Kwok Man-ho

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Kwok Man Ho, Marco is an active pianist, brass player, conductor and composer in Hong Kong. He graduated with First Class Honours from the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) for the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Music majoring in composition. Marco followed Mr. Young Chap Lai, Raymond to learn piano when he is studying in HKBU. He studied composition with Prof. Christopher Keyes, Dr. Christopher Coleman, Dr. Tang Wai Chung, Joyce and Prof. Mike McFerron. He followed and studied conducting with Dr. Jennifer Ho in 2015 to 2017, and learnt from Mr. Choi Ho Man from 2016 to 2017 while joining the conducting courses provided by HKBU.


Marco started learning piano when he was 6 years old and passed the ABRSM Grade 8 piano exam with merit when he was 11 years old. By following Ms. Sandy Tsui Siu Wa and Mr. Raymond Young Chap Lai, he passed Trinity ATCL (Recital) and LTCL (Recital) with distinction. Different from his classmates, Marco worked as a piano accompanist more than a solo pianist. He had been the choirs’ piano accompanist of his primary school and secondary school. During his 4-year-study in HKBU, he had been the piano accompanist of over 20 classmates playing wind, brass, strings and percussion instruments, and played over 80 pieces for jury exams and performances. Besides, he was invited to be the guest pianist by music ensembles such as Hong Kong Baptist University Symphonic Orchestra (BUSO), Hong Kong Chamber Wind Philharmonia (HKCWP) and OctoBuzz. He is currently the pianist and tutor of Sha Tin Children’s Choir.

Marco also has rich experiences of conducting in performances. In March 2016, he conducted “Petrichor”《潮土》in the concert “MYO Plus Like. Share”. Music. In May 2016, he conducted the piece “I Thought It Was Beautiful” composed by Ariel Lai in the “HKBU Composition Honours Project Recital 2016”. In November 2016, he composed “The Suite of Hong Kong”《香港組曲》(2nd and 3rd movement) and acted as guest conductor of Hong Kong Community Philharmonic Orchestra (HKCPO) in the concert “CompoLab 2016”. In April 2017, Marco was invited to conduct Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 in a lecture recital. In May 2017, he conducted his first full orchestral piece “The Nirvana of Phoenix”《鳳凰涅磐》with an orchestra formed by over 70 musicians from different institutions in “HKBU Composition Honours Project Recital 2017”. He was also selected by HKBU Music Department to join the conducting masterclass held by Le French May and learnt from the Finland conductor Mr. Mikko Franck in June 2017 by conducting Symphony No.5 (1st movement) composed by Ludwig van Beethoven.

As a composer, Marco premiered several pieces in different public performances. In October 2015, HKBU Music Department held the concert “Traces of Silk Road II – Resonances & Traces”, and invited four composition students to write orchestral pieces. Marco’s orchestral piece “Incandescence”《白熾》and the piece called “Petrichor”《潮土》, composed with his friend Mr. Chan Chi Long Tony, were performed by Collegium Musicum Hong Kong. Moreover, he premiered “When The Moon Was Full” for piano solo and “The Nirvana of Phoenix”《鳳凰涅磐》for full orchestra in “HKBU Composition Honours Project Recital 2017” in June 2017.

Beside public performances, some of his pieces are chosen to perform for competitions or call for score. In 2016, Marco joined and selected to be one of the finalists in the New Generation composition competition sponsored by the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild and RTHK with his piece “Escaping Panicking Mice”《奉頭鼠竄》 for saxophone octet. In 2017, his piece “On the Razor’s Edge”《驚弓之鳥》was selected by by Hong Kong New Music Ensemble/ Philadelphia call for score for a professional public reading session.

In addition, he composed numbers of film music for a few short movies directed by undergraduates from the HKBU Academy of Film, including “Smoke”《如煙》, “Bubbles”《泡泡》, “Today is a gift”《重頭學過》 and “3322”. In 2016, he composed and arranged a set of songs for the mini musical “Adventures to the Planet of Cats”《喵星大冒險》 with another Hong Kong composer Mr. So Ka Wai. In 2018, Marco composed a short film music for the animation “Glasshouse in the Shadow” with Mr. Chan Chi Long Tony, another Hong Kong composer.