Qu Jianqing

Qu Jianqing is currently Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s principal Yangqin musician, Committee Member of the Singapore Chinese Instrumental Music Association, Committee Member of the Cimbalom (Yangqin) World Association, Honorary Committee Member of the Yangqin Professional Committee of the China Ethnic Music Society, on top of being the member of the China Musicians’ Association (Shanghai Branch).

Qu Jianqing was born in Shanghai, China, where she began learning yangqin at the age of 9 under the tutelage of Wang You De, and was accepted by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra at the age of 13 based on her extraordinary musical talent. Over the years, Qu Jianqing has also received tutelage under various Yangqin masters like Xiang Zu Hua, renowned Yangqin performer Pang Bo-er and Zhang Xiao Feng. She also received many awards, such as, Shanghai City “Literary Arts New Talent” Title in 1980, Shanghai City “Striker of the New Long March” Title (and Outstanding Youth) in 1981, China National Ethnic Music Emulation Performance Prize in 1982, 14th “Spring of Shanghai” Outstanding Performance Prize in 1991.

Qu Jianqing has performed in Europe, Asia and America, and has visited many countries like America, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. She is an active participant to many World Yangqin Festival. In 1997 (Belarus), 1999 (Moldova), 2003 (Switzerland), 2005 (Beijing, China), 2011 (Hungary), 2019 (Hefei, China) she represented Singapore to the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 15th International Yangqin Convention, and presented recital. In 2006, she was invited to Poland in Chamber Music Festival ‘Arsenal Nights’ to present the Yangqin and chamber music Phoenix with distinguished Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra.

Qu Jianqing is also the premier performer of many influential yangqin music, including The Phoenix (Xu Changjun), Yellow River (Arrangement by Qu Chunquan), Rhapsody on Dinühua (Phoon Yew Tien) etc. She has also recorded four personal albums.

She migrated to Singapore in 1994, and has devoted much attention to music education. She currently teaches in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, National University of Singapore, National Institute of Education. Her students have won first prize in the Singapore National Chinese Orchestra Soloist Competition for the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels respectively.

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Huang Guifang

Huang Guifang enrolled in the affiliated high school of the Central Conservatory of Music at age 13 and began her full-time professional learning of the sanxian from renowned sanxian musician Professor Xiao Jiansheng. In 1986, Huang Guifang graduated from the conservatory with outstanding results and stayed on to teach at the affiliated high school. Huang won the First Grade Prize in the First National Ethnic Music Performing Competition in 1982 and First Prize in the China International Ethnic Music Grand Competition in 1995. Huang was a member of the Musicians’ Association of China and joined the Singapore Chinese Orchestra as a sanxian and ruan musician in 1997. She is currently the Plucked String Section Leader / Sanxian Principal.

Between 1982 and 1997, Huang Guifang represented Chinese artists in her visits to more than 10 countries where she participated in exchange and publicity activities, and received high acclaims. She recorded sanxian solo, ensemble and concerto music for the China Central Broadcasting Station, China Central Television and Music Channel. She also embarked on a series of experimental chambers including plucked strings quintet “Wu Duo Jin Hua” by Mr Liu Dehai, “Jiu Fang” and “Ai Yue Nü”. These experiences developed her sanxian performing style and furthered the potential of the instrument. Huang debuted performances of many sanxian works, including Fantasy of the Dance (Xu Xiaolin), Untitled (Zhang Qianyi), Su Xiao Xiao (Yang Qing), Eighteen Stanzas on the Barbarian Reed Pipe (Li Heng) and the King of Single Stroke (Cui Quan) with critical acclaim.

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Yu Jia

Yu Jia began learning pipa at the age of four from her father Yu Song Lin, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music’s Junior Department at age of nine. She has studied under pipa master Li Guanghua and won numerous awards. In 1997, she graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In the same year, she joined SCO, and is currently SCO’s pipa principal. In 2018, Yu Jia entered the China Conservatory of Music to study a Master's degree in pipa. She graduated in 2021 and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in zhongruan. 

Yu Jia was invited by the National Experimental Chinese Orchestra in Taipei and its conductor, Chen Teng-Hsiung, to take part in a collaborative project and performance, the Ink-splashed Immortal. In Mexico, Yu Jia has also shared the stage with conductor, Chen Zuohuang, to perform a pipa concerto, Spring & Autumn. Working with Taiwanese label Poem Culture, she has recorded four pipa albums dedicated to solo and concerto music. Over the past few years, she has also been invited to participate in arts festivals in Denmark, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore, receiving good reviews for her appearances.

In SCO, Yu Jia has performed as a soloist with many well-known conductors in concerti such as The River Red, Se, Anger, Capriccio of the Ancient Path, Hua Mu Lan, Spring & Autumn and Joy of a Toast & Whirling Dance. SCO has specially invited well-known composer Liu Xijin and Kuan Nai-chung to compose pipa and erhu concerto, Tian Yuan and pipa concerto, Flying Asparas. The award-winning piece performed by Yu Jia – pipa concerto Arise, You Lion of Glory! – won the Composition Award first prize at the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition 2015 and also garnered the most votes from the audiences.

In September 2019, SCO embarked on a four-city concert tour to Europe. Yu Jia performed Arise,You Lion of Glory! by Gordon Fung Dic-Lun, in Berlin and Prague, and her performances had received well acclaims.

Expand to read full bio

Huang Guifang

Huang Guifang enrolled in the affiliated high school of the Central Conservatory of Music at age 13 and began her full-time professional learning of the sanxian from renowned sanxian musician Professor Xiao Jiansheng. In 1986, Huang Guifang graduated from the conservatory with outstanding results and stayed on to teach at the affiliated high school. Huang won the First Grade Prize in the First National Ethnic Music Performing Competition in 1982 and First Prize in the China International Ethnic Music Grand Competition in 1995. Huang was a member of the Musicians’ Association of China and joined the Singapore Chinese Orchestra as a sanxian and ruan musician in 1997. She is currently the Plucked String Section Leader / Sanxian Principal.

Between 1982 and 1997, Huang Guifang represented Chinese artists in her visits to more than 10 countries where she participated in exchange and publicity activities, and received high acclaims. She recorded sanxian solo, ensemble and concerto music for the China Central Broadcasting Station, China Central Television and Music Channel. She also embarked on a series of experimental chambers including plucked strings quintet “Wu Duo Jin Hua” by Mr Liu Dehai, “Jiu Fang” and “Ai Yue Nü”. These experiences developed her sanxian performing style and furthered the potential of the instrument. Huang debuted performances of many sanxian works, including Fantasy of the Dance (Xu Xiaolin), Untitled (Zhang Qianyi), Su Xiao Xiao (Yang Qing), Eighteen Stanzas on the Barbarian Reed Pipe (Li Heng) and the King of Single Stroke (Cui Quan) with critical acclaim.

Expand to read full bio

Qu Jianqing

Qu Jianqing is currently Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s principal Yangqin musician, Committee Member of the Singapore Chinese Instrumental Music Association, Committee Member of the Cimbalom (Yangqin) World Association, Honorary Committee Member of the Yangqin Professional Committee of the China Ethnic Music Society, on top of being the member of the China Musicians’ Association (Shanghai Branch).

Qu Jianqing was born in Shanghai, China, where she began learning yangqin at the age of 9 under the tutelage of Wang You De, and was accepted by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra at the age of 13 based on her extraordinary musical talent. Over the years, Qu Jianqing has also received tutelage under various Yangqin masters like Xiang Zu Hua, renowned Yangqin performer Pang Bo-er and Zhang Xiao Feng. She also received many awards, such as, Shanghai City “Literary Arts New Talent” Title in 1980, Shanghai City “Striker of the New Long March” Title (and Outstanding Youth) in 1981, China National Ethnic Music Emulation Performance Prize in 1982, 14th “Spring of Shanghai” Outstanding Performance Prize in 1991.

