In Winter, When the Trees Were Bare, You Could See the George Washington Bridge from Our Dining Room Window, the Magic Road to New York. I Went to Ramaz School, in Manhattan. I’d Stay Around in the City as Long as I Dared and Come Home Late. There Was Stuff Going on in the City, and the Suburbs Were Deadly to Someone Who Is Interested in Things. Every Night It Felt Like Leaving Paradise to Go into Exile.

The Hong Kong Bach Choir at 50: from Division to Diversity

The Teachers Who Liked Me Thought I Was Rebellious. the English Teacher Who I Was Close to Thought I Was Like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, Which Wasn’t True at All. I Was Simply Completely Undisciplined, I Hadn’t Learned How to Focus Yet. Schoolwork Came Easy Enough That I Could Get by Without Doing a Lot.

I Studied Music at Brandeis University, a Liberal Arts School Outside Boston. I Joined the Student Shows and It Quickly Became Apparent That the Musical Leadership Wasn’t Very Good, and People Started Relying on Me. Before My Second Year, I Proposed That I Conduct the Next Year’s Student-Run Show.

Hong Kong Drag Queen Coco Pop on Climbing the Cross-Dressing Ladder

After My Second Year, I Spent the Summer in Israel, Where My Brother Was Working on His Dissertation. the Rubin Academy of Music, in Jerusalem, Was Running a Summer Course with Igor Markevitch, a Famous Conductor of the Old School. as Someone from the States with Some Experience, They Didn’t Even Make Me Audition, and Immediately Put Me in the Group.

I Graduated in 1978 and for a Year Rented an Apartment in the North End of Boston, Where All the Mafiosi Families Lived, So It Was Very Safe. I Got a Couple of Part-Time Teaching Jobs to Pay the Rent and Spent the Year Practising and Studying Scores and Then I Applied for a Master’s Degree at the University of Wisconsin, Where Catherine Comet, a French Woman Who Had Been a Conductor of the Paris Opéra Ballet, Took Me On. She Was a Natural, So She Didn’t Know How to Teach, but I Got a Lot of Experience and She Was a Good Mentor.

Building a Repertoire

Rhondda Was Hired to Play in the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and We Arrived in Hong Kong in 1991. I Began Sending off My Cv and Hong Kong Baptist College Offered Me a Part-Time Job. They Wanted to Restart Their Orchestra and Were Running a Bridging Programme to Convert Diplomas into Degrees. Within a Year It Became a Permanent Position and I Ended up Working There for Nine Year's.

After My Time at Baptist, I Spent a Couple of Year's as Head of Artists and Repertoire at Naxos Records. I Learned What People Do When They Work in Offices and Also Learned That I Had No Talent for Business; I Had No Appreciation of the Profit Motive. I Went Back to Teaching and Writing.

Hitting the High Notes

The Choir Is Now More Than 50 Year's Old – the 50Th Anniversary Concert on December 7 Is a Little Delayed Because of Covid-19 – So I’ve Been with It for More Than Half Its Life. We First Did Bach’s Mass in B Minor for the Choir’s 25Th Anniversary, in 1995. That Was My First Time Doing the Piece and I Was Terrified. It’s a Mammoth, Gigantic, Overwhelming Masterpiece and It’s Very Presumptuous for Any Musician to Say He or She Is up to Performing This Piece, but by Now It’s Probably the Piece I’ve Done More Than Any Other So I Have an Idea of How It Should Go.

From Singing Simon and Garfunkel Covers in the School Bus to 29 Year's of Conducting the Hong Kong Bach Choir, Jerome Hoberman on Improving with Age

By Sarah Jenkins

• Oct 8, 2026 • 7 min read

From Singing Simon and Garfunkel Covers in the School Bus to 29 Year's of Conducting the Hong Kong Bach Choir, Jerome Hoberman on Improving with Age

Direct Answer • Key Takeaway

I Thought This Sounded Fascinating and Asked My Mother If I Could Switch to That Teacher. About the Same Time, We Got a Steinway Piano at Home. the Combination of a New Teacher and a New Piano Helped Trigger Me to Become a Composer.

Sarah Jenkins

Senior Technology Editor & AI Specialist

Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.

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