Lum Yan Sing

Head of Examinations

Mr Lum is currently the Head of Examinations at The TENG Company and Chief Examiner of the Chinese Music Instrumental Grading Examinations, organised in partnership with Confucius Institute, National Technological University. 

Mr Lum joined the People’s Association Chinese Orchestra (PACO) in 1976, holding key roles as both the Orchestra Leader and Concert Master and studied the Erhu under Erhu master Professor Wang Guotong. With the conversion of PACO to the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) in 1996, Mr Lum continued holding his position as the Concert Master. In 2000, he was appointed as the Assistant Conductor of SCO. 

Besides performing as a guest soloist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), Mr Lum has performed as an Erhu soloist and guest conductor throughout Asia and Europe, including Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Thailand. In 1974, he won the second prize in the World Music Instrumental Competition held in Britain, and in 1979, was Concert Master of the Asian Youth Combined Orchestra in Hong Kong. His experience transcends boundaries between Chinese and Western classical music. He was invited by the SSO to conduct the Orchestra in a Gaohu solo performed by Qiu Yongji in 2001.

Mr Lum joined the National University of Singapore Centre For the Arts (CFA) in 2003 and assumed the position of Assistant Director, Chief Examiner for CFA Chinese Instrumental Examination, and Music Director cum Resident Conductor of NUS Chinese Orchestra (NUSCO).

Mr Lum has led NUSCO in many international performance tours overseas, including Romania, Scotland, Mauritius, South Africa, South India, Switzerland and Poland. Under his stewardship, NUSCO took to the stage in Bydgoszcz, Poland as one of the 17 international participants of the XXXII Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions in June 2009, and was bestowed with the Grand Prix, awarded by the Ministry of Education and the European Kyzysztof Penderecki Music Centre, the most prestigious award of the competition – a first for a Chinese Orchestra from Singapore and even Asia. 

Under the invitation of National Arts Council (NAC), Mr Lum also assumed the responsibilities of the Music Director cum Conductor at the 2006 and 2008 National Chinese Music Competition Prize Winners’ Concert. In February 2009, Mr Lum was invited by NAC to perform with the ASEAN-Korea Traditional Orchestra in Korea. Mr Lum is one of the few musicians in the music circle with extensive international experience.  Other than being the first Singaporean and foreigner to be invited by the China Central Chinese Orchestra to stage an Erhu solo recital in Beijing Concert Hall, he also conducted the China Central Chinese Orchestra in a compact disc recording.

In addition to his many hats as a soloist, conductor, and Artistic Director, Mr Lum was also Adjudicator for many music competitions, such as the National Chinese Music Competition organised by the NAC, the Singapore Youth Festival Chinese Orchestra Competition organised by Ministry of Education (MOE), and various music competitions organised in Singapore and overseas. In 2008, he was invited by the MOE Co-Curricular Activities branch to be a member of its Chinese Orchestra Education Resource Committee and was also appointed by the NAC as an Arts Resource Committee Member.

Mr Lum is the co-editor and chapter contributor of Traditional Chinese Music In Contemporary Singapore, published by Pagesetters, in 2020. This book is the culmination of research supported by National Arts Council Research & Development fund and LASALLE College of the Arts Major Research Grant. It is the first book related to the management of Singapore's Chinese music scene, and also the first book written in the same subject in English.

Mr Lum’s biography has been included in the Encyclopedia of Modern Chinese Erhu Music edited by Mr Zhao Yanchen of the Tianjin Conservatory Research Institute.