Sri Ghanavenothan Retnam
Singaporean Indian Classical Musician Ghanavenothan Retnam has carved a niche for himself in the arts scene not only in Singapore but also internationally. He is the most sought-after musician for solos as well as for orchestral performances including cross cultural collaborations. Son of Singapore’s pioneer musician, Sri R Retnam, he was tutored by Pandit M Ramalingam who nurtured the art of playing the Bansuri – Indian Flute. Besides vocal training, he had intense training under many stalwarts from North and South India. Singing, playing the Sitar and Harmonium renewed his skills in ‘folk music’. He has numerous performances to his credit both as a soloist, accompanist, composer, arranger, conductor and music director. He has accompanied internationally renowned artistes such as Dr Balamuralikrishna, Unnikrishnan, O S Arun, Dr Padma Subramaniam, The Dananjayans, Sreelatha Vinod, Dr Chandrasekar, Anitha Ratnam and Lakshmi Govindasamy to name a few.
Tan Qing Lun
Tan Qing Lun is a multi-flute musician who embodies and embraces the cultural diversity of his home, Singapore. Besides his performances on the Chinese flute (dizi), Qing Lun is also known for his award-winning work with other types of flutes found in Singapore, most notably the Indian flute. A champion of local music, Qing Lun has worked with many Singaporean composers including Eric Watson, Joyce Koh, and Phang Kok Jun. Nominated by The Straits Times as one of “30 Rising Stars under 30” in Singapore’s arts, entertainment and lifestyle scene, Qing Lun is continually dedicated to shaping a localised musical voice that can be celebrated all over the world.
From 2007 to 2015, Tan Qing Lun worked actively with local Chinese Chamber Ensemble Ding Yi Music Company not only as a dizi musician, but had also served various roles in the group’s management. When he was Acting General Manager, Qing Lun oversaw the creation of the company’s full-time group as well as set up the Ding Yi Youth Ensemble, which he led to clinching the first prize in the National Chinese Music Competition in 2014.
During his time with Ding Yi Music Company, Qing Lun began to be interested in local music, and saw the importance of showcasing Singaporean music overseas.
To help realise his vision, Qing Lun started up House of Music in 2015, which houses different arts groups (yIN Harmony, Syncretic, Reverberance and Ocarina House) with varying specialisations in terms of styles, but all with the common goal of celebrating local music and culture. In an attempt to make Singapore a hub for exchange of musical ideas, Qing Lun turned to the instrument he knew best - the Chinese flute, and inaugurated Singapore’s first Dizi Festival in 2015, gathering the world’s most renowned Dizi musicians, industry affiliates, and most importantly, local artistes in a three-day event. As a performer, Qing Lun has been presented as a soloist in countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Berlin, Wales, and Cambodia, and has represented Singapore as in many ASEAN arts and cultural events.
Currently, Qing Lun is also serving as Council member in Singapore Chinese Music Federation as well as the Secretary of the Singapore Dizi Society. An avid teacher, he also conducts the Singapore University of Technology and Design Chinese Ensemble and is a teacher at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts School of Young Talent.
Qing Lun graduated with a Masters in Chinese Music (Dizi) from Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Zhan Yong Ming, with support from the National Arts Council (NAC) scholarship. His thesis, “A Study of Chinese and Indian flutes: Their past and future development in Singapore” is a testament of his passion towards creating a local identity in his music. Actively performing, educating and learning, Qing Lun strives to continue shaping this identity, and hopes to reach out to more people in Singapore and around the world with his music.
Raghavendran Rajasekaran
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Award-winning indian classical flute virtuoso.
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Renown singaporean inter-cultural music composer & performing artiste.
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Passionate music educator
Raghavendran Rajasekaran, fondly called Ragha, is the co-founder of Music Love Yoga; an initiative that aims to empower lives through music & yoga all over world. He is a high energy and multi-cultural specialist composer, improviser and performer of the Indian Classical flute from Singapore.
Heʼs mellifluous solo and musical recitals continue to engage and mesmerise people from many parts of the world through recordings and live concerts today. He has been invited to countries such as United States of America, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong and India for his humble musical identity and creative offerings.
Lee Jun Cheng
Lee Jun Cheng started playing dizi at the age of 9 when he joined the Chinese Orchestra in his primary school. At the age of 13, he began learning under the tutelage of Zou Bo Qiang. He had also received guidance from various dizi masters like Li Zhen, Liu Sen and Qu Xiang. He joined the People's Association Youth Chinese Orchestra in 2008 and the Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra (SYCO) in 2011. At SYCO, he was under the tutelage of Singapore Chinese Orchestra Dizi Musician, Lim Sin Yeo.
In 2012, Jun Cheng was admitted into the China Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Professor Zhang Wei Liang. In the same year and the next, he became a musician at the Hua Xia Chinese Orchestra and the Chinese Bamboo Flute Orchestra. As of 2014, he is the Dizi Principal Player at the Toa Payoh West Community Club Chinese Orchestra. In 2017, he participated in The 6th International Chinese Instrumental Competition and attained the highest Award given, the Premium Gold Award.
