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Chek Yui Hong began her career at her alma mater Nanyang Girls' High School (NYGH) where she started the GCE 'O' and 'A Level Music and Higher Music programmes. A rare student of Western and Chinese traditional music in her generation, she studied the piano, harp and guzheng. In her youth Yui Hong was the then-youngest winner of the National Chinese Music Competition and one of the first to be a member of both the Singapore Youth Orchestra and the Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra. She went on to read music at the University of Birmingham, UK.

During her time in NYGH, Yui Hong was the conductor of the school's Chinese Orchestra from 2000 to 2017, bringing the orchestra to achieve top awards at the Singapore Youth Festival and other national and international competitions. She also held leadership roles overseeing the aesthetics, performing arts and talent development. Over the years, Yui Hong has received numerous accolades such as the Exemplary Nominee for the ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award (USA). In her current work at the Ministry of Education, Singapore, Yui Hong guides the formulation of national arts education policy and oversees the various performing arts in Singapore schools.

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Yang Ji Wei read music at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China under renowned sheng masters Professor Yang Shoucheng and Feng Haiyun. In 2015, he received the Singapore Youth Award which is one of the nation’s highest accolades for outstanding youths. He is also a multiple- award winning sheng performer and an active advocate in the Singapore music scene.

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He is also a recipient of the prestigious Shell-National Arts Council Scholarship in 2005, co-founder and Executive Director of The TENG Company, Treasurer of the Singapore Chinese Music Federation, President of the Singapore Sheng Association, a member of the China Sheng Musicians Society, Music Director and Founder of the first and only sheng ensemble in Southeast Asia, “Resonance”; and the Music Director and Conductor of the Chinese orchestras in Raffles Institution (Year 1-6), Raffles Girls’ School, Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road), Catholic High School (Primary), Elias Park Primary School and Rosyth School.

 

As a conductor, Ji Wei has led many orchestras to achieve new heights of musical excellence at the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging. He was the youngest conductor of a Gold Award winning school at the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging 2005 and remained as the only conductor in Singapore with a stellar record of producing distinction awards for Chinese Orchestras over the last 10 years of his career.

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In August 2018, Ji Wei was appointed Council Member of the Promote Mandarin Council by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. More recently, Ji Wei was invited to co-host the Mediacorp television programme At the Crossroad of Realities《华文华语。今天 明日》, where education and cultural practitioners from different walks of life reflected on the future of the Chinese language in Singapore.

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Phang Kok Jun, known to be a multifaceted composer, Kok Jun’s music transcends the concert halls, with a repertoire that also includes theatre, film, and other forms of media. An award-winning composer both locally and internationally, Kok Jun is influenced by a wide variety of musical styles, and has been described as a composer who “comfortably melds Chinese, Western and popular idioms to excellent effect”. Interested in the unique relationship between music and storytelling, Kok Jun is constantly working with artists of various disciplines to discover new possibilities in music-making. He has held several residencies, most notably with Ding Yi Music Company from 2011 to 2021, and has had the privilege of being featured in major productions around the world, working with orchestras, theatre companies, chamber groups, directors, conductors, designers, and soloists.

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Kok Jun read music composition at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM), National University of Singapore and as well as the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University, both under full scholarship from YSTCM. Principal composition teachers include Eric Watson, Ho Chee Kong, Oscar Bettison and Kevin Puts.

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For more information, or to get in touch, please visit www.phangkokjun.com.