Man-Ching Donald Yu (余文正), Ph.D. (FTCL, SSPZ. LRSM, LMusTCL, MA, BM)
Composer, pianist, theorist, educator
Biography
Man-Ching Donald Yu (b.1980) is a Hong Kong–based composer whose works have evolved through distinct creative phases. In his formative stages, Yu cultivated a refined synthesis of impressionistic and dramatic gestures with an expressive contemporary language, often enriched by oriental colors and aleatoric elements. Fanfare Magazine (2012) praises his music as “an arresting and personal intermixing of tonal and atonal languages, with the musical colors and gestures of his native country infiltrating the mix”. More recently, his works, influenced by the aesthetics of process music, explore suspended dimensions of time and space through the subtle transformation and reconfiguration of musical materials, unfolding into spectral soundscapes and immersive sonic landscapes.
A prolific and internationally recognized composer, Yu has written nearly 200 works spanning instrumental and vocal music, chamber opera, choral music, and symphonic repertoire. His compositions have been heard in more than 50 cities across over 20 countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. They have been featured at leading venues and festivals such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Contrasts International Contemporary Music Festival, the International Review of Composers (Serbia), the EurAsia International Music Festival (Russia), the International Kiev Music Fest, the Malta Spring Festival, and Expo Milano 2025, among others. His music has been championed by distinguished ensembles including the Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Gloria Chamber Choir, the Chernivtsi Philharmonic, the Uzhgorod Philharmonic, the Lugansk Academic Philharmonic, the Opera Hong Kong Chorus with the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, the Icarus Ensemble (Italy), the Ardemus Quartet (Netherlands), Ensemble Senza Sforzando, and the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, among many others. Yu’s scores are published by leading houses such as Donemus (Netherlands) and Universal Edition (Vienna), with additional publications by BabelScores (France), Edizioni Sconfinarte (Italy), Da Vinci Edition (Japan), and Zimbel Press. Recordings of his music appear on labels including Donemus Records, Phasma Music, Ablaze, Albany, Zimbel Records, and Association New Music (Ukraine), underlining his growing global presence in contemporary music.
Beyond composition, Yu is an active scholar whose research in music theory has been presented at international conferences in Serbia, Poland, and the UK, and published in academic books and journals. Since 2007, he has taught music theory, musicology, and composition as both a part-time and full-time university lecturer at various tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. He also enjoys occasionally performing publicly as a collaborative pianist or soloist, and has served on the jury for several competitions including the Osaka International Music Competition, among others.
Yu began formal music training at an early age and made his concerto debut at 16. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Baylor University, studying with the late Krassimira Jordan, a renowned pianist of the Russian school tradition. He later studied composition at the International Summer Academy Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), and completed his Ph.D. in composition and music theory at Hong Kong Baptist University with full postgraduate research assistantship support. He also holds FTCL in Composition as well as LRSM and SSPZ in Piano.
His accolades include the First Great Award at the 2024 Vienna International Music Competition for his piano work Expansion, as well as double Gold Medals in the Best Contemporary Classical and Composition categories at the 2022 Global Music Awards for his orchestral composition Unraveling. Other honors include the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship; prizes at the Muzyczne Orły International Competition (Poland), the Newly Published Music Competition (U.S.), the Classic Pure Vienna International Music Competition, and the Clouzine International Music Awards for Best Contemporary Music Album.
余文正（1980年生），香港作曲家 ，其創作歷程經歷了多個鮮明的藝術階段。在其形成期，余氏培養出一種精緻的綜合風格，將印象派與戲劇性手法融入富於表現力的當代音樂語言之中，並時常以東方色彩與偶然性元素加以豐富。Fanfare 雜誌於2012年評述其音樂為「一種引人注目且極具個人特色的調性與非調性語言的交融，其中滲透著作曲家的文化背景的色彩」。
近年來，余氏的作品深受「處理過程音樂美學」的影響，探索時間與空間的懸浮維度，透過音樂素材的細膩轉化與重構，展開為光譜般的音響景觀與沉浸式的聲響場域，展現出結構、氛圍與感知之間的深度互動。
作為一位多產且享譽國際的作曲家，余氏創作了近200部作品，涵蓋器樂與聲樂、室內歌劇、合唱作品及交響曲。其音樂作品已在北美、南美、歐洲及亞洲逾20個國家的50餘座城市上演，亮相於諸多頂尖音樂殿堂與國際音樂節，包括維也納音樂協會大廳、對比國際當代音樂節、塞爾維亞國際作曲家評論會、歐亞國際音樂節、馬爾他國際春季音樂節、基輔國際音樂節及2015年米蘭世界博覽會。利沃夫國立愛樂交響樂團、榮耀室內合唱團、切爾諾夫策愛樂樂團、烏日哥羅德愛樂樂團、香港歌劇院合唱團、盧甘斯克學術愛樂樂團、伊卡洛斯合奏團、阿德穆斯四重奏、無強弱標記合奏團以及奧蘭多當代音樂樂團皆曾演繹其作品。其樂譜由國際知名出版社如 Donemus（荷蘭）及 Universal Edition（維也納）獨家出版，亦獲 BabelScores（法國）、Edizioni Sconfinarte（義大利）、Da Vinci Edition（日本）等出版機構發行。其錄音作品由 Donemus Records 獨家發行，並見於 Phasma Music、Ablaze、Albany、Zimbel Records 及烏克蘭 Association New Music 等唱片公司。
除作曲成就外，余氏亦積極投身學術研究，其音樂理論論文曾於塞爾維亞、波蘭及英國的國際研討會發表，並刊載於多部學術專著及音樂期刊。自2007年起，他曾以兼職及全職大學講師身份，在香港多所高等院校教授音樂理論、音樂學及作曲。此外，他亦不時以鋼琴伴奏及獨奏的身份公開演出，並曾擔任多項國際音樂比賽評審，包括大阪國際音樂比賽、芬尼·孟德爾頌國際網上音樂比賽等。
余氏自幼接受正規音樂訓練，16歲首次登台演奏協奏曲。其後赴美國貝勒大學，師承已故俄派鋼琴家 Krassimira Jordan，獲音樂學士學位。2007年，他獲獎學金赴奧地利薩爾斯堡莫札特國際暑期學院修讀作曲並獲文憑；2010年於香港浸會大學獲全額研究生獎學金，完成作曲及音樂理論博士學位。他持有倫敦聖三一音樂學院作曲院士文憑（FTCL）、英國皇家音樂學院鋼琴演奏文憑（LRSM）及維也納音樂考試局鋼琴獨奏碩士文憑(SSPZ)。自2007年以來，余氏屢獲殊榮，其獎項包括：鋼琴作品《擴》於2024年維也納國際音樂大賽中獲得首獎；管弦樂作品《Unraveling》在2022年全球音樂獎中同時榮獲「最佳當代古典音樂」及「作曲」兩個類別的金獎。其他獎項包括：愛德華·尤德爵士紀念獎學金、波蘭「音樂之鷹」國際比賽金獎、美國新出版音樂比賽榮譽獎、維也納純古典音樂比賽榮譽獎、Clouzine 國際音樂獎。