Profile

Cy Leo                                                                                                       Harmonica

A cross-genre chromatic harmonica virtuoso, composer, and singer-songwriter from Hong Kong, Cy Leo received classical harmonica training from Lee Sheung-ching and Watani Yasuo, and has since achieved international recognition and success.

Influenced by his father PC Ho, Founder of the Hong Kong Harmonica Association and the world-renowned King’s Harmonica Quintet, Cy Leo became a consummate performer and won his first international award as a harmonica soloist at the age of 10 at the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival. By the age of 19, he had accumulated 17 international titles including two Solo World Champion titles at the World Harmonica Festival in 2009 and 2013.

Cy Leo has appeared as a guest performer and adjudicator at numerous internationally recognized harmonica events including the Seoul International Harmonica Festival and the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival. He was invited to compose the Test Piece for the Solo Category of the 2017 World Harmonica Festival, where he also served as an adjudicator. He has toured over 40 cities as a headline harmonica soloist and has performed as a representative of Hong Kong in more than 20 cities, under the invitation of the Hong Kong Government. Outside of harmonica events, in September 2023, Cy Leo headlined at the Montreux Jazz Festival China with his own Jazz Quintet. He later appeared at the Seoul International Jazz Festival 2024 as a guest performer at Cory Wong's set of music and performed in front of thousands of audiences. In October 2023, he was invited to perform a concerto with the Hartford Symphony. In 2022, he performed at one of the world’s biggest stages – the New York Times Square Ball Drop Show, which was broadcast to billions of audiences across the globe.

Closer to home, Cy Leo has collaborated with A-list Hong Kong artists including Joey Yung, Sandy Lam, Hacken Lee, Leo Ku, Louis Koo, and legendary musician Lowell Lo who lauded him as “the best harmonica player in the world” in a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum with over 10,000 in attendance. Widely recognized as one of Hong Kong’s foremost musical talents, Cy Leo appeared at the 32nd Hong Kong Arts Festival and Clockenflap in 2016 and has appeared on regional media including CCTV 1, TVB, Ming Pao Daily News, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Metro Pop, and RMM Journal. He has also attracted unprecedented collaborations with commercial brands including Krug, Bose, ETRO, INITIAL Fashion, Shell, Fortune Pharmacal, etc. In 2024, Krug Champagne commissioned him to write original music for the brand, and he was invited by Louis Vuitton to curate a music event at their new season showcase.

To promote original instrumental music in Hong Kong, Cy Leo co-founded the instrumental music label Ginger Muse in 2018, marking the start of his entrepreneurial voyage. Within two years and following a series of successful crowdfunding campaigns, they released the albums Lost In Time, Angel & Demon, and Free Dimension. His début concert production Lost In Time received an overwhelmingly positive response and achieved a box office of over 1,000 paid audience members. He later received the Award for Young Artist at the 14th Hong Kong Arts Development Awards in 2020, and in the same year, he was awarded a full scholarship from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund to study at New York University for a master’s program in Jazz Performance. In June 2024, Cy Leo organized a full-house concert titled The Aromas of Tango at the Hong Kong City Hall that was met with great acclaim.

Cy Leo was featured in numerous movie tracks including This Is Not What I Expected starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Chasing the Dragon starring Donnie Yen, Hollywood movie The Croods: A New Age and many more. Moreover, Cy Leo has collaborated with renowned Japanese artists including Ichika Nito, Cateen Hayato Sumino, and Tomoaki Baba, as well as New York artist Sarah Kang. He has also worked with top jazz musicians including Troy Robert, Manuel Valera, Janek Gwizdala, Gil Goldstein, Blaque Dynamite, and Maurice Brown. He is now the Co-Artistic Director of Music Lab.

