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The Malaysian-born conductor, pianist and composer, David Chin, began his music education at the age of 9 and successfully completed Piano Associate Diploma (ATCL) examinations of Trinity College London in 2004. He received his Bachelor of Music degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Choral and Piano Performance from Liberty University in 2010 and was awarded both Outstanding Music Student and Keyboard Student of the Year. While at Liberty, he conducted the Timothy International Student Chorale and Liberty Chamber Singers. In addition, he was also the winner of the concerto competition and appeared as a soloist at the Honors Recital. He was awarded the Charles W. Kennett Scholarship and the Herman Genhart Choral Conducting Scholar Award by the Eastman School of Music, and completed his Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting (2010-2012). While at Eastman, he conducted the Eastman Repertory Singers, Eastman Chorale, Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Bach Soloists, Eastman-Rochester Chorus, and served as the accompanist of the Eastman Women's Chorus. The graduate programs in conducting at Eastman have repeatedly been ranked by US News and World Report as the finest in the country. A small number of students are admitted to these degree programs, and they are given significant podium experience with regular Eastman ensembles. Chin has been mentored by conductors William Weinert, Brad Lubman, Helmuth Rilling, Simon Carrington, and Cleusia Goncalves. His piano coaches included world-renowned pianist Daisy de Lucca Jaffè (pupil of Magda Tagliaferro, Friedrich Gulda, Richard Hauser, and Guido Agosti) and David Ehrman; and his voice coaches included Raymond Gibbs (former Metropolitan Opera House tenor), Kathryn Cowdrick, and Wayne Kompelien. David has recently been awarded the prestigious Harvey Fellowship by the Mustard Seed Foundation. He has also been awarded full scholarship by the Eastman School of Music to pursue Doctoral degree in conducting.
As a conductor, pianist, and composer, David Chin has experienced a career-defining year that young musicians dream of. Known for his energetic conducting and charismatic personality, Chin has swiftly emerged as one of the rising conductors and musical leaders in the next generation of globe-trotting musicians. Over the years, he has directed numerous choirs and orchestras, and collaborated with outstanding musicians from all around the world. An enthusiastic church musician, he has served Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational churches in Asia and North America. He had also won awards in original compositions for chorus and orchestra, piano solo, and piano concerto. His original sacred piano arrangements have been broadcast on the International Television Program in the USA. He has also been featured on various radio stations and newspapers in New York and Malaysia.
Since 2012, David Chin serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Roberts Wesleyan College in New York, where he conducts the Roberts Wesleyan Chorale the Roberts Singers and teaches Choral Conducting, Music History, and other music courses. In addition, appointments as the Music Director of the Chinese Choral Society of Rochester (in 2011), regular guest conductor and lecturer of the International Christian Choral Conductor Society, and has been appointed to teach at the 21st World Sacred Music Conference in Auckland (New Zealand) Medan (Indonesia), and Malaysia. David was recently invited to conduct J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion (BWV 245) by the Rochester Bach Festival (April 2014), the inaugural concert of the new Eastman School of Music: Cantata! A Bach Cantata Series (September 2013), Bach Cantata Lecture Concert Series organized by A & O Company in Hong Kong and Yin Qi Choir in Malaysia, and collaborative concerts of Madrigalia and Musica Spei in New York.. He was selected as one the conductors to attend both the Sarteano Chamber Music Workshop in Italy and Helmuth Rilling's Masterclass in Hong Kong. He was the Music Director of the Chinese Choral Society of Rochester from 2011-2014.
Recent highlights (2011-2014) include conducting performances of J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245), Magnificat in D (BWV 243), Orchestral Suite No. 2 in D (BWV 1068), multiple Brandenburg Concertos and Motets (including Jesu Meine Freude, BWV 227, and Lobet den Herrn, BWV 230), over 20 Cantatas (including BWV 17, BWV 45, BWV 47, BWV 80, BWV 81, BWV 82, BWV 117, BWV 164, BWV 180, and BWV 191); George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Utretch Te Deum (HWV 278), Jubilate (HWV 279), Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, and Chandos Anthem; Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria (RV 589); Purcell's Dido and Aeneas; Tomaso Albinoni's Concerto Op. 7 No. 3, Haydn's Symphony No. 94 'Surprise', Te Deum in C, Lord Nelson Mass, Theresienmesse, and Kleine Orgelmesse; W.A. Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore and Missa Brevis in G (KV140); Schubert's Mass No. 2 in G; Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 'Lobgesang'; Camille Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio; Igor Stravinsky's Mass; Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves, and selections by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Giovanni Gabrieli, Tomaso Albinoni, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johannes Brahms, Maurice Duruflé, Sibelius, Samuel Barber, Chilcott, Thompson, Lauridsen, and and other American composers. He also recently conducted multiple performances of the world’s longest running musical: Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Miserables. He recently played the harpsichord in a performance of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor (BWV 232) with the Voices Chamber Choir and Orchestra in New York. He also performed piano solo works by J.S. Bach, Haydn, L.v. Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Debussy.
Recent engagements include appointments as Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director of the premiere performance of J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245) in Malaysia and Artistic Director of the 2015 Hong Kong Bach Festival. He is also the ArtistiDirector and one of the founders of the East Malaysia Bach Cantata Singers and Orchestra, where he conducted them in the inaugural Bach Cantata Lecture Concert Tour, and became the first conductor to introduce J.S. Bach's music to major cities throughout East Malaysia. He has also been invited to conduct the Kuala Lumpur City Opera Company (formerly the EST Opera) in Malaysia and Mass Choir Performance of the Association of Toronto Chinese Evangelical Church Musicians in Canada.
David Chin was a member of the renowned Schola Cantorum at Christ Church in Rochester, New York from 2011-2014, where they perform Gregorian Chant, choral improvisations, and motets from the Renaissance, Baroque, and 20th-century in the weekly Office of Compline. He also sings with the Voices ensemble, Eastman Chorale, and Eastman-Rochester Chorus. |
