TAN Wee-Hsin began viola studies under former Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) violist Lim Tze Chian when he joined the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) in 1991. In 1997, Tan was awarded a SSO/MOE scholarship to study with George Taylor (viola) and Bradley Lubman (conducting) at the renowned Eastman School of Music where he graduated with Highest Distinction in 2001. He also holds a Master of Music (2006) in Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University, and served as Teaching Assistant to Roland Vamos, Professor of Viola and Violin. In June 2008, Tan was conferred the Doctor of Music eighteen months after he embarked on the course, an achievement unprecedented in the history of Northwestern University.
Tan’s conducting debut came in 2000 when he conducted Arvo Pärt’s Frates for Violin and Orchestra in the famed Kilbourn Hall in Rochester, New York. His journey with the SNYO as a tutor began in 2001 when Lim Yau invited him to assist in rehearsing the orchestra. Tan continued in this capacity under Robert Casteels for the next three years. In 2002, Tan initiated the chamber music program and spearheaded the first ever SNYO chamber music performance, which continues its annual concerts even today.
Besides his full time professional work with the SSO since 2001, Tan’s orchestral experience includes performances and recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conducting legends such as Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Valery Gergiev and Charles Dutoit among others. He has also substituted frequently with the Rochester and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras. Chamber recitals include those with the Eastman Virtuosi and Grammy Award winning Ying Quartet in New York, a live broadcast performance over NHK Radio in Japan, King’s College Choir (Cambridge), SSO Chamber Series, PRISM at the 1st Singapore Chamber Music Festival, Take 5, and others in Chicago, Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. As soloist, Tan has performed with the Singapore Chamber Players and Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, he performed the Asian premiere of Witches’ Soiree by Lazar Trachtenberg at the Esplanade Recital Studio with violinist Yang Shu Xiang. Tan has also premiered several solo and chamber works by local composer Tan Chan Boon.
An active participant of festivals and pedagogy workshops, Tan attended Kent/Blossom, Indiana University String Academy, Nice Academy, Heidelberg Festival, ASEAN Youth Music Workshop, Asian Youth Orchestra, ASEAN-Japan Symphony Orchestra and the Kumamoto Music Festival. Tan has performed in masterclasses led by James Dunham, John Graham, Atar Arad, Mimi Zweig, Jerzy Kosmala and the Medici, Miami and Kumho Asiana String Quartets; additional viola studies were taken with Abraham Skernick, Wayne Crouse, Eugene Becker and Luigi Bianchi.