas Cook
Prof. Nicholas Cook, Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge and famous musicologist, honoured the Department of Music at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) by accepting its invitation to present a distinguished public lecture on “Music as Creative Practice” under the Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professorship Scheme. This public lecture was enthusiastically received by a full house on Friday (23 March) at the Esther Lee Building, CUHK.
Prof. Cook addressed “a long history of myth-making around creativity in music” and demonstrated how commentators have only belatedly turned theories on musical creativity “upside down”. Against this backdrop, he went further to carve out a framework that approaches creative imagination in music through the notion of “sonic ontology” and from this argued that solo creativity is, rather unexpectedly, no less than a form of collaborative creativity. The lecture welcomed Mr. Christopher Mok, representative of Mok Hing Yiu Charitable Foundation, honourable guests of the music industry, alumni, staff, students and the general public, attracting an attendance of over 200.
As well as the public lecture, Prof. Cook presented 3 colloquia on the topics “Socialities of Music”, “Anatomy of the Encounter: Debussy and the Gamelan”, and “The Other Classics: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven”, and also a seminar on “Music, Encounter, and the Relational” during his professorship in March.
The Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professorship Scheme
The Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professorship Scheme was established by CUHK in memory of the late Dr. Mok Hing Yiu with a generous donation from the Mok family. The aim of the Scheme is to advance the teaching, research and academic development of CUHK. Under the Scheme, one widely acclaimed scholar is invited to Hong Kong on an annual basis to participate in teaching and scholastic exchange, and deliver a professorial lecture in a public form to inspire staff, students and alumni of CUHK, professional groups and the general public.
About Prof. Nicholas Cook
Prof. Cook is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge. He previously taught in Hong Kong, Sydney, Southampton and London. His Music: A Very Short Introduction (1998) is published in fifteen languages. Among his more recent books, The Schenker Project: Culture, Race, and Music Theory in Fin-de-siècle Vienna (2007) won the Society for Music Theory’s Wallace Berry Award in 2010, while Beyond the Score: Music as Performance, based on his work as Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, appeared in 2013. His latest book, Music as Creative Practice, is just about to appear, and he is currently finalising a book provisionally entitled Music, Encounter, and the Relational, for which he was awarded a British Academy Wolfson Research Professorship. He was editor of Journal of the Royal Musical Association, elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2001 and received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters of the University of Chicago in 2013.
Prof. Nicholas Cook, Emeritus Professor of Music of the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture on “Music as Creative Practice” under the Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professorship Scheme supported by Mok Hing Yiu Charitable Foundation.
(From left) Prof. Fong Wing Ping, Head of Chung Chi College; Prof. Cheong Wai Ling, Chairman of Department of Music; Prof. Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor/ President; Prof. Nicholas Cook, Emeritus Professor of Music of the University of Cambridge; Mr. Christopher Mok, representative of Mok Hing Yiu Charitable Foundation; Prof. Leung Yuen Sang, Dean of Arts and Prof. Frederick Lau, Department of Music.
The lecture welcomed Mr. Christopher Mok, representative of Mok Hing Yiu Charitable Foundation, honourable guests of the music industry, alumni, staff, students and the general public, attracting an attendance of over 200.
(From left) Prof. Frederick Lau, Department of Music, CUHK; Prof. Fung Ting, Department of Geography and Resource Management, CUHK; Prof. Fong Wing Ping, Head of Chung Chi College, CUHK; Mr. Christopher Mok, representative of Mok Hing Yiu Charitable Foundation; Prof. Nicholas Cook, Emeritus Professor of Music of the University of Cambridge; Prof. Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK; Prof. Leung Yuen Sang, Dean of Arts, CUHK; Prof. Chan Tak Cheung, Anthony, Master of Wu Yee Sun College, CUHK, Ms. Corinna Lee, Director of Personnel, CUHK; Prof. Wong Suk Ying, Associate Vice-President of CUHK; Prof. Cheong Wai Ling, Chairman of Department of Music, CUHK and Janet Chow, Director of Institutional Advancement, CUHK.
