Malaysian leading Composer Dr. CHONG Kee Yong, the winner of multiple composition awards and one of Malaysia’s leading contemporary music composers, possesses one of the most exciting voices in new music today. Few composers succeed in fashioning a truly individual sound from the range of experimental techniques currently available, and Chong is one of the few who can turn a melange of exquisite timbres into a compelling piece of music that, most importantly, still bears a signature style. Indeed, his work has been hailed as “imaginative and poetic” by leading conductor-composer Peter Eötvös, and as “very inventive and artistically pure” by composer Jonathan Harvey. Belgian pianists Jan Michiels and Inge Spinette describe his as a “very personal voice, very deep and convincing.”
Dr. Chong Kee Yong was born into a farming family in the small town of Kluang in the heart of Johor, a palm oil plantation state in the south of Malaysia. Growing up in a rustic environment left an indelible mark on his artistic outlook, with the sounds and phenomena of nature providing endless sources of musical inspiration. Chong’s initial musical training at the Malaysian Institute of Arts introduced him to the more cosmopolitan city life of Kuala Lumpur, and his formative studies further afield at the Xian Conservatory in China, with Professors Rao Yuyan and Zhang Dalong, brought him full circle to his Chinese heritage. Chong pursued his final studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels (Flemish and French sections) under the guidance of Professors Jan Van Landeghem and Daniel Capelletti. In 2001, the Conservatory unanimously awarded him the “Meester in Muziek” with highest honours. During his time in Brussels, Chong acquired and developed the tools to create the compositional style that he is best known for today: an engaging balance between cutting-edge, modern technique and a profoundly soulful, poetic beauty. Chong’s post-graduation studies included master classes with composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Daan Manneke, Peter Eötvös, Salvatore Sciarrino, Henri Pousseur, Hanspeter Kyburz, and many others.
In his compositional style, Chong embraces a vivid and constantly expanding palette of instrumental colours, while at the same time he is unafraid to explore the traditions of the past and incorporate aspects of tonality, lyricism, and rhythmic vitality into his austere contemporary language. This language is enriched by his multi-layered ethnic and cultural ancestry, which includes Chinese as well as multicultural Malaysian heritage. One can detect traces of Chinese opera, as well as gamelan influence, in his Monodrama (2004) for oboe, ensemble, and electronics; hints of kabuki and Asian funeral rituals in his extraordinarily moving symphonic work Tearless Moon (2006); and elements of calligraphy in his poetic I Hear The Wind Calling (2003). Connecting further with his Chinese roots, Chong also explores the sonic possibilities of traditional Chinese instruments in his Metamorphosis VI – Wind Prayer for sheng, gu zheng, pipa, and ensemble.
Chong’s distinctive style has won him an unending series of awards and commissions. His two-time success in Belgium with the Prix Marcel Hastir, awarded by Belgium’s Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Fine Arts in 1999 and again in 2003, was followed in 2004 by his triumphant debut in his home country upon winning the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra International Composers’ Award (MPOICA). The return of Chong’s music to Malaysia is particularly significant, as Chong is now regarded as the leading figure in the emerging art music scene of his country, and indeed of the entire Southeast Asian region.
The list of prizes that Chong has won at various international competitions is remarkable. In addition to his two-time win of the Prix Marcel Hastir, awarded by Belgium’s Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Fine Arts in 1999 and 2003, he received a top prize at the 4th International Andrzej Panufnik Competition for Young Composers in Poland (2002); the Grand Prix at the 2nd Seoul International Competition for Composers (2003), a top prize at the Max-Reger-Tage International Composition Competition in Germany (2004); the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra International Composers’ Award (2004); the 2nd Lepo Sumera International Young Composer Prize (2006); a Lutoslawski Award (2006); the BMW Award in the International Isang Yun Composition Competition in Korea (2007); 2nd Prize in the Preisträgerkonzert des Internationalen Kompositionswettbewerbes “Global Music – Contemporary Expression” in Germany; 3rd Prize in the Luxembourg International Composition Competition (2008); the highly renowned Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation commission grant in the USA (2009); a special Giga-Hertz-Award from the Institute for Music and Acoustics Karlsruhe (ZKM) in Germany (2009); the prestigious “Outstanding Young Malaysian Award” in the Cultural Achievement category in Malaysia and the best orchestration award at the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s Chinese Music Without Bound International Composition Competition 2017.
