A student of the Robert Pikler, John Harding has had an extremely successful international career as soloist, teacher, concertmaster, chamber musician, conductor and recording artist which has taken him all over the world.

In 1972 he was invited to the United States by David Zinman to study conducting, at the same time continuing his violin studies with Joseph Silverstein, winning the Albert Spalding Prize for the most outstanding instrumentalist at Tanglewood in 1975 and later a position as first violin with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

In 1985 his Piano Trio was invited to Hong Kong where he became principal teacher of violin at the newly formed Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Two years later, he moved to Europe to become leader of the highly acclaimed Orlando Quartet. With that ensemble he performed over 700 concerts, recorded many major chamber works, including the complete Mozart String Quintets for BIS, performed at all the major festivals of Europe, made the award-winning Philips video, Quartet, and collaborated with such artists as Murray Perahia, Arnold Steinhardt, Malcolm Frager, Nobuko Imai, Norbert Brainin etc.

At that time he was also appointed Professor at the Royal Conservatorium in the Hague, where he taught violin and chamber music for ten years. Yevgeni Svetlanov chose him as leader of the Residentie Orchestra where he remained for a further five years and for a time, he was Guest Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1996 he returned to Australia at the invitation of Edo de Waart and the Sydney Symphony to become Co-concertmaster and Associate Conductor from 1996 to 2001. He was Artistic Director of the James Fairfax Young Artists' Program and until recently was Conjoint Professor of Music at Newcastle University. In May 1998, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Newcastle University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Australian music. In 2004 John Harding was the Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music.

As soloist John has performed with many orchestras and gave the first performance of Penderecki's Violin Concerto in Melbourne and Brisbane with the composer directing in 1983. John Harding's numerous roles in Australian music have included those of Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, leader of the Australia Ensemble and leader of the Sydney String Quartet.

John frequently conducts all of the Australian orchestras, and has made over 30 recordings for various labels including BIS, Clavigram, ABC Classics and Tall Poppies labels.

He joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra as Concertmaster from September 2006.

Q & A with John Harding, Concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

John Harding is a brilliant violinist, a superb leader and an inspiring teacher. He has led an extremely successful musical career, performing and leading orchestras all over the world. John is also responsible for coaching the talented string players who were selected as The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Orchestral Fellows. He was invited by Edo de Waart to join HKPO as Concertmaster from September 2006.

(1) Since you joined the HKPO, people often compliment you for being an outstanding Concertmaster, making the Orchestra, in particular, the string section, sound so much better than before. What qualities do you have that make you so suited to the job?

That's a very nice question to start with. My grandmother always said "don't blow your own trumpet, Johnny" and I have always taken that advice seriously, so it is difficult for me to answer!

In Britain the concertmaster is called "leader", and I think that describes my view of the role. Basically the job of concertmaster is to accurately read the gestures of the conductor and follow them so faithfully that there is no sense of delay or transmission, but rather a unified performance which is of the moment. I tend to play very much ON the beat, and not AFTER the beat, and in a way, am really a kind of sub-conductor. If I do my job properly people can just as easily look at me for clues as to what is happening, or where the pulse is, and they often do.

However I am firmly of the belief that an Orchestra is totally in the hands of the conductor--pieces do not actually play themselves! Many Orchestral musicians believe they can do just as well without a conductor, but it is simply untrue. I watch like a hawk every bit of a conductor from their trouser cuffs to their hair--if they have any--because when a conductor feels it is easy to get results, he or she will stay in a good mood for longer!

We are very lucky to have a chief conductor who is an excellent overall musician--he is good at every style of composition, and has a huge and well travelled repertoire. We share a similar vision of music and how to go about getting results. I have known Edo now for many years and am very familiar with his expectations and style, which is probably why he invited me here in the first place. I also lived for ten years in Holland and taught at the Royal Conservatorium in the Hague. There I learned a good deal about European traditions and got to understand the Dutch musical personality.

(2) You are responsible for coaching the Robert Ho Fellows of the Orchestra. What does that involve and where does your passion for working with young people come from?

The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Orchestral Fellowship Scheme is one of the very best programmes of its kind in the world. Up to ten string graduates from distinguished regional music institutions are given a generous scholarship to join HKPO for a season. Naturally they are technically capable, but need a lot of experience learning the repertoire and the challenges of playing in an very serious Orchestra---to learn the German instructions in any Mahler Symphony is several weeks work alone!

They do not play every week, but take part in about 60-70% of the concerts. I take them as often as possible through the repertoire, give them all several lessons during the year, and coach them in Chamber music, as well as playing with them. But basically they have enough to do just learning the notes, and I am impressed with their general mentality and application.

(3) You will lead the Fellows in chamber works by Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn in lunchtime concerts at the Museums. What are the difficulties and challenges of playing chamber music, as opposed to playing in an orchestra?

Well they are considerable--in Chamber music one is playing alone; obviously all string players in an Orchestra are members of a section where they are constantly subjugating their own personalities to the greater good. In that role they are neither invited nor expected to exercise their interpretive abilities. So chamber music offers an opportunity to be heard alone, and take responsibility for one's own decisions. In general the amount of time spent rehearsing must be much greater, as everyone needs to know the score--there is no conductor to bring one in, so concentration has to be 110%!

(4) Do you remember any musical mentor who has helped you with your career, the way you are helping the Fellows now?

People were very kind to me in my student days; particularly my teacher, Robert Pikler, who was a very well rounded musician and extremely encouraging when he believed in someone. He really lit the spark in me and showed me that good results do not have to come from pain and torture!

(5) What is the most important piece of advice you would give to a young person aspiring to become an orchestral musician?

You can do a lot worse than sharing your daily life with Mozart, Schubert and Bach. If you are a genuine lover of music, then in an Orchestra you will get to play the greatest repertoire. You can learn a lot from conductors, and if you are a sociable person, you have a lifetime of friends who you can see every day. It is not easy, however, and takes years of experience before you can really start to enjoy yourself.