Qu Jianqing has performed in Europe, Asia and America, and has visited many countries like America, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. She is an active participant to many World Yangqin Festival. In 1997 (Belarus), 1999 (Moldova), 2003 (Switzerland), 2005 (Beijing, China), 2011 (Hungary), 2019 (Hefei, China) she represented Singapore to the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 15th International Yangqin Convention, and presented recital. In 2006, she was invited to Poland in Chamber Music Festival ‘Arsenal Nights’ to present the Yangqin and chamber music Phoenix with distinguished Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra.

Qu Jianqing is also the premier performer of many influential yangqin music, including The Phoenix (Xu Changjun), Yellow River (Arrangement by Qu Chunquan), Rhapsody on Dinühua (Phoon Yew Tien) etc. She has also recorded four personal albums.

She migrated to Singapore in 1994, and has devoted much attention to music education. She currently teaches in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, National University of Singapore, National Institute of Education. Her students have won first prize in the Singapore National Chinese Orchestra Soloist Competition for the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels respectively.

Expand to read full bio

Yu Jia

Yu Jia began learning pipa at the age of four from her father Yu Song Lin, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music’s Junior Department at age of nine. She has studied under pipa master Li Guanghua and won numerous awards. In 1997, she graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In the same year, she joined SCO, and is currently SCO’s pipa principal. In 2018, Yu Jia entered the China Conservatory of Music to study a Master's degree in pipa. She graduated in 2021 and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in zhongruan. 

Yu Jia was invited by the National Experimental Chinese Orchestra in Taipei and its conductor, Chen Teng-Hsiung, to take part in a collaborative project and performance, the Ink-splashed Immortal. In Mexico, Yu Jia has also shared the stage with conductor, Chen Zuohuang, to perform a pipa concerto, Spring & Autumn. Working with Taiwanese label Poem Culture, she has recorded four pipa albums dedicated to solo and concerto music. Over the past few years, she has also been invited to participate in arts festivals in Denmark, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore, receiving good reviews for her appearances.

In SCO, Yu Jia has performed as a soloist with many well-known conductors in concerti such as The River Red, Se, Anger, Capriccio of the Ancient Path, Hua Mu Lan, Spring & Autumn and Joy of a Toast & Whirling Dance. SCO has specially invited well-known composer Liu Xijin and Kuan Nai-chung to compose pipa and erhu concerto, Tian Yuan and pipa concerto, Flying Asparas. The award-winning piece performed by Yu Jia – pipa concerto Arise, You Lion of Glory! – won the Composition Award first prize at the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition 2015 and also garnered the most votes from the audiences.

In September 2019, SCO embarked on a four-city concert tour to Europe. Yu Jia performed Arise,You Lion of Glory! by Gordon Fung Dic-Lun, in Berlin and Prague, and her performances had received well acclaims.

Expand to read full bio

Huang Guifang

Huang Guifang enrolled in the affiliated high school of the Central Conservatory of Music at age 13 and began her full-time professional learning of the sanxian from renowned sanxian musician Professor Xiao Jiansheng. In 1986, Huang Guifang graduated from the conservatory with outstanding results and stayed on to teach at the affiliated high school. Huang won the First Grade Prize in the First National Ethnic Music Performing Competition in 1982 and First Prize in the China International Ethnic Music Grand Competition in 1995. Huang was a member of the Musicians’ Association of China and joined the Singapore Chinese Orchestra as a sanxian and ruan musician in 1997. She is currently the Plucked String Section Leader / Sanxian Principal.

Between 1982 and 1997, Huang Guifang represented Chinese artists in her visits to more than 10 countries where she participated in exchange and publicity activities, and received high acclaims. She recorded sanxian solo, ensemble and concerto music for the China Central Broadcasting Station, China Central Television and Music Channel. She also embarked on a series of experimental chambers including plucked strings quintet “Wu Duo Jin Hua” by Mr Liu Dehai, “Jiu Fang” and “Ai Yue Nü”. These experiences developed her sanxian performing style and furthered the potential of the instrument. Huang debuted performances of many sanxian works, including Fantasy of the Dance (Xu Xiaolin), Untitled (Zhang Qianyi), Su Xiao Xiao (Yang Qing), Eighteen Stanzas on the Barbarian Reed Pipe (Li Heng) and the King of Single Stroke (Cui Quan) with critical acclaim.

