ABOUT THIS EVENT

British-Singaporean pianist Melvyn Tan and YST Artist Faculty Churen join forces in this blockbuster programme.

Repertoire:

Maurice Ravel: La Valse

Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche  

 

About the Performers:

Melvyn Tan

Melvyn Tan established his international reputation with pioneering performances on fortepiano and continues to cast fresh light on music conceived for the piano’s early and modern forms. His work as recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist has been heard at many of the world’s leading concert halls, including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, AMUZ in Belgium, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Lincoln Center, as well as festivals in Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Anthéron, Bath’s Mozartfest, City of London festival and Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival. As a concerto soloist Tan has performed with prestigious ensembles such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin’s in the Fields, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg’s Camerata and Mozarteum Orchestras, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Melbourne Symphony, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, and Australian Chamber Orchestra. Melvyn has connected with audiences across China and South East Asia, introducing many to the fortepiano. Others have discovered his work through his large discography, complete with ground-breaking recordings of concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert’s Impromptus for EMI Classics, and releases on the Archiv, Deux-Elles, Harmonia Mundi, NMC and Virgin Classics labels. Recent appearances include performances with MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Wiener Akademie in Vienna, a Wigmore Hall recital and a BBC In Tune broadcast with Guy Johnston, Bath Philharmonia and AMUZ. His 2022/23 highlights include concerts with Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with Deutsche Philharmonie Merck, re:SOUND Collective in Singapore and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 17 with Filharmonie Brno and Dennis Russell Davies. With curator Paul Boucher, he continues his role in devising Music and Word at Charleston, a combination of music and readings in an East Sussex Farmhouse made famous by artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.  

 

Churen

Churen is one of Singapore’s most exciting and innovative musicians to appear on the classical music scene. Hailed as “the closest thing I know to be the ‘complete’ pianist” in Singapore by a leading music critic and a “well rounded, versatile performer” by another, the 27-year old composer-pianist performed more than 100 solo concerts in 2022-2023 seasons in repertoire from Chopin to Michael Jackson to George Crumb and her own compositions.

Churen opened the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) 2022/23 season with the Grieg Piano Concerto conducted by Han-na Chang in a performance which, for one reviewer, her “poise, expressiveness and keyboard abilities will surely earn her another concerto invitation from the SSO”. Churen has also been featured in the Singapore International Piano Festival and Singapore International Festival of Arts.

Her debut album Ephemory released in 2022 revealed a composer-pianist of contemporary and post-modern sensibilities adept in a variety of musical languages, delivering original takes on well-known classical themes as well as her own original compositions. In 2018, Churen produced and performed in a concert at Singapore’s well known Zouk nightclub, juxtaposing the Western art songs within a pop culture setting. She was among the ten pianists selected in 2018 to participate and perform in the Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music, and in the same year, at the prestigious Roche Continents programme in Salzburg, an interdisciplinary programme of workshops and lectures in the arts and in science.

Graduating at the age of 19 with a Bachelor’s Degree from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National University of Singapore) as the youngest in her cohort, Churen subsequently studied with well-known pianist Peter Frankl and Hung-Kuan Chen at the Yale School of Music where she obtained a Master’s Degree.

Since her obtaining a Master of Philosophy in Music from Cambridge University with a dissertation on George Crumb, Churen continues to be active in the performance and production of new music, working in inter-disciplinary collaborations and across genres.

A prize winner at numerous international piano competitions, Churen has also been invited to perform at music festivals and recital halls all over the world, often appearing in partnership with luxury brands such as Cartier, Chanel and Richard Mille. She was also honoured in Singapore Tatler’s Generation-T List in 2018. In 2015, she performed as soloist in a tour of Macau and Hong Kong with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Orchestra, at the invitation of Singapore’s High Consulate in Hong Kong as part of Singapore’s 50th jubilee celebrations of independence. Other concerto engagements include performances with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Cambridge University Orchestra, Klassische Budapest Philharmonic, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra Singapore, Mikhail Jora Philharmonic of Bacau and National University of Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

She is also the recipient of prestigious grants, including the Tan Kah Kee Postgraduate Scholarship (2015), the FJ Benjamin-Singapore Symphony Orchestra Bursary (2013) and the National Arts Council Arts Scholarship (2011-15).

Churen currently teaches at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music as an Artist Fellow. Her past teachers include Albert Tiu, Bernard Lanskey, Paul Liang, Peter Frankl and Hung-Kuan Chen.  

TICKETING INFORMATION

Tickets $10 via Eventbrite.

Out of respect for other concertgoers, no children under 6 years of age will be allowed admission.

*All event information is correct at time of print.

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