Cheng Jin Koh
Writing music characterized by “lyrical centers,” that “channeled spirituality” and “vehemence” (The Straits Times), award-winning New York-based Singaporean composer and Yangqin performer Koh Cheng Jin strives to transcend cultural boundaries with imaginative storytelling and music making. She was recently the commissioned composer for the Singapore International Violin Competition and was also commissioned by the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art for their centennial celebrations. Her collaborators include the Ensemble InterContemporain, Central Conservatory of Music, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Singapore National Chinese Youth Orchestra, Ding Yi Music Company, TENG Company, Talea Ensemble, National Sawdust, Verona Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, among several 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 featured her music include the Singapore International Festival of Arts and Singapore International Piano Festival. As a Yangqin musician, she was one of the youngest grand prize winners of the Singapore Chinese Music Competition and debuted as a soloist with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra at eighteen. 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).