Ian is a Malaysian harpist, currently pursuing his Master of Performance degree at the Royal College of Music studying with Ieuan Jones. He holds a Bachelor of Music at the same institution with First Class Honours, and was admitted to the conservatoire after only four years of playing the harp. He started learning the harp with Ong Foong Huang and Katryna Tan.
Ian has several competition prizes under his belt, such as the RCM Harp Prize in 2021, 1st Prize for the Hong Kong Youth Performing Arts Festival Competition and 2nd Prize for the Vienna Virtuoso Competition, both in 2018.
Passionate about new music, Ian curates concerts and collaborates with composers to give world premieres. The most recent being a concert on summer-themed Japanese contemporary works, titled “From Takemitsu to Miku”, in June 2023 as part of RCM FestivALL. His contemporary performances has included working with electronics, soundtrack playback, vocaloid Hatsune Miku, visual effects (VFX), animations and many more. His premieres also extend to solos for prepared harp. Through collaborations he has founded several extended techniques.
He has graced prestigious stages worldwide, from Cadogan Hall to St James’ Piccadilly, to high profile venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and played for high-profile individuals such as the vice president and president-elect of Taiwan, Lai Ching-Te. He has also performed with professional orchestras worldwide. He was part of the Final Fantasy World Tour in 2017 with the Malaysia National Symphony Orchestra. In London he regularly plays with the Chelsea Opera Group, London Firebird Orchestra and several semi-professional orchestras. While in RCM he took part in the Philharmonia and English National Opera side-by-side schemes, and performed with world-renowned conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Jac van Steen and more.
An advocate of chamber music, he currently leads the 63 Strings ensemble (harp & string quartet), and has various active duos — New Light (harp & cello), Liminal Duo (harp & piano), Diamonics Duo (two harps). Previously he has worked with Flarpiola (flute, viola, harp), Ankur (Indian classical), and Wicked Music People (baroque ensemble).
Ian is offered a place with a partial scholarship in the Artist Diploma course of the Royal College of Music for the next academic year.
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