Soprano | Ang Mei Foong

 

Mei Foong is the alumni of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Conservatorio di Music Santa Cecilia, Rome; and University of Melbourne. She was the recipient of numerous academic scholarships and music awards, notably the "Silver Medal Winner Award- Outstanding Achievement" in the "Global Music Award, Oct 2014".

 

As an active recitalist, Mei Foong has given several well received solo recitals in Kuala Lumpur, Taiwan, Macau, Rome, and Melbourne. She had performed Robert Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und Leben”, Gabriel Faure’s “La Bonne Chanson”, Richard Strauss’s “Vier letzte Lieder”,  Aldo Finzi’s Art Songs, Alban Berg’s “Sieben frühe Lieder”, Joseph Canteloube’s “Chants d’auvergne” and many other chamber music and operatic repertoires. Her active involvement in the contemporary music industry leads her to work closely with the contemporary composers and had given world première to many Malaysian vocal works.

 

Mei Foong is now a full time lecturer at University Putra Malaysia. Apart from being an active performer, she is now pursuing her PhD and actively researching into the field of Music Education. 

 

www.angmeifoong.com

 

 

 

Alto | Lim Yee Fen 

 

Malaysian Mezzo Soprano, graduated from the UCSI University with Bachelor of Degree (Hons.) majoring in Piano. She was the champion of 6th ASEAN Bangkok Opera competition in July 2014. In 2013, she obtained the Licentiate of Trinity College London in Voice Recital with Distinction and won the Grand Champion of the 39th Malaysia National Classical Singing Competition. She was also the consecutive Champion winner of the Malaysia Central Region Classical Singing Competition of the year 2011-2013. 

 

She joined the Classical Singing and Opera workshop in Penang and Bangkok, where she studied with Soprano Loh Siew Tuan, pianist Hein Boterberg and director Benoit. She also had attended the Masterclass of an internationally well-known pianist Graham Johnson and had performed in an evening concert as the guest performer accompanied by the great pianist. 

 

 

 

Tenor | Tan Chee Shen

 

Tenor Tan Chee Shen is a winner of numerous awards including the grand prize of the Singapore-Malaysia voice competition, the Bangkok Opera South-East Asia vocal competition and most recently the Bronze award of NTDTV International Chinese Singing Competition in NYC. During the summer of 2005, Chee Shen was awarded a full scholarship to attend the famed Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara , California ,where he worked with distinguished American mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne and pianist Warren Jones. He also attended the International Vocal Arts Institute at Montreal, Canada in Summer 2008. 

Chee Shen earned his Master of music degree from Mannes College of Music in New York where he also attended for undergraduate. At Mannes, Chee Shen sang roles such as Rinuccio and Tinca from Gianni Schichi and Il Tabarro, Don Curzio from Le Nozze di Figaro, Arturo from I Puritani, Magician from The Consul, Ferrando from Cosi fan Tutte and many more, under the baton of Maestro Joseph Colaneri from the Metropolitan Opera and also the director of Mannes Opera. For the past 3 years, he has been a freelance singer and vocal instructor in New York. Chee Shen currently is currently a full-time lecturer at USCI.

 

 

 

Bass | Chi Hoe Mak

 

Chi Hoe graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK where he obtained his MMus in Vocal Performance with Distinction, the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Performance and was named one of Birmingham’s ‘New Generation Artists’ in 2008. His principal singing teachers include Henry Herford, Gordon Sandison and Julian Pike. 

 

Chi Hoe enjoys a varied career in opera, concert and for consort work internationally. His recent stage work include the role of ‘Raja Narai’ (King Narai) in ‘Puteri Saadong’ (Princess Saadong), a Malay contemporary opera by the Malaysian composer Tazul Tajuddin, Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore), Zuniga (Carmen), Colline (La Boheme), Verdi Opera Gala, all for EST Opera and Dottore Grenvil (La Traviata) for Singapore Lyric Opera. Recent concert engagements have included ‘Prince Ralse’ in Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart Coronation Mass with EST Opera Chorus and High Winds, appearances at the “SoundBridge” Contemporary Music Festival, 2nd China-ASEAN Music Festival in China, and several song recitals in the UK and Malaysia. 

 

www.chihoemak.net

 

 

 

Pianist | Wong Chee Yean

 

Chee Yean graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington in the USA, where he was under the tutelage of Mr Emile Naoumoff, who himself was a student of the great pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.  

As a performer, Chee Yean has collaborated with some very fine musicians from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in their Chamber Music Series, both as a pianist and a harpsichordist. He also frequently works with instrumentalists and singers alike, notably, with the internationally renowned clarinettist Ronald van Spandonck during his concert tour to Malaysia. In 2013, Chee Yean’s performance of Mozart’s 25th Piano Concerto in collaboration with High Winds Ensemble in Yogjakarta has been recorded live and issued by Arts Music Today in Indonesia.  

As a composer, though never been formally trained, two of his orchestral works, Six Sketches and Triptych, were performed by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Five of his songs for voice and piano published by Chin Yong Music Society have received their premieres in Malaysia, Singapore, China and the U.K. On Huygen’s Aria, commissioned by Joost Flach for High Winds Ensemble was published in Germany by Floricor Edition in 2010. He also arranges music for the wind ensemble on numerous occasions, one of which is the arrangement of Mozart 25th Piano Concerto with himself as the soloist, performed at the Georgetown Festival of Penang in 2011 and at the International Chamber Music Festival of Yogjakarta in 2013.

 

 

 

Pianist | Samuel Tan Hsien Chih

 

Samuel Tan earned his Bachelor of Performing Arts (Music) at University of Malaya with First Class Honours in 2009, under the tutelage of Geneviene Wong Jen-Pei. Samuel completed his Master of Music in Piano Accompaniment at Birmingham Conservatoire with a Distinction. He was subsequently awarded a scholarship to study on the flagship Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Performance, and again gaining a Distinction. At the Conservatoire, Samuel studies with professors Malcolm Wilson, John Humphreys, and Simon Nicholls. He also performed in piano master classes conducted by Louis Lortie, Steven Osborne, Peter Donohoe, Mikhail Kazekevich, Andrew Ball, Martin Jones, Kálmán Dráfi and Graham Johnson.

 

Samuel was awarded the Yamaha Asian Music Scholarship in 2008. He was also the Champion in the Solo Classical Piano Category of the Roland Piano Festival Competition in 2009. While studying at the Conservatoire, Samuel has won the first prize in the Delia Hall Accompanist Prize for Pianists, the John Ireland Piano and Chamber Prize as well as the grand AdvPgDip Course Prize. He was also selected from the Piano Department to receive the Burke Trophy for Piano – Playing in 2011. Besides, he was the finalist in Birmingham Conservatoire Piano Prize, Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize and Gordon Clinton English Song Prize. 

 

While concurrently pursuing his PhD in Ethnomusicology, Samuel is an adjunct lecturer of music at Universiti Putra Malayisa, Universiti Malaya and ASWARA. His research focuses on the sociocultural and historical background of the Southeast Asian art song, particularly the Malaysian Chinese art song.