胡栢端是香港中乐团中国音乐指挥大赛的获奖者。他的技艺五花八门，为香港音乐界贡献颇多。他曾担任香港演艺学院音乐学院音乐学科兼任讲师及指挥、香港演艺学院青少年音乐课程中乐团指挥及二胡导师，及香港青少年国乐团驻团指挥。在即将到来的音乐会上，胡栢端将与同为指挥大赛获奖得主郭健明在香港大会堂演出。
Rupert Woo Pak is one of the winners of Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s Conducting Competition in Chinese music. He has an eclectic skillset and contributes to the Hong Kong music scene in multiple ways, including but not limited to: his work as an erhu instructor of the Chinese orchestra on the Academy’s Junior Music Programme; his part-time lecturing and conducting at HKAPA and his role as Resident Conductor of the Hong Kong Juvenile & Chinese Classical Orchestra. In the upcoming concert, Rupert will be performing at the Hong Kong City Hall with the other winner of the HKCO Conducting Competition, Kwok Kin Ming.

DB: 您为什么热衷于指挥音乐？What is it you love about conducting?

音乐总是能带给我惊喜。它可以讲述一个故事，表达一种情感，它跃动而鲜活，它能呈现出不同的色彩和质感。我从中学开始接触二胡，它的美妙令我深深着迷。随着时间和经历的增长，我意识到尽管二胡能够满足我对艺术的追求，但真正令我感到心满意足的却是参与管弦乐团演奏。管弦乐团中不同的乐器组合可以创造出令人惊艳的谐和音律，这每每令我激动不已。此外，能够欣赏不同作曲家的作品，也使我惊叹于音乐的力量。从他们的作品中，可以感受到每位作曲家的音乐理念，以及他们如何通过作品表达自己的想法。指挥家不仅仅是一种职业。我们需要尽可能多地了解音乐作品，包括历史，文化，要和别人沟通，了解作者的情感，不同的人生经历等，做这些事情让我乐在其中，也只有这样我们才能为观众带来最丰满的故事。
Music is always amazing to me. It can tell a story, express an emotion, give a sense of motion, or just simply bring out different colours and texture. I learned erhu when I was in secondary school and fell in love with what it can play. Through my growth, however, it seems that the sound of one instrument can fulfil my artistic expectation, while the colour of an orchestra brought me much more satisfaction. Brilliant textures and sounds can be built through different combinations of instruments in an orchestra, which is really exciting to me. Moreover, by reading different compositions from different composers, it always amazes me the power of music. You can study the different musical ideas of each composer and how they express themselves through their works. Conducting is not only one profession. We need to know as much as possible, including history, culture, communication with people, emotion of people, different experiences in life…etc, to make our conducting work more fruitful to the audiences. All these characteristics of conducting allow me to enjoy my career.

DB: 在中乐团里，您最喜欢的乐器是哪种？Do you have a favourite instrument in the Chinese Orchestra?

弦乐器。正因如此，我中学的时候也选择了学习二胡。我一直认为弦乐器会说话和唱歌，表演时更容易将情绪传递给他人。 同时，用弦乐器更适合演奏中国很多不同风格的音乐。
String instruments. That’s why I chose it when I was in secondary school. I always think string instruments can talk and sing. The emotion can be easily passed to others while performing. Meanwhile, we have quite a lot of music with different styles in China, which is easy to express with string instruments.

DB: 您从香港科技大学毕业以后，转攻音乐表演，并获得香港演艺学院班胡和高胡表演硕士学位，之后还获得表演和指挥硕士学位。这种转变是受什么启发呢？You hold a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology but went onto switch discourses and completed a Master’s degree in banhu and gaohu performance at the HKAPA, followed by a double Master’s degree in Performance and in Conducting. What inspired you to change paths?

我很荣幸从香港科技大学获得学位证书。当我读中学时，我希望未来可以从事音乐行业，但是我的父母认为学术学位会更有保障，所以我最终进入科技大学。在大学期间，我一直很喜欢中乐表演。连毕业设计也是与二胡有关，设计主题是利用计算机编程来合成二胡演奏。我的两位导师都是有强大音乐背景的计算机科学教授，他们对我的项目，特别是在我演示之后，感到很惊讶。他们建议我尝试音乐表演，因为我有这方面的天赋。 在他们的鼓励下，我注册香港演艺学院的音乐课程，并且被幸运选中。在获得父母许可后，我决定让自己在三年内完成自己的学业，然后回到计算机科学领域工作。在完成第二学位后，我获得了全额奖学金，在香港演艺学院完成硕士学位后，我选择继续学习中国音乐。我问学院是否可以在那个时候完成指挥硕士课程，但是因为情况不允许，所以我先学习班胡和高胡专业，并获得第一个硕士学位。然后又开始了我的第二个硕士学位课程。
It is my pleasure to receive my first degree in HKUST. While I was studying in secondary school, I wished music performance could be my future career, however, my parents thought that it would be more secure to have a degree in an academic field for my future life and that’s the reason I entered HKUST. During my studies at UST, I kept my interest in Chinese music performance. Even my final year project was titled as “Erhu Synthesis”, which was aimed at using computer programming to synthesize Erhu playing. My two advisers, who were professors of computer science with strong music backgrounds, were surprised with my project – especially the presentation. They said after my erhu demonstration, that I had another character, and they suggested I try the performing career. They inspired me to register for the HKAPA music program and I was lucky to be chosen. With the permission of my parents, originally, I decided to let myself play and finished my performance degree in three years, then went back to my computer science field. After I finished my second degree, I got a full scholarship which supported me in finishing a masters degree in HKAPA, so I chose to keep my career path in Chinese music. I asked APA whether I could complete a masters program in conducting at that moment, however, the situation was not yet well prepared. That’s why I studied my first master degree majored in Banhu and Gaohu. Once I finished my master degree, the conducting major was opened and I started my second master degree here.

DB: 作为香港中乐团中国指挥大赛的获奖者，您感觉如何？对于即将到来的音乐会，您又有何期待？How did it feel to win the HKCO conducting competition and how are you feeling about the upcoming concert?

其实令我惊讶的是自己竟然有幸进入决赛。能够获胜当然是值得开心的事情，但对我来说，更加意义深刻的是我可以与香港中乐团合作，举行真正的音乐会。 那一刻，奖品对我来说已经不再重要了——重要的是与这个世界级的中国乐团一起排练和表演。 四年来，虽然我多次获得与香港中乐团合作的机会，但每次一旦我站在指挥台上，我都精力充沛，感觉和中乐团一起表演的每一秒钟都弥足珍贵。 在即将到来的音乐会，我将与香港中乐团合作演出众多经典曲目，对我来说这也是一项挑战，衷心希望我们的音乐能引起听众的共鸣。
Actually, it surprised me to learn that I was chosen to be one of the competitors in the final round. Winning of course brought joy to me, but I think the most important things I was concerned about was that I can perform with HKCO in a real concert in the final round. It really inspired me. At that moment, prize was no longer important for me – the most meaningful thing was the time spent rehearsing and performing with this world-class Chinese orchestra. Four years later, although I have gained more opportunities to cooperate with HKCO, once I stand on the conductor podium, I feel energetic and excited to work again with HKCO and I adore every second. For the upcoming concert, it is a challenge for me for perform those repertoires with HKCO. I hope our music can arouse every audience.

DB:您现在是香港中乐团的助理指挥和香港少年中乐团指挥。您认为这两个职位有什么差异吗？ You are currently Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Conductor of the Hong Kong Junior Chinese Orchestra. What are some of the differences in your experience teaching both?

在香港中乐团任职助理指挥，实在是让我兴奋不已，因为我梦寐以求的事情就是成为中乐团的成员。过去，我主要是在排练和音乐会上进行教育活动。而现在，这些工作让我更接近成为职业管弦乐队的指挥。可以说两样工作的性质是完全不同的，我希望通过这些机会为我未来的职业生涯做更充分的准备。 在此，我谨向香港中乐团表达我的谢意。
To work in the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra as assistant conductor is an exciting job for me and it is also my dream to be one of them. In the past, I was doing rehearsals and concerts for mainly educational propose. These job opportunities brought me closer towards being a conductor in a professional orchestra. I can say the job nature is totally different and I wish to learn more and be well prepared by this opportunity for my future conducting career. Here, I wish to express my thanks to HKCO for this great experience.

DB:您对未来自己的音乐事业有什么期望或者目标？ What are your hopes and goals for your future in music?

我希望未来能够有更多的机会，通过不同的平台将音乐分享给更多听众。努力做到最好，坚持在音乐这个领域探索未知的讯息，时刻保持学习的姿态。
I wish to have different opportunities and platforms to share music with people, to do my best and keep striving for more in my professional region. I want to keep equipping myself to learn more.

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