Second Prize-winner of the 2008 Dimitri Mitropoulos International Competition, Singaporean conductor Joshua Tan’s rise to prominence on the international scene has been marked by successful débuts at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Mariinsky Hall and Bunkamura.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music with High Distinction, Tan was an awardee of numerous scholarships and awards, such as the Singapore Young Artist Award, Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, NAC-Shell Scholarship, and the SSO/MOE Scholarship.
Tan has conducted orchestras all around the world including the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Okayama Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra and Julliard Orchestra. He has studied with various eminent conductors such as James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman and Kurt Masur, and worked with Michael Tilson Thomas, Ingo Metzmacher and George Manahan, amongst others.
Known as a versatile conductor, Tan is at home with symphonic, operatic and ballet works. His substantial repertoire for opera includes La Traviata, Rigoletto, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Così Fan Tutte and Turandot, amongst others, and he has served as cover conductor for Christoph Eschenbach and Lorin Maazel. He is equally adept with music for ballet, film and multimedia. For the latter, his extensive repertoire includes Disney’s Fantasia, all of BBC’s Blue Planet Series, West Side Story, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, James Bond and more. The Singapore première of Bernstein’s Mass, under Tan’s baton, was voted “Best Classical Concert of the Year 2018” by The Straits Times, and for an unprecedented second year, his performance of the opera Don Pasquale won the same accolade in the subsequent year.
Tan is presently Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Director of the Asia Virtuosi. He has served successful stints as Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Resident Conductor of the China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, and as Principal Conductor of the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of his 2022/2023 season include débuts with the Melbourne and Gunma symphony orchestras, a new opera première in Hong Kong, return engagements to Hong Kong Philharmonic, the operas Das Rheingold and Die Fledermaus, and The Nutcracker, Don Quixote and Cinderella with the Singapore Ballet.
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