Writing music characterised by “lyrical centers,” that “channeled spirituality” and “vehemence” (The Straits Times), Singaporean composer and Yangqin performer Koh Cheng Jin strives to transcend cultural boundaries with imaginative storytelling and music-making.
She was recently a grant winner of the New York State Council on the Arts and commissioned composer for the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art centennial celebrations and Singapore International Violin Competition. Her collaborators include the Ensemble InterContemporain, Central Conservatory of Music, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Ding Yi Music Company, American Guild of Organists, Verona Quartet, among many others.
Some of her most significant accolades are a BMI Foundation Young Composer (William Schuman) Prize, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Palmer Dixon and Gena Raps Chamber Music Prizes (both from Juilliard), and the Society of New Music Brian Israel Prize. Festivals that have featured her music include the Singapore International Festival of Arts and Singapore International Piano Festival. Having completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Juilliard with full scholarship, she is currently a PhD MacCracken composition fellow at New York University (GSAS).
