S h o r t B i o g r a p h y
Organist and composer Phoon Yu is active both in Singapore and in the United States. In Singapore, he has performed as a soloist in the Victoria Concert Hall, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, and the Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay, while previous American solo recital appearances include various venues in New York City, Baltimore, and New York State. In April 2022, his début album, SEVEN – Organ Music of Singapore, was released by Centaur Records, while in November, he performed alongside his co-composer Jonathan Shin and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Illuminations, a work commissioned for the Esplanade’s 20th anniversary.
Phoon Yu’s performance career as an organist is supplemented by his composing and arranging ability. He has written and arranged for various solo instruments and chamber groups across various venues in Singapore, China, and the United States. His Three Organ Anthems were released by Muziksea, a Southeast Asian publisher specialising in choral music, in 2020.
Phoon Yu pursed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance under the tutelage of Paul Jacobs, being awarded the Richard F. French Doctoral Prize for his dissertation. Previously, he received his Bachelors of Music in music composition through the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music-Peabody Institute Joint Degree Programme, followed by his Masters of Music in organ performance at Peabody, where he won the Bruce R. Eicher prize. His other teachers included Professor Donald Sutherland and Dr. Evelyn Lim for organ, and Associate Professor Ho Chee Kong and Dr. Oscar Bettison for composition.
(Updated: 12 December 2022)
