ENSEMBLES 2008
Leonard Tan
Music Director and Resident Conductor,
Nanyang Polytechnic Symphony Orchestra
Nanyang Polytechnic Wind Orchestra
Leonard Tan enjoys an exciting professional career as conductor, performer and music educator.
In addition to Nanyang Polytechnic, he is also music director / resident conductor of the National University of Singapore Wind Symphony, The Philharmonic Winds, and has held faculty positions at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LASALLE College of the Arts. Most recently, Mr. Tan has been appointed conductor of the Singapore National Youth Sinfonia, one of the two national youth orchestras in Singapore, a National Project of Excellence.
Professional conducting studies include working with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia with Maestro Leif Segerstam and Maestro Alexander Polischuk, the Academic Orchestra Zurich with Maestro Johannes Schlaefli, the University of Minnesota Symposium Wind Orchestra with Professor Craig Kirchhoff, and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony with Professor Eugene Corporon.
Highlights of Mr. Tan's multi-faceted career include conducting professional Singapore Symphony Orchestra musicians in a Singapore-Japan Composers Exchange Concert and Singapore National Youth Orchestra musicians in the prestigious "Ong Teng Cheong Concert." He served as an assistant conductor in a production of Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, where he worked with an international cast, choir and orchestra. Soloists he has worked with include American saxophonist Vince Gnojek, Korean pianist Hae-Jung Kim, and the world famous Boston Brass.
Mr. Tan's work as a conductor has received praise from the press. Singapore's Straits Times commented on his "well-studied and disciplined performance, bringing out a range of sonorities," and additionally noted his "highly spirited performances." He has conducted several well-received performances in such venues as the Issac Stern auditorium of the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore.
Trained in his formative musical years in the violin and tuba, Mr. Tan studied harmony with well-known composer Leong Yoon Pin before going on to obtain the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music, Licentiate of Trinity College London, and a First Class Honours in Music from the University of Wales, UK. He was also a recipient of the WASBE conducting scholarship. Ensembles under his direction have achieved several prestigious Gold, Gold with Honours, and Gold with Distinction awards at festivals and competitions. Professional affiliations include CBDNA, WASBE, MENC, and The Conductor's Guild.
