Ms Vivian Reiko Chan graduated from Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, Japan with a Bachelor Degree in Music (Hons), majoring in Performance and Composition. She also obtained a Full Diploma (practical and theory) from the Trinity College of Music London, and full ABRSM Grade 8 (practical and theory). She also has a Yamaha performance Grade 5.

Her teachers include Endo Naoko, Maruyama Kazunori, Maeda Yuukei, Sato Mutsuo and Shiokawa sensei. She also had electone training with the famous Saezaki Kenichi sensei. She was chosen among hundreds of students during her uni days and obtained a scholarship for her 2nd year during her studies in Japan.

After graduating, she started to work in Yamaha, teaching composition to gifted students in the Special Advanced Course and taught the diploma course at the Yamaha Academy.

Ms Vivian started performing from the age of 5, she was and is no stranger to recitals and concerts. She specialises in piano performance and composition and has won numerous piano and electone competitions, Yamaha piano competitions, and Yamaha Electone Festivals.

She also bagged 2nd prize for Best Animation Composition in the prestigious Shobi competition held in Shobi Conservatoire Tokyo. She was invited to hold a solo concert in YWCA Tokyo and Yamaha Hall Ginza. And was invited to perform in Nemoto Concert at the Yumeria Hall Tokyo in 2018.

She wrote 2 books: Piano “Blue without you” and Electone top hits which was used for exam purposes. She was also invited as a judge for Piara Piano Competition 2018, Kayserburg Piano Competition 2021 & 2023 and Chief Judge for The Happy Music Festival 2020-2023

With over 20 years of teaching experience, Ms Vivian has trained students from beginner to Diploma levels in all ages with some of her students became piano teachers too. Many piano teachers upgrade themselves with Ms Vivian’s mentoring.

She also trains students for competitions, with some of them emerged top winners in various piano competitions, such as the Singapore National Piano Competition, Singapore Asia Youth Piano Festival, Dynamicworkz and more.

Ms Vivian believes performing motivates one to practise and to seek deeper in music. That is why she organises annual recitals and concerts for her students. The more you connect with music, the more you understand, and the more you will fall in love with it.

Besides teaching, Ms Vivian enjoys uploading her performances onto Youtube, composing and collaborating with students and friends performing duet and duo. She also has a soft spot for animals, especially dogs and cats.

Ms Vivian is the Piano Chief Judge of The Happy Music Festival.

​Dr Onishi received a Ph.D. in music theory in 2004 from the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, USA. While there, he taught at the UW and University of Puget Sound, Tacoma. He came to Singapore in 2005 and was assistant professor at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST), National University of Singapore (NUS). He also taught at LaSalle College of the Arts and the School of the Arts (SOTA). Currently, Dr. Onishi currently teaches at the Natinal Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Dr Onishi also holds an MA in historical musicology from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. This complements his strength in music theory and make his approaches to music more comprehensive and contextual. He has taught music history courses at YST and LaSalle.

Dr Onishi’s credential is made even more unique with his rare experience as a performer and scholar of the Philippine kulintang. He started taking kulintang lessons with ethnomusicologist Dr. Pamela Grace Costes Onishi at the UW and soon began to perform in public. He also had lessons with such master musicians as Danongan Sibay Kalanduyan (a winner of the 1995 National Heritage Fellowship Award by the National Endowment for the Arts, USA), and the University of the Philippines lecturers Kanapia Kalanduyan and Aga Mayo Butocan. After working with Dr Pamela for his interdisciplinary researches, Dr Onishi co-founded Sari-Sari Philippine Kulintang Ensemble in 2009 with her and has been actively performing with the Ensemble since then, both islandwide and overseas (Bandung, Indonesia and Hong Kong). As a kulintang teacher, he taught at NIE for five years (2014-2019) and has led several workshops.

