Principal Conductor

An emerging Singaporean conductor and pianist, Koh Kai Jie is the Principal Conductor of Kids’ philharmonic@sg as well as Associate Conductor of St Nicholas Girls' School String Orchestra. His performances as a conductor have received positive acclaim on numerous occasions. In 2019, His performance of the Beethoven Coriolan Overture with a chamber orchestra comprising Yong Siew Toh (YST) Conservatory musicians was lauded by music reviewer Dr Marc Rochester, who was “deeply impressed with both the quality of playing [he] drew from the orchestra and [his] insightful interpretation”. Most recently in 2023, Kai Jie’s performance with the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc “stood out for his energy” (review by KlasikaPlus.cz).

 

A graduate of the YST Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, Kai Jie worked closely with various YST ensembles, having conducted the YST Conservatory Orchestra and OpusNovus in concert on numerous occasions. In March 2023, he served as Music Director to a musical production of The Fantasticks staged by the conservatory voice department. Having a keen interest in the performance and interpretation of local new music, Kai Jie also conducted numerous new works by Singaporean composers in concert. Most notably, he conducted Chen Zhangyi’s chamber opera Kampung Spirit as part of the YST Voyage Festival in 2022.

 

An accomplished pianist, Kai Jie also attained the first prize in the YST Conservatory Concerto Competition (Piano Category) in 2020, as well as the second prize in the National Piano and Violin Competition (Senior Category) and the Singapore Yamaha Piano Competition (Open Category) in 2013. In 2022, Kai Jie performed as a piano soloist with a chamber orchestra comprising YST musicians, conducting the orchestra from the piano in the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17. Kai Jie is also an avid collaborator on the piano, having served as rehearsal pianist for numerous productions, most recently in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung performed by the YST Orchestral Institute in April 2023.

 

At YST Conservatory, Kai Jie attained degrees in conducting and piano, studying with conductor Jason Lai and pianist Albert Tiu. In addition, he has also received guidance in masterclasses from prominent conductors Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Tomáš Netopil, Andrew Litton, Otto Tausk, Joshua Tan, Douglas Bostock, Jac van Steen, and Colin Metters, working with numerous professional orchestras and ensembles, including the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, and the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band. Kai Jie has also received guidance in masterclasses from eminent pianists Daejin Kim, Noriko Ogawa, Christopher Elton, Ksenia Nosikova, Roberta Rust, Ju-Ying Song, Uta Weyand, Gennady Dzyubenko, and the Scholtes & Janssens Piano Duo.