Justin Siu

Siu Wai Jung Justin is a renowned jazz bassist, cellist, conductor for jazz orchestra, bandleader and composer. He began with his classical cello training at the age of nine and swept up many music awards during his youth.

Siu received his Masters in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge but his pursuit for music did not begin until years later when the former silicon-valley geek followed his calling to put down the computer keyboard and picked up the double bass instead to become a full-time jazz bassist. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he actively participated and spearheaded many creative projects and collaborated with many renowned local and foreign jazz artists. His most notable appearances included the Macau Jazz Week (2015), Hong Kong International Jazz Festival (2016/2017), Daegu International Jazz Festival in South Korea (2018) and Freespace Jazz Festival (2020-2023).

Some of Siu’s most significant music directorial work were with his 22-piece orchestra for the Grammy Nominated Singer/Pianist Howard McCrary, which garnered wide acclaim in the Greater China region during the 2010’s. He also produced Howard’s talk-of-the-town concerts - “Peace and All that Jazz”, at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in July 2013 to a full-house of audience.

In 2018, Siu released his debut jazz album “SPIN” (Universal Music) which maintained the best selling Jazz album spot at HMV in Hong Kong for 6 weeks within the first 2 months of release.

Since the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Siu went into great lengths to put hundreds of online shows on YouTube channel “Innonation Studio and Productions”, featuring over 160 local talents to keep music playing in the city under government restrictions and bans, and to allow for the continuation of artistic music development. “Noodle Jazz” series curated by Siu combined local jazz composers and genuine local cuisine which broadened the appeal of Hong Kong’s own jazz music to a new demographic and even international audiences. Siu expand the concept to include more local culture (such as snake cuisine, herbal tea etc.) into a web livestream series “Jazz, from the Ground Up”, which received support by the Arts Development Council and was able to further promote local Jazz composition and performance, and facilitated a unique kind of chemistry with signature Hong Kong cultural elements.

The buzz creating “Let’s hear: The Jazz Winds of Haruki Murakami”(2023) saw Siu's first dabble in musical theatre as a presenter and script writer, melding together jazz and theatrical elements, where performances of original jazz music as well as many jazz numbers mentioned in Murakami's works, are complemented with a theatrical creation of Murakami's world and characters. The multi-disciplinary work received enthusiastic support with tickets selling out within 10 days, followed by positive reviews.

Source: Justin Siu
Innonation Studio