Tan Tiag Yi is a musician based in Singapore/Germany

Tan Tiag Yi is a multi-faceted musician based in Singapore/Germany. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Music with First Class Honours at the University of Oxford in 2021, where he studied composition with Professor Martyn Harry and violin with Caroline Balding. Prior to commencing his bachelor’s degree, he studied composition with Dr. Hoh Chung Shih and Dr. Zechariah Goh Toh Chai. Through his compositions, Tiag Yi explores the manifold semiotic resonances of sounds and how time is experienced. Tiag Yi was most recently awarded Special Commendation at the 2021 Henfrey Prize for Composition for his work Cross Sections, which was premiered by leading period ensemble Boxwood & Brass at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, United Kingdom in 2022. He was also awarded First Prize at the 2021 Benslow Young Composers’ Competition (19-25 years category) for his art song I so Liked Spring, which received its premiere by soprano Sarah Leonard and pianist Stephen Gutman at Benslow Music, Hitchin, United Kingdom. Recent world premieres include the song cycle Between Ground and Sky for soprano and piano (2023) and Encounters for intercultural ensemble (2023). Other world premieres include pieces written for organist and keyboardist Dr. David Bohn (2018, 2019, 2020), pianist Jongah Yoon and flutist Dr Cheryl Lim (2017), and the Southeastern Ensemble for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Sounds (2016).

Tiag Yi is also the founding violinist of Duo Tarenna, a violin-viola duo based in Singapore that champions uncharted repertoire. Since its establishment in 2021, the Duo has premiered a total of four Singaporean works. 2023 saw the Duo perform two multi-disciplinary concerts in London and Singapore, focusing on pairing modern poetry and music. Some of Tiag Yi’s other performance projects in 2023 include Musical Movements, a contemporary music concert for children, and guest-leading a string ensemble in a performance of Mozart’s Missa Brevis K.194 in collaboration with the National University of Singapore Society Choir. While at university, Tiag Yi was awarded the St Anne’s Camerata Bursary and performed in termly concerts by St Anne’s Camerata under the direction of Dr. John Traill. As a passionate performer of contemporary music, Tiag Yi was fortunate to receive a bursary to attend the 2021 Dartington Summer Music School & Festival, where he participated in violin masterclasses with genre-crossing violinist Thomas Gould and chamber music coachings with members of the Leonore Piano Trio. Performances in 2024 included a concert of interwar piano trios at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University and the showcase concert of Duo Tarenna’s commissioning project ‘Composer’s Drawing Board Vol. 1’. Tiag Yi is currently studying composition with Professor Sidney Corbett at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts.