Malaysian-born Tengku Irfan has appeared around the world as a conductor, pianist, and composer. Recently, he made his debut as a guest conductor with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2023. He was also the Assistant Conductor of the NYO-USA in July 2023, working alongside eminent conductor Sir Andrew Davis. Back in 2021, he was the runner-up and audience prize winner of the Los Angeles Conducting Competition. He also worked as assistant and cover conductor for David Robertson, Speranza Scappucci, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jörg Widmann, and Simone Young.
As a pianist, he has performed with orchestras worldwide with conductors Claus Peter Flor, Neeme Järvi, Kristjan Järvi, Robert Spano, Osmo Vänskä, George Stelluto and Jeffrey Milarsky, among others. His compositions have been premiered by highly-acclaimed orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, and have won three ASCAP Morton Gould Awards.
Previously, Irfan was a double major in piano and composition at the Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky and composition with Ira Taxin and Robert Beaser. Currently, he is in his last year studying orchestral conducting with David Robertson at the Juilliard School. He is a proud recipient of the Juilliard School Kovner Fellowship Award.
Writing music characterized by “lyrical centers,” that “channeled spirituality” and “vehemence” (The Straits Times), Singaporean composer and Yangqin/violin performer Chengjin Koh strives to transcend boundaries through the reinvention of musical meanings.
Her most significant accolades include the BMI Foundation Young Composer (William Schuman) Prize, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a Society of New Music Brian Israel Prize, the Palmer Dixon Award and Gena Raps Chamber Music Prize (both from the Juilliard School), and the Margaret Blackburn and Boston New Music Initiative (BNMI) Prizes, She was recently the commissioned composer for the 2022 Singapore International Violin Competition and was also commissioned by the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art for their centennial celebrations. Groups she has worked with include the Verona Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, New Thread Quartet, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Central Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory of Music in China, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Singapore National Chinese Youth Orchestra, and Ding Yi Music Company,
As a Yangqin musician, she was one of the youngest grand prize winners of the Singapore Chinese Music Competition and performed as a soloist with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra at eighteen. A member of the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, she also regularly premieres her own music, which mostly involve multicultural and interdisciplinary explorations. Having completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the Juilliard School, she is currently a PhD MacCracken fellow and a teaching assistant at New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.