MDI: Mark Vines

Originally from England, Mark Vines received his first musical training on the piano at the age of seven. His first experience of brass playing came a few years later, when he succeeded in a school audition to get a single note out of a tenor horn. A few months later he switched to French horn, on which he gained his first orchestral experience with the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra. Subsequent international tours with this orchestra, including to the USA and New Zealand, convinced Mark that he wished to both perform and travel for a living, a desire that was to eventually lead to him joining the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1993, Mark was accepted on the demanding joint course between the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music. He studied at both institutions concurrently for four years, learning horn with David Cripps and Derek Taylor, and natural horn with Rebecca Goldberg. By the time he had graduated with honours in 1997, he had reached the national semi-finals of the Shell/LSO Music Scholarship and was a prizewinner at the Birmingham International Horn Competition. In 1998 Mark won the prestigious Charles Leggett Award for Horn.

After graduating, Mark went on to become an active freelance musician around England, playing regularly with the Halle Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata and Welsh National Opera, including performances at the London Proms. During this time Mark was also a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, touring Europe and Russia under the baton of eminent conductors Bernard Haitink and Gennadi Rhozdestvensky.

In his seven seasons as Principal Horn with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark has performed several times as a soloist with the orchestra, in Weber's Concertino for Horn, Strauss' Second Horn Concerto, and several performances of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante. During this time he has also played as Guest Principal Horn with the Queensland Orchestra in Australia, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in Japan, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Mark has also taught horn and chamber music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Baptist University.