Composing Between Two Worlds (ft. Chengjin Koh)

KOH Cheng Jin is a Singaporean composer, Yang Qin and violin performer currently based in New York. Her music is eclectic and diverse in personalities. As a Chinese and Western trained musician, her works incorporate various influences from these worlds and reflect her passionate enthusiasm in unifying colorful music idioms.

Recently, her work Before Daybreak was premiered at the semifinal rounds of the 2022 Singapore International Violin Competition as the commissioned piece, and her interdisciplinary work Mountain of Echoing Halls for Yangqin and the Ohio-based Verona Quartet and dance, commissioned by Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, was premiered at their centennial celebrations Spring 2023. She was the youngest composer to be commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and has also worked with members of the Paris-based, world-renowned Ensemble InterContemporain, New York’s Metropolis Ensemble, New Thread Quartet, Imani Winds, Society of New Music, Mirror Visions Ensemble, and the Juilliard Orchestra; in Singapore, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO), Ding Yi Music Company, K 口 U Musik, Morse Percussion, T’ang Quartet, School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) Chinese Music Ensemble, The Purple Symphony, ACS Barker Road Chinese Plucked Strings Ensemble and others. Her multiple accolades also include Mirror Visions Ensemble Prize, Society of New Music 2020 New York Federation of Music Clubs’ Brian Israel Prize, the Palmer Dixon and Gena Raps Chamber Music Prizes from the Juilliard School, as well as the Margaret Blackburn, John Eaton Memorial and Boston New Music Initiative Prizes. Her works have been performed at Singapore International Festival of Arts, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Yale-Norfolk New Music Workshop, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego, Australia Woodend Winter Arts Music Festival, Sidney Chapel (Cambridge, UK), China Conservatory Concert Hall, and the Esplanade, Victoria Concert and Singapore Conference Halls in Singapore. As a proficient Yang Qin musician who won the Singapore Chinese Music Competition (Open Category) with a solo debut with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Cheng Jin is indebted to her teachers Miss Qu Jian Qing and Miss Seah Poh Chun, as well as Dr. Kelly Tang, who was her first mentor in Composition at School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA). She is also grateful to her pedagogues at The Juilliard School, Robert Beaser and Melinda Wagner, both who were instrumental in her pursuit of Bachelor’s (Hons) and Master’s degrees in Music Composition generously supported by Singapore’s Loke Cheng Kim Foundation. She was also honored to be the Teaching Fellow for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program (Composition) for two years and its Evening Division (Music Theory). She is currently a member of the Composers’ Society of Singapore (CSS) and developing her musical, research and educational interests as a MacCracken PhD Fellow and Teaching Assistant at New York University (College of Arts and Science).

🌐https://www.kohchengjin.com/

💿”Before Daybreak,” for solo violin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-P38953dGE

💿”Mountain of Echoing Halls,” for yangqin and string quartet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b60DRDRYvk

💿”醉荡步,” for gaunzi/sunoa, erhu, ruan, and guzheng: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq-cMUbNEVA

Saad’s main channel: https://www.youtube.com/@saadhaddadmusic

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🕒Timestamps

00:55 Juilliard

06:25 “Before Daybreak,” for solo violin

12:18 Notation in “Before Daybreak”

19:30 NYU

27:40 “Mountain of Echoing Halls,” for yangqin and string quartet

38:30 Non-Western instruments

49:43 ”醉荡步,” for gaunzi/sunoa, erhu, ruan, and guzheng