The Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music is deeply grateful to the Yong Loo Lin Trust both for its original donation of $25 million which helped found the Conservatory in 2003, and its subsequent additional donation of $25 million in 2008. 

In 2003, the family of the late Dr Yong Loo Lin expressed their ambitions for the gifts as follows:
It is hoped that the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music will be a leading centre for classical music in Asia. In helping and celebrating the best of Asia’s music talent, Yong Siew Toh’s name, her love of music and her desire to give to others will live on.”

ABOUT YONG SIEW TOH

Yong Siew Toh (1926 – 2000) was born in Singapore. She subsequently lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Madam Yong was one of two sisters. Her father, Dr Yong Loo Lin, was the third son of Yong Nee Chai who had migrated from China to South East Asia in the 1890s to seek a better life for himself and his family. Although arriving in Malaysia with virtually nothing, Yong Nee Chai proved to be an extremely hard-working and astute businessman and soon was able to make a good living. He believed in educating his children, and Dr Yong was sent to the University of Hong Kong from where he graduated as a doctor. Dr Yong also proved to be a wise investor, putting his earnings into a portfolio of investments in Hong Kong and other countries in Asia which over the years greatly increased in value.  

Dr Yong likewise believed in education and ensured that his two daughters had a good education, both in academic subjects and the arts. This was how as a child, Madam Yong began taking piano lessons and was introduced to music which was to be her passion throughout her life. She loved playing the piano and greatly enjoyed sharing her joy of music with others. This was why she decided to make teaching music her career, and went on to study with her mother’s former teacher, Miss Ada E Weinman who established the Selangor School of Music. Madam Yong subsequently taught for 26 years at this same School, imparting her love of music to generations of students. Always simple in her lifestyle and appearance, Madam Yong who remained single, lived quietly, close to her family, her friends and her dogs.  But she found the greatest joy in giving music to others and helping them appreciate the world through music.