Cheng Jin KOH

Writing music characterized by “lyrical centers,” that “channeled spirituality” and “vehemence” (The Straits Times), Singaporean composer and yangqin (Chinese dulcimer) performer Cheng Jin KOH strives to transcend cultural boundaries with imaginative storytelling and music making. She was recently a grant winner of the New York State Council on the Arts, and commissioned composer for the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Freer Gallery centennial and 2022 Singapore International Violin Competition. Her third orchestral piece for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Midnight Visions, had just been premiered under the direction of conductor Pierre Bleuse, and her work Luciola singapura will soon be brought on tour to Japan and Australia for the Symphony’s 2024-2025 season.

Cheng Jin’s most significant accolades include the BMI Foundation Young Composer (William Schuman) Prize, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a Society of New Music Brian Israel Prize, the Palmer Dixon Award and Gena Raps Chamber Music Prize (both from the Juilliard School), the American Guild of Organists Commissioning Prize, Margaret Blackburn and Boston New Music Initiative (BNMI) Prizes, Earplay Donald Aird and Mirror Visions Ensemble prizes, and the John Eaton Memorial award.  Groups she has worked with include the Talea Ensemble, Verona Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, New Thread Quartet, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Central Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory of Music in China, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Singapore National Chinese Youth Orchestra, Ding Yi Music Company, T’ang Quartet, the TENG Company, DiCapella Dizi Ensemble, K口U Musik, Morse Percussion, and the Purple Symphony.  Notable festivals that have featured her music include the Singapore International Festival of Arts, Singapore International Piano Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, European American Music Alliance (EAMA), Yale-Norfolk New Music Workshop, Stareable Film Festival, National Flute Association and Australia Woodend Winter Arts Music Festival.

​As a yangqin musician, Cheng Jin was one of the youngest grand prize winners of the Singapore Chinese Music Competition and performed as a soloist with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra at eighteen. A member of the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, she also regularly premieres her own music, which mostly involve multicultural and interdisciplinary explorations. Ensembles she has played with include the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Bard College Conservatory of Music Chinese Ensemble, Dongfeng Liu Jazz Band, Siong Leng Musical Association, among others. She has also performed in iconic venues such as Dizzy’s Club and Jazz at Lincoln Center, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Freer Gallery, Merkin Concert Hall, National Sawdust and The Red Pavillion in Brooklyn, to name a few.

Having completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the Juilliard School where she was Teaching Fellow for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program (Composition) and Extension Division (Music Theory) , Cheng Jin is currently a PhD MacCracken fellow (ABD candidate) and a teaching assistant at New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She is grateful to all her pedagogues, which include Melinda Wagner, Louis Karchin, Robert Beaser, Kelly Tang, Jianqing Qu, and Pohchun Seah. She currently resides in New York City with her husband, conductor Tengku Irfan and their 5-year old therapy feline, Bertie Koh.