During his time at the music conservatory, Jun Cheng represented the school to perform in countries such as France, Germany, England, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and around China. He participated in big event concerts like "SOUND OF HEAVEN New Era of Zhang Wei-Liang's Chinese Music" and "Call of the Ancient". He has also collaborated with the musicians of the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. In addition, Jun Cheng has worked with renowned musicians, conductors, composers such as David Murphy, Joel Hoffman, Fukuda Teruhisa and Kohei Nishikawa. In 2014, he recorded an album with the Hua Xia Chinese Orchestra as a Dizi musician.
Niranjan Pandian
Niranjan Pandian, an award winning Indian Classical Flautist, has paved a direction in the Asean Region for a unique style of playing the Indian Classical Flute under the tutelage of Sri Ghanavenothan Retnam. Niranjan is having advanced training from Maestro K.B Bhaskaran. With a blend of hindustani and carnatic banni, Niranjan has paved this blend into other genres of Music namely Pop, Blues, Bollywood, Kollywood, Fusion, Folk, and World Music. Furthermore, Niranjan has also played for numerous Indian traditional dance recitals, musicals and theatrical productions. On that note, Niranjan Pandian has brought his style of performance to many local and international festivals and concerts travelling to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Shanghai, China, India, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. Some of the most prominent festivals would include Thailand Countdown 2015, C Asean Tour 2015, ASEAN 50 Official Celebrations 2017, Shanghai International Spring Music Festival 2017 and Guangxi Arts Festival 2017. Niranjan Pandian has also worked with People' Association, The Esplanade, National Gallery of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore Management of University, Singapore Indian Fine Arts, Temple of Fine Arts, Bhaskar Arts Academy, The Guru, C Asean, SINDA, Vasantham and other organisations for successful musical collaborations and productions. Niranjan’s style of performance has also brought him to perform in many TV shows namely Enna Nadakuthu Season 4, Enna Nadakuthu Season 5, Pradhana Vizha 2016, Nenjukkuke Season 4, Nenjukkuke Season 5 and Ethiroli 2018. Niranjan Pandian has also played for local Music Videos, Background Scores and Films. Currently, being inspired to bring his Music closer to the community, Niranjan Pandian is the artistic director of Brahmastra, an Indian Contemporary Band. With Niranjan's philosophy of music alongside the support of his co-musicians and peers, it has allowed him to lead Brahmastra in local and international concerts and even produce numerous concerts and festivals. Brahmastra has been featured in local tv productions, produced singles and orchestrated live music tracks for a number of local plays. Some of the prominent festivals produced would include Dhwani 2015 and Passion Arts Festival 2017. Niranjan Pandian continues to press on and achieve his aspirations of becoming a world renowned flautist while giving back to his society through his music and aspiring a new generation of flautist.
Alhafiz Jamat
Alhafiz Jamat, one third of Singapore’s leading instrumental band, OrkeStar Trio. Renowned multi-instrumentalist with a specialization in the Bamboo flute/ Seruling. His ability to mesmerize audiences with the seruling has made Alhafiz one of the the most sought-after musician in the local Malay arts scene. One of the key highlights in Alhafiz’s music journey was when the opportunity to record an instrumental album was given to him. All the songs from the Javanese/Malay-Influenced album entitled "Dharma" was composed and arranged by Alhafiz under the guidance of the late Mr. Zag Fahmoa, local album producer. The debut album was released in 2007. Gained more than 10 years of experience in composing, arranging, recording, performing, both local and international stages, the learning process of exploring and experimenting will never stop for Alhafiz. Together with the trio, Alhafiz has travelled and represented Singapore in international music festivals in Turkey, India, Japan, Slovenia, Hawaii, Brazil and Indonesia among others. In addition, Alhafiz also performs with his Malay traditional ensemble, Sri Gemilang, Directing music for dance and theatre productions, composing Malay dance music for schools in the Singapore Youth Festival.
Wang Chenwei
Wang Chenwei, born 1988, is Head of Research of the TENG Company, composition lecturer at the Singapore National Institute of Education, lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, tonmeister of msm-productions, as well as member of the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) and the Composers Society of Singapore.
After graduating from Raffles Institution’s Gifted Education Programme with seven academic awards, Chenwei obtained his Magister Artium (five-year Master of Arts) with distinction and the Würdigungspreis (Honorary Award) from the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, where he studied Composition and Audio Engineering under the Singapore Media Development Authority’s scholarship. He did an audio engineering internship in the Vienna Musikverein Golden Hall, where he also performed the ruan in concert.
Chenwei’s music has been performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra yearly since 2005. Composed at the age of 17, his piece The Sisters' Islands won the Singapore Composer Award at the 2006 Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition and was subsequently featured on CD albums by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and the Taiwan Philharmonic Chinese Orchestra, as well as in two concerts celebrating Singapore's national golden jubilee in 2015.
