Biographies

Ng Yu-Ying embarked on his professional career as a violinist in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra after graduating with first-class honours from the Royal Academy of Music, UK, where he studied with Clarence Myerscough and Erich Gruenberg. Here, he was awarded the Alex Templeton Prize, Roth Prize and Dominion Fellowship. Aside from chamber music performances, his collaborations with violist Jiri Heger have brought him to the Czech Republic where he performed in concerts and in live telecasts on Czech television. Yu Ying has performed to critical acclaim at major festivals spanning the UK, USA, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and others.

Winner of the Singapore National Music Competition in 1985 and 1987, Ang Chek Meng received a Singapore Symphony Orchestra Scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he trained under Jean Harvey, Erich Gruenberg, and members of the Amadeus Quartet. Graduating with honors, Chek was awarded the Countess of Munster Trust Scholarship. Chek joined the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1991. As a member of the Quartet, Chek has performed to critical acclaim at major venues such as the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Music Mountain Chamber Series, Melbourne Festival, New Zealand Arts Festival, in Asia and beyond.

Han Oh studied under Lionel Tan of the T’ang Quartet before attending the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. His principal teachers include George Taylor of the Eastman School and Eugene Becker of the Julliard School. Han was the sole prizewinner in the 1993 National Singapore Music Competition-Open Lower Strings Category. He has since served as principal violist for numerous orchestras such as Colorado Mahler Festival and the San Francisco Lyric Opera. During his tenure as the violist of the Aerith Quartet, Han studied intensively under the Takacs Quartet. Highly sought-after for his versatility, Han performed and recorded with numerous orchestras, producers and Grammy-winning ensembles.

In a career that has spanned almost 20 years, Leslie is much sought after as a soloist and chamber musician. After performing as a cellist at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), he was awarded a scholarship to study at both the Trinity College of Music and Royal College of Music in London. Spending 13 years in the SSO, he went to the Tchaikovsky-Moscow State Conservatory as a graduate-assistant of Natalia Shahkovskaya. He has performed to critical acclaim in major venues and festivals around the world, including the Prague-Vienna-Budapest Sommerakademie and Aarhuus Festival in Europe, and been broadcasted by the BBC in London. Leslie has collaborated with artists in other disciplines such as dance, theatre and popular music.

Lionel started his professional career playing the viola in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, studying under Jiri Heger. Awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London, he graduated in performance and pedagogy, and was bestowed the Lionel Tertis Prize for outstanding performance. Beyond his 11 years as a violist in the Orchestra, Lionel has established himself as a prize-winning soloist and chamber musician, performing to critical acclaim all over the world. He also studied the viola with Martha Katz and Karen Ritscher in the USA, and with Margaret Major, Christopher Wellington and Milan Skampa in Europe.