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Ma Huan

Ma Huan began learning Yangqin at 4 under the tuteledge of Professor Wei Yanming. She was admitted to the China Conservatory of Music in 2002 and become the protégé of renowned Yangqin educator Xiang Zuhua. Furthermore, she learned the Hungarian dulcimer from Ms. Viktoria Herencsar and studied percussion under Professor Wang Yidong. After graduating in 2008 with a Master degree, Ma Huan was employed as an instructor by the Chinese Opera Institute. In 2010, she joined the Singapore Chinese Orchestra as a Yangqin musician. After which, she learned about composing from the famed Singapore local musician Law Wai Lun and music conducting from local famed conductor Dr. Tay Teow Kiat. She is currently the Vice Chairperson of Singapore Yangqin Association.

In 2002, Ma Huan won the Young Professional Group Performance Award and set up a String Chamber Orchestra which won a group gold medal in the International Youth Instrumental Competition in Macau in 2003. During her years in college, she participated in the CCTV “Teochew Music Festival special” performance, the Seventh Beijing International Music Festival, Sino French Music Festival, and Hungarian Music Festival. She successfully held a series of “Yangqin Works of Xiang Zuhua Teacher Student” concerts and performed in the first public performance of the double Yanqin piece The Butterfly Lovers. • Butterfly Qin Tunes, after which she participated in recording the Best of Xiang Zuhua Yangqin Collection II CD.

In January 2013, she held a concert named Silken Expressions at Esplanade Singapore Theatres on the Bay. In 2015, she was invited as the judge of NAFA music contest. Her students have won numerous awards at the Singapore National Music Instrumental Competition. As a composer, her works include Lost, school song of Pei Qun Primary School, Let it go, Dream chaser and Fantasia twinkle twinkle little star. She also produced a orchestra piece with distinctive Singaporean characteristics, titled A Ditty of Nyonya.

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Xu Wenjing

Xu Wenjing started learning erhu at the age of five and gained admission into the Affiliated High School of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music. She received tutelage by many renowned erhu masters including Li Mingfang, Ji Guizhen, Wong Guoyong, Zhao Hanyang, Zhang Shao and Zhang Yuming. Xu Wenjing also went on to win many major international and national awards. Upon her graduation, she joined the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra as an erhu performer, playing in many countries together with the orchestra. At the same time, she was also appointed as a tutor at the Central Conservatory of Music, with her students achieving remarkable results.

Since migrating to Singapore in 1997, Xu Wenjing has been an erhu musician performing with the SCO. Her performances of classical Chinese repertoire such as Story of the River, Red Plum Capriccio, Heavenly Matched, The Parting of the Newly-Weds have received extremely positive reviews from audiences and critics. In 2005, she performed as a soloist in an SCO concert as part of the Singapore Season in London. Her execution of memorable passages in Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won critical acclaim in local and overseas media. The same year, she represented the SCO, performing at concerts in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Xu Wen Jing was invited to perform the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the Esplanade Concert Hall with the Singapore Arts Festival Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the composer, Tan Dun, and received well acclaim.

Xu Wenjing is known for her pure and clear tone on the erhu and her ability to evoke deep and poignant emotions with her playing. A critic once described of her: “otherworldy and beautifully smoky, Xu’s tone elucidates; her innate and sincere femininity extends from the deep to her fingertips, riding on wondrous notes.”

