LOH JUN HONG

Singaporean violinist Jun Hong Loh is a regular at the Verbier Festival, Switzerland where he led the festival orchestra for numerous concerts as concertmaster and associate concertmaster under the baton of Charles Dutoit, Daniel Harding, Valery Gergiev and Gianandrea Noseda. Intent on developing the scene in his home country, he founded “More than Music” with pianist Abigail Sin; a concert series dedicated to presenting engaging and intimate concerts for audiences. The series most recently launched their live recording of the complete Beethoven 10 violin sonatas during the Covid19 pandemic to continue sharing the joys of music during this period.

He also served as the co-Artistic Director of the Singapore International Festival of Music in 2015. Aside from producing concerts, he is also active in the education scene as a part-time lecturer at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and violin coach of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

Jun Hong graduated with a Masters of Music from the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Prof. Glenn Dicterow, Joseph Lin and Sylvia Rosenberg. In 2009, Jun Hong received his Bachelor of Music (1st class honours) from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, where he studied with Head of Strings, Prof Qian Zhou.

He has won numerous awards, including notably Top Outstanding Young Person Award for Cultural Achievement by Junior Chamber International, 1st Prize at Gisborne International Music Competition, 1st Prize and Audience award at the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in Boston, 1st Prize at the Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition (Senior), 3rd Prize at the 13th Andrea Postacchini International Competition held in Fermo, Italy, 5th prize at the Canetti International Violin Competition held in Turkey, and the best Singaporean Award at the Singapore International Violin Competition.

Jun Hong’s performance track record ranges from performances in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, to solo recitals in Berlin and Washington for the WETA radio station, to tours in Asia, New Zealand, UK, France, and USA, to premieres of the violin transcriptions of Scarlatti’s Piano Sonata in Berlin by publishing company Ries & Erler.

He has done solos with, Orchestra Wellington, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Grand Theatre Philharmonic Orchestra, Manila Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra, SIFOM Orchestra, as well as the Singapore Festival Orchestra. Jun Hong has also been presented as one of Singapore’s leading musical talents in Channel News Asia’s documentary series entitled “Asia’s Wonder Kids”.

Delving into the film music and theatre scene, he was cast as one of the 7 sages in Toy Factory Production’s “7 Sages of the Bamboo Grove” at the Esplanade Theatres for the Huayi Festival. He also recorded the violin solos for the movie “7 Letters” produced by 7 of Singapore’s top directors, and film scored by Ricky Ho, a Golden Horse Award recipient.

He has 2 solo CDs under his belt, “Utopia Symphony” with London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski at Abbey Road Studios and the other, “10 Strings combined” featuring Spanish and Brazilian works with guitarist Kevin Loh.

Adhering to his strong beliefs in giving back to the community, he performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in Kioi Hall, Tokyo, in a charity fundraiser concert for the disabled. Besides performing for various charity groups in Singapore, he also gives back to the community through education. Jun Hong has held numerous workshops and masterclasses for the younger generation in schools and youth orchestras. He has also served as the juror for the Semarang Open Violin Competition.

He plays on a 1726 Mezzadri on generous loan to him from the Rin Collection. He thanks his former teachers Mr Michael Loh and Yap Shu Mei for their guidance in his early years in music.