In 2010, Chenwei’s wind orchestra composition received the Singapore Compose! prize from the Philharmonic Winds. He has been commissioned by the Ministry of Education to compose four pieces, including the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) set pieces Sail (2011) and Sky (2016).
His orchestral compositions were featured in charity concerts with Singapore Presidents S.R. Nathan (2009) and Tony Tan (2012) as the guest-of-honour. For his contributions to the Singaporean music scene, Chenwei was conferred the Young Outstanding Singaporeans Award in 2011.
On 12 May 2009, a half-hour documentary “Extraordinary People” on Channel 8 presented Chenwei's efforts in composing, conducting, playing 12 musical instruments and writing in 12 languages.
Ng Teck Seng
Mr. Ng Teck Seng, Singaporean Chinese. Started learning music during secondary school days and currently, able to play dizi, souna, pipa, erhu and other Chinese music instruments.
Was a full time member of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (used to be known as the People's Association Chinese Orchestra) for about 13 years.
Left for Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1989 and learned conducting of Chinese Orchestra from Professor Xia Fei Yun.
At 1991, turned to learn conducting of Western Symphony Orchestra from Professor Huang Xiao Tong, and at the same time, learned conducting of chore and chorus study from Professor Ma Ge Shun.
Graduated with merits from Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1994 and also completed part of his master degree course.
After spending years in the orchestra, he felt that the reason for the bottleneck on the Chinese music instruments came from the fact that the instrument itself is already outdated in terms of design, making, as well as the lack of understanding of orchestration. Hence, he decided to divert away from his dream as a professional conductor and started venturing into instrumental reform.
Ever since 1996 where he has started producing his handmade dizi, it has quickly become the number one choice of the musicians in Singapore and Malaysia. It has also gained recognition from professional musicians in various countries, including China, Taiwan, and Hongkong. － However, he did not stop here. For the past couple of years, he has been researching deeply into the making of erhu, and has resolved the lack of high frequencies and penetration in the timbre of erhu. It has since gained excellent comments from professional erhu musician and usage.
(photo by Ray Yeh)
Dr Chua Soo Pong
Dr. Chua Soo Pong Dr. Chua is currently the Senior Consultant of the SIM University in Singapore. He has been actively involved in the research and practice of performing arts in Southeast Asia. As the Founding Director of the Chinese Opera Institute(COI), he has devised, planned, managed and implemented numerous projects to promote Chinese opera in Singapore and overseas, as well as organized international conferences, showcases, and the “Opera in the Park” series. The COI Performing Ensemble had performed overseas at 58 international festivals worldwide.
He is also one of the three co-founders of the ASEAN Puppetry Association (APA) and its Vice President since its inception in 2006. He is also a co-founder of Asia Dance Association (1983) and Asia Pacific Dance Alliance (1984), and the Commonwealth Theatre Lab (1989). He was the President of World Dance Alliance (Singapore) from 2006-2007. He taught at has been a the Nanyang Technological University (2002-2006) ,the National Institute of Education(1999-2000) and was the an as Founding Director of the School of Performing Arts at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts(1999-2000) Dr.Chua was the first Senior Specialist (SEAMEO SPAFA Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (1989-1992, 1994-1995) , Visiting Associate Professor, Aesthetics Department, Seoul National University (1992), Osaka University (1993-1994). Dr. Chua taught at the National University from 1980 to 1988.
During his term as the Senior Specialist, at SEAMEO SPAFA), he was a faculty member of the Dance Department, Chulalongkorn University (1989-1992,1994-1995), and the Performing Arts Department at the Bangkok University and taught there as an adjunct professor. Dr.Chua was senior Lecturer at the Dance Department in 1988 at Nanyang Academy of Fine Art.
Since 2011, Dr. Chua has been invited by the Ministry of Culture of China to produce new works for Chinese traditional theatre companies in Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan and Zhejiang provinces and has been directing almost a dozen of original productions that tour Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and USA He actively contributes to international exchange programmes and promotes understanding between cultures.
Dr.Chua has been actively serving the arts community in Singapore as an art advocate, critic, and acted as advisor for over a dozen of dance, theatre and literay groups since the early 80s in Singapore. Apart from engaging in research in theatre and dance in Asia, Dr. Chua has written, directed or acted in many plays performed in over thirty countries.
Dr. Chua was awarded a research grant from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore) in 1991 and the Korea Foundation in 1992 and an Asean Fellowship in 1993.. Chua was the editor of “Performing Arts”, the first journal on the arts in Singapore, published by the National Theatre Trust, from 1983 to 1989. His “Traditional Theatre in Southeast Asia” published by Unipress, National University of Singapore has been used extensively as a textbook. He is also the editor (Asia Volume) of the World Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Theatre published by Rutledge, London in 1998. His research in performing arts of Asia has been published extensively in international and regional journals.
Dr. Chua obtained his Ph.D. from the Queen’s University in Belfast, U.K. in 1979. He obtained his M.Sc. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1976 and his B.A. (Hons) from Nanyang University in 1972.