Expand to read full bio

Wu Xiangyang

Wu Xiangyang, a percussionist from Shanghai. Wu Xiangyang started learning percussion and piano from his father at a tender age. He graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Li Min Xiong and Xue Bao Lun. He served as the Percussion Sectional Principal at the Shanghai and Jiangxi Song and Dance Theatres. Currently, he is a Singapore Chinese Orchestra percussionist. In 1992 and 1993, he won the second prize at the International Jiangnan Chinese Orchestra Music Competition and the first prize at the Taiwan Southeast Asia University Students’ Composition and Performance categories respectively. He has performed in Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

Expand to read full bio

Yu Jia

Yu Jia began learning pipa at the age of four from her father Yu Song Lin, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music’s Junior Department at age of nine. She has studied under pipa master Li Guanghua and won numerous awards. In 1997, she graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In the same year, she joined SCO, and is currently SCO’s pipa principal. In 2018, Yu Jia entered the China Conservatory of Music to study a Master's degree in pipa. She graduated in 2021 and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in zhongruan. 

Yu Jia was invited by the National Experimental Chinese Orchestra in Taipei and its conductor, Chen Teng-Hsiung, to take part in a collaborative project and performance, the Ink-splashed Immortal. In Mexico, Yu Jia has also shared the stage with conductor, Chen Zuohuang, to perform a pipa concerto, Spring & Autumn. Working with Taiwanese label Poem Culture, she has recorded four pipa albums dedicated to solo and concerto music. Over the past few years, she has also been invited to participate in arts festivals in Denmark, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore, receiving good reviews for her appearances.

In SCO, Yu Jia has performed as a soloist with many well-known conductors in concerti such as The River Red, Se, Anger, Capriccio of the Ancient Path, Hua Mu Lan, Spring & Autumn and Joy of a Toast & Whirling Dance. SCO has specially invited well-known composer Liu Xijin and Kuan Nai-chung to compose pipa and erhu concerto, Tian Yuan and pipa concerto, Flying Asparas. The award-winning piece performed by Yu Jia – pipa concerto Arise, You Lion of Glory! – won the Composition Award first prize at the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition 2015 and also garnered the most votes from the audiences.

In September 2019, SCO embarked on a four-city concert tour to Europe. Yu Jia performed Arise,You Lion of Glory! by Gordon Fung Dic-Lun, in Berlin and Prague, and her performances had received well acclaims.

Expand to read full bio

Qu Jianqing

Qu Jianqing is currently Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s principal Yangqin musician, Committee Member of the Singapore Chinese Instrumental Music Association, Committee Member of the Cimbalom (Yangqin) World Association, Honorary Committee Member of the Yangqin Professional Committee of the China Ethnic Music Society, on top of being the member of the China Musicians’ Association (Shanghai Branch).

Qu Jianqing was born in Shanghai, China, where she began learning yangqin at the age of 9 under the tutelage of Wang You De, and was accepted by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra at the age of 13 based on her extraordinary musical talent. Over the years, Qu Jianqing has also received tutelage under various Yangqin masters like Xiang Zu Hua, renowned Yangqin performer Pang Bo-er and Zhang Xiao Feng. She also received many awards, such as, Shanghai City “Literary Arts New Talent” Title in 1980, Shanghai City “Striker of the New Long March” Title (and Outstanding Youth) in 1981, China National Ethnic Music Emulation Performance Prize in 1982, 14th “Spring of Shanghai” Outstanding Performance Prize in 1991.

Qu Jianqing has performed in Europe, Asia and America, and has visited many countries like America, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. She is an active participant to many World Yangqin Festival. In 1997 (Belarus), 1999 (Moldova), 2003 (Switzerland), 2005 (Beijing, China), 2011 (Hungary), 2019 (Hefei, China) she represented Singapore to the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 15th International Yangqin Convention, and presented recital. In 2006, she was invited to Poland in Chamber Music Festival ‘Arsenal Nights’ to present the Yangqin and chamber music Phoenix with distinguished Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra.

Qu Jianqing is also the premier performer of many influential yangqin music, including The Phoenix (Xu Changjun), Yellow River (Arrangement by Qu Chunquan), Rhapsody on Dinühua (Phoon Yew Tien) etc. She has also recorded four personal albums.