Chong regularly receives commissions and grants from numerous high-profile organizations and groups, such as Ensemble Prometheus (Belgium); Spiegel Quartet (Belgium), Transit New Music Festival (Belgium); Het Collectief ensemble (Belgium); Spectra Ensemble (Belgium); Vlaaderen Symphonie Orkest (Belgium); Ars Musica Festival (Belgium); Centre Henri Pousseur (Belgium); Ensemble Modern (Germany); Akademie der Künste (Germany); Musica Viva Festival, 2007 (Germany); Ensemble Berlin PianoPercussion (Germany); Herrenhaus Edenkoben (Germany); Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra; TIMF (Korea); Music Forum Ensemble (Taiwan); HKNME (Hong Kong); Asian Cultural Council (New York); Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation (USA); Momenta Quartet (USA); New Music Concerts (Toronto); Ju Percussion Group (Taiwan) Salihara Theatre (Indonesia) and the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage of Malaysia.
Chong’s music has been performed internationally in such venues as Belgium’s deSingel Antwerp, Brugge Concertgebouw, and Flagey in Brussels; Malaysia’s Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS; the Konzerthaus Berlin; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw; Vilnius Philharmonic Hall; Esplanade Recital Hall in Singapore; Tokyo Wander Site; Korea’s Youngsan Art Hall, and many others. Chong has also been featured as a guest composer at several festivals, among them the KL Contemporary Music Festival; Thailand International Composition Festival; Manila Composers Lab; ISCM festivals; AD Evantgarde Festival 2009 in Munich; Gretna Festival (USA); “TRANSIT” Festival in Leuven; Ars Musica Festival in Brussels; Warsaw Autumn Festival; Asia Pacific Festival in New Zealand; ACL Taiwan Music Festival; Heidelberg Spring Festival; and SEP Festival of Salihara.
In addition, his music has been aired on AiFm (Malaysia); Deutschlandradio Kultur (Germany); Austria’s ORF and Taiwan Bravo FM91.3 , which both broadcasted a portrait concert of Chong’s works.
The catalogue of distinguished performers, ensembles, and orchestras who have performed Chong’s music is extensive. Among the performers stand those such as Peter Eötvös; Zsolt Nagy; Jonas Alber; Robert Aitken; Etienne Siebens, Enno Poppe, Kevin Field; Paul Chiang Ching Po, Yeh Tsung, CHEN Yun-Hung; Hsu Bor Nien; Yan Hui Chang ; Stephanie Griffin; Wibert Aerts; Jan Michiels; Inge Spinette; Wu Wei; Xu Feng-Xia; Min Xiao-Fen; Yen Jie-Min; Lin Hui Kuan; Yeh Jiuan-Reng; Wu Chung-Hsien; Huang Lung-Yi; Jocelyn Clark; Kim Hyo Young ; Tomoko Honda; Nicholas Ong, Max Riefer , Aiyun Huang, Amy Lin, Agung Gunawan & Baris Anom (Dancer), among others. Ensembles include Belgium’s Het Collectief Ensemble, Ensemble Prometheus, Ensemble Spectra, and Quatour Danel; in Holland, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Nieuw Ensemble; in Germany, the Kairos Quartett, Trio Jean Paul, Ensemble Aventure, Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Integrale, and KNM Berlin; Switzerland’s Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain and Ensemble für Neue Musik Zurich; Korea’s SORI ensemble and TIMF ensemble; the ISCM ensemble and Music Forum ensemble, Taipei Chamber Singers; Chai Found Music Workshop and Ju Percussion group in Taiwan; Hong Kong New Music Ensemble; Israel Contemporary Players; and the United States’ Momenta Quartet. Orchestras include the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Symfonie Orkest Vlaanderen; Estonian National Symphony Orchestra; Korean Symphony Orchestra; Spanish National Orchestra; Philharmonia Moments Musicaux Taiwan; Shanghai Symphony Orchestra; Singapore Chinese Orchestra; Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Taiwan National Chinese Orchestra.
Chong’s prominence in the contemporary music world is also attested to by his frequent invitations to residencies and fellowships abroad. In 2006, Peter Eötvös nominated Chong for a composer’s residency, from August to December of that year, at the Herrenhaus Edenkoben Foundation in Germany. One year later, Chong was invited by American composers Prof. Chou Wen Chung and Prof. Chinary Ung to present his music alongside theirs in a joint concert in New York; the invitation resulted in a visiting artist fellowship granted by the Asian Cultural Council in New York, where he stayed from May to October of 2007. He has been awarded the composer-in-residency with Akademie der Künste (Germany), Herrenhaus Edenkoben (Germany), Asian Cultural Council (USA), the Center Henri Pousseur (Belgium), SWR EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO (Germany), Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship 2014 (USA/Italy), National Gugak Center Fellowship 2015 (Korea), ignm-vs_forum Wallis 2017 (Switzerland), Spring Workshop 2017 (Hong Kong), CulturalSummit Abu Dhabi 2018, Goethe Institute’s “Virtual Partner Residency 2020/2021(Germany) and Villa Ruffieux 2022 (Switzerland).
