Gateway Violin Faculty: Gerard Chia
GERARD CHIA, Prize Winner of the Violin-Open Category in the 1993 National Music Competition, graduated from The Eastman School of Music in Rochester , New York with a Bachelors (’98) & Masters Degree (’03) in Violin Performance under the tutorage of Oleh Krysa (for BMus), Ilya Kaler and Mikhail Kopelman (for MMus).
Gerard started violin lessons at age 6 under Lau Nga Pi. His teachers in Singapore include composer & artist Kam Kee Yong, Zhang Zhen Shan (Former SSO Violin 2 Principal) and Former Concertmasters of Singapore Symphony Orchestra – Pavel Prantl & Alexander Souptel. As a member of the Singapore Youth Orchestra in his early teens, Gerard developed his passion for orchestral playing under the baton of Ms Vivien Goh and (then guest conductor) Chan Tze Law.
Gerard’s love for orchestral playing lead him to audition for the Asian Youth Orchestra programme in 1994 where he got selected to represent Singapore for a Concert Tour around Asia under the baton of Segio Commisiona. The soloists for the tour that year were violinist Cho Liang Lin and pianist Alicia Di Larocha. During his studies at the Eastman School of Music, his exposure to leading chamber groups like the Emerson, Cleveland, Vermeer, Tokyo & Ying Quartets sparked an even greater passion for violin performances in the genre of chamber music and led him to participate in numerous chamber music performances within and outside of School.
Since his return from the United States, Gerard has been very active as a performer in numerous concerts all over Singapore and maintains a very busy schedule as a violin teacher and conductor of school string ensembles.