While it may be possible to find somebody who is versed with one of the three specialisations (music theory, music history, and the Philippine kulintang/world music) separately, very few individuals are equipped with all three of them. Dr Onishi can convey all of them not only as knowledge but also as actual skills of living music. His students truly “live” (in) these different musical cultures and gain unforgettable and invaluable musical experiences that are sure to stay and enrich their lives. His current clients include the National Institute of Education (part-time lecturer, 2014-), the Ministry of Education (as SYF adjudicator, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022), and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (2022).

Dr. Onishi currently runs his own company, Hideaki Onishi Music, and offers music lessons (primarily piano and music theory) to both kids and adults while teaching music theory at NIE. For more information, please visit: https://hideakionishimusic.com/

Ms Tricia Lim holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Piano Performance from The Royal Northern College Of Music UK (RNCM), one of the leading conservatories in the world. It is one of the four associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), which most teachers and students are familiar with.

She also holds a Performance Diploma with Distinction from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama UK. Both achieved while spending 6 years in the United Kingdom.

Ms Tricia started her teaching career with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), teaching their gifted program at their School Of Young Talents, preparing kids with solid music foundation, and training them for stage performances, festivals, and competitions. She taught at NAFA for 8 years, from 2001 to 2008. She then went on to take on the role of an adjunct teacher at Forte Music Academy for 3 years, and since 2011, she has been giving private home piano lessons at her home studio.

Ms Tricia believes in building a strong foundation for piano students right from the start. While graded piano exams are a good benchmark of a student’s playing level, Ms Tricia does not prefer students to focus too much on exams. She prefer her students to sit for important grades only, so they can work on a wider range of repertoire, and participate in piano competitions, festivals and live events.

With her dedicated and all-rounded teaching, most of the students achieve high scores and distinctions in exams, and excel at music competitions and festivals. Some notable achievements include winning the first prize in Singapore National Piano & Violin Competition 2023, as well as receiving top honors in international piano competitions. Some have gone on to pursue music professionally overseas.

Born in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, Radostin Kirchev began learning the piano at the age of seven in the class of Rumyana Shishkova. During his studies in the music school in his hometown he had given numerous concerts including soloist of orchestras, solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Bulgaria, France and Italy.

He appeared as a soloist of Symphony Orchestra of Stara Zagora, Symphony Orchestra of National Academy of Music and Philharmonic Orchestra of Vidin with the conductors Bozhidar Bonev, Krassimir Kashev, Ivailo Krinchev and Svilen Simeonov.

After graduating from the music school in Stara Zagora, Radostin Kirchev studied in the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pantcho Vladigerov”, Sofia, Bulgaria with Professor Dimo Dimov, who invited him in his class after listening to Radostin at a masterclass. He graduated the music academy with honours obtaining Bachelor and Master Degrees in piano performance.

Through the years in the music academy Radostin Kirchev became involved in the culture life of the Bulgarian capital giving many concerts as soloist and chamber musician. He was also actively traveling in Germany, Italy and France, where he worked with the famous pianists Aldo Ciccolini, Fabio Bidini, Einar-Steen Nokleberg, Markus Tomas and Arkadi Zenziper.

He had attended several masterclasses from a few world class individuals such as Dimo Dimov, Krassimir Gatev, Ivan Drenikov, Milena Mollova, Liliya Boyadjieva, Boyan Vodenitcharov, Borislava Taneva, Vladimir Shkarupa, Boris Berman, Vasiliy Ilisavskiy and Bart van Oort. He had also won the Special Prize “Schumann” at the Piano Competition “Schumann and Chopin” at the National Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria as well as First Prize at National Competition for Instrumentalists and Singers “Svetoslav Obretenov”, in Provadia, Bulgaria.

​In 2012 Radostin Kirchev moved to Singapore, where he had given masterclasses in some of the top schools like Raffles Junior College and Crescent Girls School. His students have distinguished themselves in competitions in Singapore, including winning the 2nd Prize in the National Piano and Violin Competition 2015 in the Junior Category, 2nd and 3rd Prizes in the 7th ASEAN International Chopin Piano Competition 2018, as well as many other international competitions in Poland, England, France, Greece, USA, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia.