She migrated to Singapore in 1994, and has devoted much attention to music education. She currently teaches in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, National University of Singapore, National Institute of Education. Her students have won first prize in the Singapore National Chinese Orchestra Soloist Competition for the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels respectively.

Expand to read full bio

Koh Wen Jun Derek

Hailed by The Straits Times as a leading voice of his generation, percussionist Derek Koh has performed extensively across the United States, Europe, and Asia. His multifaceted career spans orchestral and chamber performance, composing, producing, and ensemble leadership.

Since 2022, he has served as Section Percussion with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO). He has been featured as a soloist with SCO, including a Tianjin appearance on the China Tour 2024 and the SCO Fundraising Dinner 2024. He performed with ZeMu! Ensemble Berlin at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2022 and has appeared with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with musicians of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 2019, he held a fellowship with the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York.

Derek’s practice extends into multidisciplinary work between stage and screen. Highlights include recording for Disney’s live-action Mulan, performing in Esplanade’s 24-show PLAYtime! production The Noisy Forest, and appearing as percussionist in T.I.M.E: I Ching, a Traditional Arts Residency under the National Arts Council (Singapore).

As Creative Director of Morse Percussion, he champions contemporary percussion and Singaporean repertoire through commissions and platforms including SIFA 2021 and YST Performers’ Present 2023. In 2025, Morse Percussion was invited as artists to PASIC 50, the convention’s jubilee year, becoming the first Singaporean percussion collective to perform at PASIC.

Derek teaches at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts as Adjunct Faculty and Assistant Director of the Percussion Ensemble. He serves as Vice Secretary-General of the Singapore Chinese Music Federation, Chairman of its Youth Chapter, and Secretary-General of the Percussion Association of Singapore. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, conferred by the Royal College of Music, and a Master of Music from the Mannes School of Music in New York. He is a Freer Percussion Artist.

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Teo Teng Tat

Teo Teng Tat has been with the SCO since 1997. In addition to touring Europe and China with them, he has also been involved in many of their large-scale cultural performances at festivals and special events. In 2007, he was the appointed drums instructor for the National Day Parade. Teo Teng Tat holds diplomas from the Royal Academy of Music and the London College of Music. He is also a member of the Chinese Percussion Association.

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Wu Xiangyang

Wu Xiangyang, a percussionist from Shanghai. Wu Xiangyang started learning percussion and piano from his father at a tender age. He graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Li Min Xiong and Xue Bao Lun. He served as the Percussion Sectional Principal at the Shanghai and Jiangxi Song and Dance Theatres. Currently, he is a Singapore Chinese Orchestra percussionist. In 1992 and 1993, he won the second prize at the International Jiangnan Chinese Orchestra Music Competition and the first prize at the Taiwan Southeast Asia University Students’ Composition and Performance categories respectively. He has performed in Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

Expand to read full bio

Huang Guifang

Huang Guifang enrolled in the affiliated high school of the Central Conservatory of Music at age 13 and began her full-time professional learning of the sanxian from renowned sanxian musician Professor Xiao Jiansheng. In 1986, Huang Guifang graduated from the conservatory with outstanding results and stayed on to teach at the affiliated high school. Huang won the First Grade Prize in the First National Ethnic Music Performing Competition in 1982 and First Prize in the China International Ethnic Music Grand Competition in 1995. Huang was a member of the Musicians’ Association of China and joined the Singapore Chinese Orchestra as a sanxian and ruan musician in 1997. She is currently the Plucked String Section Leader / Sanxian Principal.

Between 1982 and 1997, Huang Guifang represented Chinese artists in her visits to more than 10 countries where she participated in exchange and publicity activities, and received high acclaims. She recorded sanxian solo, ensemble and concerto music for the China Central Broadcasting Station, China Central Television and Music Channel. She also embarked on a series of experimental chambers including plucked strings quintet “Wu Duo Jin Hua” by Mr Liu Dehai, “Jiu Fang” and “Ai Yue Nü”. These experiences developed her sanxian performing style and furthered the potential of the instrument. Huang debuted performances of many sanxian works, including Fantasy of the Dance (Xu Xiaolin), Untitled (Zhang Qianyi), Su Xiao Xiao (Yang Qing), Eighteen Stanzas on the Barbarian Reed Pipe (Li Heng) and the King of Single Stroke (Cui Quan) with critical acclaim.

