Biography
“His performance lacked nothing. The musicality and the technical skills were there to see and hear.” (Eastbourne Herald) Winner of the Royal Over-Seas League Competition 2020, Hong Kong flautist Sirius Chau recently won the Philip and Dorothy Green Award from Making Music, and became the Artist of Talent Unlimited, Tillett Trust, Musicus Society and Manchester Mid-day Concerts Society. He was awarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Scholarship in 2019.
Recent highlights have included collaborating with violinist David Chan, the concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan; touring with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Andrew Davies; working with the English National Opera Orchestra and City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; solo debuts at the Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall in the UK; and the invitation to compete in the Carl Nielsen International Competition in Denmark.
Sirius is a prize-winner in many international and national competitions, including Eugene Magalif’s Flute Concerto International Competition (USA), finalist at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Institute Concerto Competition (Canada), Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition, Westbourne Orchestra Concerto Competition and RCM Solo Woodwind Competition where he was awarded both the Flute Prize and Edward & Helen Hague Woodwind Prize. He is also a scholar of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund, Drake Calleja Trust, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Help Musicians UK and Leverhulme Arts Trust.
Other notable achievements include winning the Alain-Marion Scholarship at the Domaine Forget International Music Academy (Canada) where Sirius studied privately with Emmanuel Pahud and Mathieu Dufour, the Best Performance Award at the Hamamatsu International Wind Instrument Academy and Festival (Japan), scholarships to receive training at the National Arts Centre (Canada), Orford Music Academy (Canada), Taipei Music Academy Festival and the Alion Baltic International Music Festival (Estonia).
A young rising soloist and orchestral player in the U.K. and Asia, Sirius is regularly invited to perform in music festivals across Europe, including the Sound Unbound at Barbican Centre, Buxton International Festival, King’s Lynn Festival, Lichfield Festival and Lake District Summer Music. He has performed the world premiere of Ray Leung’s alto-flute concerto ‘Waiting’, and other major flute concerti with the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra, National Youth String Orchestra, Westbourne Orchestra and RCM orchestras.
Commenced his flute education with Matthew Wu, the founder of the Hong Kong Flute Academy, Sirius furthered his studies at the Royal College of Music in London for an Artist Diploma in Performance and Master of Music with Distinction under the tutelage of Katie Bedford, Emer McDonough, Sue Thomas and Rachel Brown.
