It might be thought unfair to bring New York into a discussion of Hong Kong's cultural development, but it is worth emphasizing again that while architecture plays a role in artistic success, the quality of the companies and performers matter far more: hardware without software is just an empty box.

Software takes time to develop, often longer than putting up buildings, so every local attempt at artistic innovation is as encouraging as our now increasingly rare breaths of fresh air.

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You may have missed the Grainger Quartet as they passed through town at the end of last month. Many musicians come this way, but this particular visit had a Hong Kong connection through Jeremy Williams, head violist in the Atherton-era Hong Kong Philharmonic, and in Natsuko Yoshimoto, a glamorous first violinist with definite star quality.

But what distinguishes the Australian-based group is how they got here and what they intend to do. The Grainger is Artist Associate designate - a somewhat ungainly appellation, but this is music, not literature - with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

They are, and will be for the next year or so, playing under the Sinfonietta banner, performing with the Sinfonietta and joining their musicians in other chamber music configurations.

Joining a quartet with an orchestra is, I was told, a somewhat unusual thing to do, but the synergy seems pretty self- evident. The Sinfonietta gets the benefit of players experienced both musically and in the ways of the international music scene. The Grainger gets a guaranteed set of performances throughout the year, plus the opportunity to establish a base in the region.

The manifold attractions of Asia must appeal to a group hailing from what is, after all, a rather small country. Australia is hardly a musical backwater, but lacks the domestic market of the 200-300 million people that US and European groups can play to within a radius of just a few hours' flight.

This lack of economies of scale makes exporting - which is what this is, after all - an attractive strategy.

China has a middle class growing by leaps and bounds; it is also an aspirational middle class, one which will see violin, piano and ballet lessons as a way of differentiating one's children from others - a pattern evident in both Japan and Korea, which have developed into extensive markets for classical music and the arts, as well as sources of good performers.

The Grainger, perhaps not coincidentally, paid visits to schools and universities while here.

Hong Kong offers an excellent launchpad for the long-term development of the regional market.

Indeed, the rumor in Adelaide is that the Grainger were on the verge of moving to Hong Kong until an anonymous donor stepped in to keep them rooted Down Under.

The Grainger and their Hong Kong partners at the Sinfonietta will be well- placed to develop, should they wish, the business models - for even if not commercial, classical music has expenses, revenues and customers - needed for this part of the world, models which are likely to be different from those in the West.

Selling recordings, for example, will be next to impossible. Giving away music such as recorded concerts will do much to develop a brand in a place where current musical brands such as the Guarneri or Boston Symphony have hardly any presence, allowing new entrants a chance to vault over their competitors from the United States and Europe.

It will also develop a taste and a demand for live music, something which cannot be counterfeited or cloned.

This Grainger-Sinfonietta sort of relationship can only be in Hong Kong's interest: it can only help the local arts organizations, while improving Hong Kong's cultural climate overall.

Indeed, the model seems to offer such clear advantages, one wonders why - Australian educational services aside - there hasn't yet been more work done to develop other fields, such as dance, the visual arts and literature.

Western classical culture is another area in which Hong Kong's regional leadership is relatively unheralded.

This, combined with the proximity to the market of mainland China, makes Hong Kong an excellent home away from home for cultural providers like the Grainger Quartet, which will in turn start developing more of the software needed in order to start filling up our version of the Lincoln Center.