Expand to read full bio

Qu Jianqing

Qu Jianqing is currently Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s principal Yangqin musician, Committee Member of the Singapore Chinese Instrumental Music Association, Committee Member of the Cimbalom (Yangqin) World Association, Honorary Committee Member of the Yangqin Professional Committee of the China Ethnic Music Society, on top of being the member of the China Musicians’ Association (Shanghai Branch).

Qu Jianqing was born in Shanghai, China, where she began learning yangqin at the age of 9 under the tutelage of Wang You De, and was accepted by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra at the age of 13 based on her extraordinary musical talent. Over the years, Qu Jianqing has also received tutelage under various Yangqin masters like Xiang Zu Hua, renowned Yangqin performer Pang Bo-er and Zhang Xiao Feng. She also received many awards, such as, Shanghai City “Literary Arts New Talent” Title in 1980, Shanghai City “Striker of the New Long March” Title (and Outstanding Youth) in 1981, China National Ethnic Music Emulation Performance Prize in 1982, 14th “Spring of Shanghai” Outstanding Performance Prize in 1991.

Qu Jianqing has performed in Europe, Asia and America, and has visited many countries like America, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. She is an active participant to many World Yangqin Festival. In 1997 (Belarus), 1999 (Moldova), 2003 (Switzerland), 2005 (Beijing, China), 2011 (Hungary), 2019 (Hefei, China) she represented Singapore to the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 15th International Yangqin Convention, and presented recital. In 2006, she was invited to Poland in Chamber Music Festival ‘Arsenal Nights’ to present the Yangqin and chamber music Phoenix with distinguished Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra.

Qu Jianqing is also the premier performer of many influential yangqin music, including The Phoenix (Xu Changjun), Yellow River (Arrangement by Qu Chunquan), Rhapsody on Dinühua (Phoon Yew Tien) etc. She has also recorded four personal albums.

She migrated to Singapore in 1994, and has devoted much attention to music education. She currently teaches in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, National University of Singapore, National Institute of Education. Her students have won first prize in the Singapore National Chinese Orchestra Soloist Competition for the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels respectively.

Expand to read full bio

Yu Jia

Yu Jia began learning pipa at the age of four from her father Yu Song Lin, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music’s Junior Department at age of nine. She has studied under pipa master Li Guanghua and won numerous awards. In 1997, she graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In the same year, she joined SCO, and is currently SCO’s pipa principal. In 2018, Yu Jia entered the China Conservatory of Music to study a Master's degree in pipa. She graduated in 2021 and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in zhongruan. 

Yu Jia was invited by the National Experimental Chinese Orchestra in Taipei and its conductor, Chen Teng-Hsiung, to take part in a collaborative project and performance, the Ink-splashed Immortal. In Mexico, Yu Jia has also shared the stage with conductor, Chen Zuohuang, to perform a pipa concerto, Spring & Autumn. Working with Taiwanese label Poem Culture, she has recorded four pipa albums dedicated to solo and concerto music. Over the past few years, she has also been invited to participate in arts festivals in Denmark, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore, receiving good reviews for her appearances.

In SCO, Yu Jia has performed as a soloist with many well-known conductors in concerti such as The River Red, Se, Anger, Capriccio of the Ancient Path, Hua Mu Lan, Spring & Autumn and Joy of a Toast & Whirling Dance. SCO has specially invited well-known composer Liu Xijin and Kuan Nai-chung to compose pipa and erhu concerto, Tian Yuan and pipa concerto, Flying Asparas. The award-winning piece performed by Yu Jia – pipa concerto Arise, You Lion of Glory! – won the Composition Award first prize at the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition 2015 and also garnered the most votes from the audiences.

