Chan Tze Law

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Chan Tze Law is one of the most dynamic and highly regarded conductors of his generation in Asia. Following a string of successes he has recently been appointed Music Director of the Singapore Festival Orchestra. A frequent guest conductor, orchestras he has conducted include the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (China), the Peabody Symphony Orchestra (USA), and the Singapore Lyric Opera.

First trained as a violinist, Maestro Chan graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, where his teachers included eminent British conductors Christopher Adey, John Forster, and the late Norman del Mar, as well as renowned British concertmasters John Ludlow and Hugh Bean. During his violinistic career he came under the tutelage of American virtuoso Charles Treger and co-founded of one of Singapore’s most successful chamber music groups ‘The Chamber Circle’.

Maestro Chan’s achievements are widely recognized by the international press, academia and industry experts. Singapore’s Straits Times noted “…it was refreshing to find sensuousness and restraint in equal degree, just when the music needed it most...” President of Manhattan School of Music Robert Sirota; “...The music always comes first with Maestro Chan, followed closely by the musicians he is mentoring through his work, and the audiences for whom he is performing...” And Dean of Peabody Conservatory of Music Wolfgang Justen; “…I see many conductors, and many would most definitely benefit from Maestro Chan’s expertise on the podium”. One of Maestro Chan’s mentors, noted British conductor and world – renowned orchestra trainer Christopher Adey hailed his innovative and far-sighted approach to conducting, “… his ability to impart the benefit of his years of experience in so many fields of instrumental music making is formidable…”

Maestro Chan is also noted for his pedagogical work at music conservatories and institutes. He is Chief Conductor of the highly successful Australian International Summer Orchestral Institute and was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Western Australia School of Music in 2005, where he was immediately invited back to conduct Elgar’s First Symphony in celebration of Elgar's 150th anniversary. He is credited with developing Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra into one of the best of its type in Asia as its founding music director and has also conducted at the Trinity College of Music in London and the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music in Australia. In 2005, he conducted the orchestra of the prestigious National Piano and Violin Competition to high praise from the press and the international competition jury. Recent premieres of works by Australian composers James Ledger and Douglas Knehans were critically acclaimed and he has also worked with Singaporean composers Ho Chee Kong, Leong Yoon Pin, Bernard Tan and the late Tsao Chieh.

Maestro Chan’s 2007/08 season appearances include works such as Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Debussy’s La Mer, Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses, Symphonies by Brahms, Dvořák and Elgar, as well as the Festival Finale at the Singapore Arts Festival, and guest lecturing at world – renowned American conducting pedagogue Gustav Meier’s conducting studio. A noted proponent of youth leadership through music, 2007 also sees Maestro Chan celebrating a decade of residency at Singapore’s award winning Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Philharmonic Orchestra as its music director. Maestro Chan is Associate Director of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and contributes his time to music development at home as a member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s Audience Development and Outreach Committee, Singapore National Youth Orchestra’s management board and the National Arts Council’s National Piano and Violin Competition steering committee, Arts Education Programme, Project Grant and Art Resource Panels.