Radostin Kirchev has been actively performing in Singapore as soloist and chamber musician. He was the soloist of ESO Symphony for their annual concert “Destiny” 2016 held in Victoria Concert Hall.

A versatile and active chamber musician with wide range of repertoire,  Ani Umedyan is originally from Armenia but based in Singapore as her second home.

Ani graduated from Yerevan State Conservatory with Master’s degree in 2004 where she started teaching in Chamber Music Faculty same year. She had successful concerts in EU, Australia,Middle East, Asia as a Soloist, Chamber musician and Orchestra player.

Number of famous musicians had a big impact on her as mentors and collaborators on stage – Prof. B. Vardanyan, Philippe Graffin,Maria Egelhoff, Levon Chilingirian, Charles Avsharian, Andrea Bocelli, Michaela Martin etc. She has performed in many notable music festivals.

In Singapore, Ani is a co-founder of the “Armenian Heritage Ensemble” and Triolah Piano Trio, having performed with both ensembles extensively across Asia. Beautiful production of !Piazzolla!Not only tango! led by Ani brought the team to notable festivals in Malaysia and Philippines.

With her long time stage partner pianist Kseniia Vokhmiianina the Duo had more then hundreds of performances at all venues across the Asia. Together they explore rare performing pieces of violin & piano, piano trio repertoire.

As an active and experienced Teacher Ani is nurturing her students to get their diplomas and ace their music competitions. She is happy to see the growth of her beloved students achieving the finest musicianship by performing various repertoire.

In addition to her music career Ani is also a mosaic artist and a long time volunteer of Armenian Church Singapore.

Much in demand as a professional violinist, Wei Ken has performed in many countries across the globe. Currently, Wei Ken is on the Freelance List of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and also a regular guest violinist with the Sun Symphony Orchestra (Vietnam). Locally, he has performed with Re:Sound, Musician’s Initiative (MI), Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM), The Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO), ADDO Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, re:mix and the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra.

In Scotland, he has performed regularly alongside the Brodsky Quartet and Scottish Ensemble for projects, also scoring side-by-side sessions with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. A pupil of Foo Say Ming, Wei Ken made his first public debut with the SNYO as soloist on the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto at the Esplanade Concert Hall for the 2008 Singapore Youth Festival when he was 14.

As a member of the orchestra from 2007 until 2012, Wei Ken has toured with the SNYO to Italy for the 10th Florence International Music Festival and to Scotland for the 39th Aberdeen International Youth Festival. In 2019, Wei Ken graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Mr Ng Yu-Ying. In 2021, Wei Ken graduated with a Masters in Music Performance (Violin) degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) with generous support from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Trust, under the tutelage of Andrea Gajic.

Wei Ken has won 2nd Prize in the Hilda Bailey Violin Prize in his first year at the RCS. His string quartet was awarded the Mary D Adams Prize for chamber music in 2021, an award only given to the ensemble that has performed consistently to a high standard through the year. Recently, he has performed a sold-out recital at the Steinway Gallery in Jakarta alongside Indonesian pianist Wilson Chu.

Wei Ken has also served as jury to the 15th Sekolah Musik Elyon (SME) Open Music Competition (Surabaya) and the 3rd Staccato International Piano and Violin Competition (Singapore). Wei Ken is thankful to have had incredible lessons with notable violin professors including Hagai Shaham, Mark Kaplan and Ilya Kaler at the Heifetz International Music Institute, Associate Prof. Xie Nan (Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing), Henning Kraggerud, Shlomo Mintz, Siow Lee-Chin, Marc Daniel van Biemen (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), Dr. Ayke Agus (pianist to Jascha Heifetz), Dima Tkachenko, Alexander Trostiansky, Itzhak Rashkovsky and Wang Hong.

Wei Ken currently uses a violin by Italian luthier Vittorio Villa and a bow by W. E. Hill and sons.