Timothy Sun

One of the most prominent musicians in Hong Kong and Macau, Timothy Sun began his music studies at the age of seven. A student of George Galway in saxophone and clarinet at the Ellen Wilkinson High School of Art in England from 1997, Sun became the first Chinese saxophone and clarinet student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to be awarded a full scholarship for his Bachelor’s degree in 2001, where his principal teachers were John Harle and Christian Forshaw. He also studied with clarinettist Julian Farrell, and completed his Master’s degree in 2006.

Since completing his studies, Sun has gone on to become a fixture of the Hong Kong music scene as one of its internationally recognised musical talents.  He has performed at the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre and Shanghai Concert Hall as a chamber musician. In 2016 he received the Paul Creston Award in New York and, in recent seasons, has appeared in over a hundred recitals and orchestral concerts across Asia and Europe. As a soloist he has performed with the Macau Chinese Orchestra, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, and the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, and has also collaborated as principal soloist with numerous other regional and youth orchestras and musical establishments.

Sun has worked with numerous Hong Kong-based composers including Fung Lam, Kim Kuok Ip, Austin Yip, Joyce Cheung, Julie Kuok, Joyce Tang, Yin Ng, Pong Law and Charles Kwong, and has taken part in many cross-genre performances with artists ranging from dancers, choreographers, photographers, and multimedia artists. Over the years he has been interviewed by notable media outlets in Hong Kong and Macau, including the South China Morning Post, UK-Chinese Times, Macao Daily, and RTHK Radio 4, which broadcast his performance live. From 2017 to 2018 Timothy performed at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) as Ensemble-in-Residence with the group he founded, Contrast Trio, featuring violin, saxophone and piano. Timothy is one of the principal artists of Buffet Group and Vandoren Paris, and is additionally a founding member of the music group Smash, featuring harmonica, piano and saxophone, and released an original CD with the group in 2020. 

Today, between his many performances and engagements, Timothy Sun also works as saxophone lecturer coach at the Macau Conservatory, The University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Baptist University.