In September 2019, SCO embarked on a four-city concert tour to Europe. Yu Jia performed Arise,You Lion of Glory! by Gordon Fung Dic-Lun, in Berlin and Prague, and her performances had received well acclaims.

Expand to read full bio

Wu Xiangyang

Wu Xiangyang, a percussionist from Shanghai. Wu Xiangyang started learning percussion and piano from his father at a tender age. He graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Li Min Xiong and Xue Bao Lun. He served as the Percussion Sectional Principal at the Shanghai and Jiangxi Song and Dance Theatres. Currently, he is a Singapore Chinese Orchestra percussionist. In 1992 and 1993, he won the second prize at the International Jiangnan Chinese Orchestra Music Competition and the first prize at the Taiwan Southeast Asia University Students’ Composition and Performance categories respectively. He has performed in Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

Expand to read full bio

Xu Wenjing

Xu Wenjing started learning erhu at the age of five and gained admission into the Affiliated High School of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music. She received tutelage by many renowned erhu masters including Li Mingfang, Ji Guizhen, Wong Guoyong, Zhao Hanyang, Zhang Shao and Zhang Yuming. Xu Wenjing also went on to win many major international and national awards. Upon her graduation, she joined the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra as an erhu performer, playing in many countries together with the orchestra. At the same time, she was also appointed as a tutor at the Central Conservatory of Music, with her students achieving remarkable results.

Since migrating to Singapore in 1997, Xu Wenjing has been an erhu musician performing with the SCO. Her performances of classical Chinese repertoire such as Story of the River, Red Plum Capriccio, Heavenly Matched, The Parting of the Newly-Weds have received extremely positive reviews from audiences and critics. In 2005, she performed as a soloist in an SCO concert as part of the Singapore Season in London. Her execution of memorable passages in Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won critical acclaim in local and overseas media. The same year, she represented the SCO, performing at concerts in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Xu Wen Jing was invited to perform the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the Esplanade Concert Hall with the Singapore Arts Festival Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the composer, Tan Dun, and received well acclaim.

Xu Wenjing is known for her pure and clear tone on the erhu and her ability to evoke deep and poignant emotions with her playing. A critic once described of her: “otherworldy and beautifully smoky, Xu’s tone elucidates; her innate and sincere femininity extends from the deep to her fingertips, riding on wondrous notes.”

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Koh Wen Jun Derek

Hailed by The Straits Times as a leading voice of his generation, percussionist Derek Koh has performed extensively across the United States, Europe, and Asia. His multifaceted career spans orchestral and chamber performance, composing, producing, and ensemble leadership.

Since 2022, he has served as Section Percussion with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO). He has been featured as a soloist with SCO, including a Tianjin appearance on the China Tour 2024 and the SCO Fundraising Dinner 2024. He performed with ZeMu! Ensemble Berlin at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2022 and has appeared with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with musicians of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 2019, he held a fellowship with the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York.

Derek’s practice extends into multidisciplinary work between stage and screen. Highlights include recording for Disney’s live-action Mulan, performing in Esplanade’s 24-show PLAYtime! production The Noisy Forest, and appearing as percussionist in T.I.M.E: I Ching, a Traditional Arts Residency under the National Arts Council (Singapore).

As Creative Director of Morse Percussion, he champions contemporary percussion and Singaporean repertoire through commissions and platforms including SIFA 2021 and YST Performers’ Present 2023. In 2025, Morse Percussion was invited as artists to PASIC 50, the convention’s jubilee year, becoming the first Singaporean percussion collective to perform at PASIC.

Derek teaches at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts as Adjunct Faculty and Assistant Director of the Percussion Ensemble. He serves as Vice Secretary-General of the Singapore Chinese Music Federation, Chairman of its Youth Chapter, and Secretary-General of the Percussion Association of Singapore. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, conferred by the Royal College of Music, and a Master of Music from the Mannes School of Music in New York. He is a Freer Percussion Artist.

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