Tan Yao Cong’s multi-faceted musical career as a performer, educator and orchestra manager has taken him all over the world and across different dimensions of the music industry.
Yao Cong studied under the tutelage of Patrick Harrild, then Principal Tuba of London Symphony Orchestra, graduating with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Tuba performance from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. During his years in London, he honed his skills in tuba performance through international engagements which include the London Symphony Orchestra Brass Academy, Alzira Spanish Brass Festival, City of London Festival and the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra.
Specifically in Asia, Yao Cong has toured with the International Youth Wind Orchestra and Asian Youth Orchestra, while appearing regularly with B5 Brass, The Orchestra of the Music Makers, The Philharmonic Orchestra, Windstars Ensemble, Resound Collective, Lion City Brass Band, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Lyric Opera. He has also been a part of the Singapore Trombone Festival and Singapore Brass Festival since their inception.
All this has given him the great opportunity to work alongside world-renowned artistes and conductors, such as Spanish Brass, Boston Brass, Stuttgart Ballet, English National Ballet, American Ballet, Lan Shui, Tan Dun, Vasily Petrenko, James Macmillan and Leif Segerstam.
Yao Cong attributes his educational and career privilege to the Loke Cheng-Kim Foundation scholarship. He now calls Singapore home, where he holds a particular passion for elevating the local music community. He sits on the faculty of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA). On the side, he organises the local auditions for the Asian Youth Orchestra and conducts master classes with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Singapore Armed Forces Central Band.
On disc, Yao Cong can be heard as part of the Cosmopolitan Brass in a CD titled ‘John Gardner – Music for Brass and Organ’ featuring Paul Archibald and Stephen King released by Toccata Classics. He was also involved in the Guildhall Brass Ensemble’s CD recording of ‘La Fanfare Wagnerienne – The Extaordinary Lost Collection of Paul Gilson’ in 2013.
From a music & artiste management perspective, Yao Cong is proud to hold the title of Orchestra Manager of Singapore’s Metropolitan Festival Orchestra since its inception in 2013 — through which he has had the privilege to work with a breadth of multi-disciplinary talents and visionaries with a collective aim of bringing classical music to the masses.