何卓彥                                                                                                       口琴演奏家

何卓彥是一位來自香港的跨樂風半音階口琴演奏家、作曲家兼創作歌手，他六歲起得李尚澄先生啟蒙，及後得日本大師和谷泰扶先生指導，籍口琴展現的天賦令他登上多個國際音樂舞台，是來自香港一顆耀眼的新星。

他的父親何百昌是香港口琴協會和英皇口琴五重奏的創辦人，深受其父影響的他似乎從小就注定會成為一名口琴手，年僅十歲就於亞太口琴節獲得他第一個個人國際獎項，從此披荊斬棘，到十九歲已得到十七個國際獎項，其中兩次包括分別於2009年和2013年的世界口琴節獲得半音階口琴獨奏青年及指定曲目組別的冠軍。

他不滿足於此，並決定要為其口琴生涯展開新一頁。他接受世界各地的邀請，搖身一變成為不同口琴節，包括首爾國際口琴節、亞太口琴節、瑞士口琴協會慶典音樂會、挪威口琴節的表演嘉賓、講師和評判。於2017年，他更獲邀為世界口琴節的半音階口琴獨奏的指定曲目作曲。

其實至2016年，卓彥畢業於理工大學後，不斷把音樂帶到世界不同的角落。他多次獲得包括世鵬郵輪、大洋郵輪、皇家加勒比國際郵輪等7個國際郵輪的邀請作為專場獨奏者，至今已走埠40多個城市。此外，至2018年， 卓彥亦多次被香港政府邀請，代表香港到訪超過十個城市演出，其中包括哈薩克斯坦、曼谷、新加坡、倫敦和成都等等。除了口琴活動之外，2023年9月，何卓彥帶領自己的爵士五重奏在蒙特勒爵士音樂節中國站登台。隨後於2024年6月，他作為嘉賓表演者出現在首爾國際爵士音樂節Cory Wong的演出中，並在成千上萬觀眾面前表演。2023年10月，他受邀與哈特福交響樂團合作演奏協奏曲。2018年二月，他更獲邀與全球最大型音樂展覽NAMM Show 2018於美國加州演出。2022 年，他受邀請為紐約時代廣場跨年倒數演出作開場演出嘉賓，直播覆蓋全球，有超過十億人收看。

作為土生土長的香港人，何卓彥亦常出沒於香港主流音樂界，先後與多名知名藝人如林憶蓮、盧冠庭、李克勤、古巨基和古天樂等合作。其於2017年為由金城武主演的愛情喜劇《喜歡你》的錄音大受好評，盧冠庭更曾在其萬人紅館演唱會《Beyond Imagination》的台上稱讚何卓彥是「世界最好的口琴手」。

除了主流音樂，何卓彥也積極參與很多本土獨立音樂和音樂文化活動，包括兩個香港最大型的音樂節：第32屆香港藝術節和2016 Clockenflap。其古典音樂家、爵士音樂家和唱作人的身分令他在很多的香港音樂節得到注意，同時他獨特的故事也常常吸引到媒體的注意，報導於CCTV 1、TVB、明珠台、《明報》每日新聞，《南華早報》、《香港經濟日報》、《都市日報》和RMM Journal。這位耀眼的新星，也引起了不少商業品牌興趣與其合作，其中包括Krug、Bose、Etro、Initial Fashion、Shell 和幸福傷風素等。2024年，Krug香檳委託他為品牌創作原創音樂，他還受邀為Louis Vuitton新季展覽策劃音樂活動。

近年，這位炙手可熱的口琴家，同時也開展了文化藝術上的個人事業，於2020年聯合創立了唱片公司“末薑”，致力推動本地原創純音樂發展。自2018年起，他在兩年間成功以一系列的眾籌計劃，推出了兩張口琴專輯《追幻時空》和《天使與魔鬼》。而《追幻時空》的個人音樂會三場演出共吸引了過千觀眾，大受好評。隨後他在2020年亦獲得第14屆香港藝術發展局頒發的藝術新秀獎，表揚他在本地文化活動的成績。同年，他獲得香港賽馬會音樂及舞蹈信托基金的全額獎學金，赴紐約大學攻讀爵士表演碩士課程。2024年6月，何卓彥在香港大會堂組織了一場滿座音樂會《The Aromas of Tango》，獲得了極大的讚譽。

何卓彥曾出現在澳大利亞創作歌手Ruel的單曲《Face to Face》中，並且參與過多部電影配樂，包括由金城武主演的《喜歡你》、甄子丹主演的《追龍》，以及好萊塢電影《瘋狂原始人：新紀元》等。此外，他還與知名的日本藝術家如Ichika Nito、Cateen Hayato Sumino和Tomoaki Baba以及紐約藝術家Sarah Kang合作。他還與頂尖的爵士音樂家如Troy Robert、Manuel Valera、Janek Gwizdala、Gil Goldstein、Blaque Dynamite和Maurice Brown合作演出。他現在是Music Lab的聯合藝術總監。