An experienced educator, Chong is committed to drawing out the next generation of compositional voices. He has given master classes at such festivals and institutions as in China, Guangxi University of Arts; Sezhuan Conservatory of Music; Shanghai Conservatory of Music; Beijing Central Conservatory of Music; Beijing Capital Normal University; Academy of Music, Suzhou University of Science and Technology; in Taiwan, the National Music Institution; the Taipei National University of the Arts; the National Taiwan Normal University; the National Chiao Tung University; the Chinese Culture University and National Taiwan University of Arts; in USA, Rice University and University of California in Santa Barbara ; in Europe, the Lübeck Academy of Music (Germany) and Huddersfield University (UK); in Australia, Griffith University (Australia); in soth east Asia, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Raffles Institution, The School of the Arts, Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s Composer symposium, Thailand International Composition Festival, The conservatory of Music, Rangsit University, Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, The College of Music, Mahidol University, Music of College Payap University, University of Philippine’s Manila Composers lab, the 8th Arts Summit Indonesia and in Malaysia MIA music college and SEGI College.
In addition, Chong has served as adjudicator and mentor for the 2007 HSBC Young Composer Workshop 2007 in Malaysia; the 2009 KL Contemporary Music Festival in Malaysia; the 2011, 2013, 2016 Goethe Institut Young Composers Competition and Festival; the 2011 Taiwan Music Center’s International Composition Competition; the Singapore Contemporary Ensemble’s call for scores in 2011; Florence String Quartet Call for Score 2016 & 2014 (Italy); IDRS Annual Conference & composers competition 2016 (USA); Mahidol University Studio Prize Competition 2015 (Thailand) and Di Yi Composition Competition 2015 & 2012 & 2021 (Singapore).
To recognize Chong’s contributions to South East Asia’s contemporary music scene, Huddersfield University (UK) awarded him a full scholarship for a special PhD by publication 2014-2016 under the guidance of Prof. Liza Lim.
Chong is the creative director of Studio C, president (2017-2019) and vice president (2011-2016, 2021-2023) of the Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers, and was the artistic director of the 2009 Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival and SMCC Contemporary Music Festival “SoundBridge” 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. In 2016-2017, he was visiting professor of Shanghai Conservatory of Music and in 2018 he was visiting professor of The Royal Danish Academy of Music.
(You can listen to Dr. Chong Kee Yong’s music on www.chongkeeyong-studio-c.com or https://soundcloud.com/chong-kee-yong and https://chongkeeyong.bandcamp.com/follow_me or write to kychongcom@gmail.com for any inquiries)
Download the full CV 2022 (English & Chinese) of Dr. CHONG:
CHONG_Kee Yong_C.V 2022 (Eng-Ch)
Download the brief bio (English & Chinese) of Dr. CHONG:
CHONG_short bio (English and Chinese)_2022
鍾啟榮博士教授是馬來西亞頂尖的作曲家，獲獎無數，也是當代其中一名令人驚喜的作曲家。在為數不多的實驗音樂作曲家中，鍾啟榮得以將各種精美的音色混合在一起，是其中一名出色的實驗音樂作曲家。著名作曲家Peter Eotvos形容他為富有想象力和詩意的作曲家，Jonathan Harvey則形容他的音樂非常具有創造力和純潔。他的音樂具有華人和馬來西亞多元文化特色。
鍾啟榮的卓越表現，讓他贏得無數的獎項。鍾啟榮的得獎記錄包括：比利時皇家科學文學與藝術研究院Marcel Hastir大獎（1999年、2003年）、第四屆波蘭安德烈‧帕努夫尼克青年作曲家獎（2002年）、第二屆首爾國際作曲塞大獎（2003年）、2003年德國馬克斯雷格國際作曲家比賽（2004年）、馬來西亞國油愛樂交響樂團國際作曲大獎（2004年）、漢城尹伊桑國際作曲家比BMW大獎（2007年）、波蘭華沙盧託拉斯基獎第二名（2006年）、Giga-Hertz-Award 2009特別獎（德國爾斯魯厄ZK電子音樂聲學中心）。他也獲得多個團體和機構邀請成為駐院作曲家，包括Akademie der Kunste（德國）、Herrenhaus Edenkoben（德國）、亞洲文化協會（美國）、Henri Pousseur中心（比利時）、SWR Experimental Studio（德國弗萊堡）、 Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (美國 /意大利)、韓国传统国乐中心、 瑞士IGNM-VS / Forum Wallis 2017 、春天工作室 (香港)、 阿聯阿布達比文化高峯論壇、歌德学院虚拟合作伙伴艺术家驻留 2020/2021（德国）和瑞士魯菲厄駐堡2022。
他也是第一位獲得美國庫塞維茲基音樂基金會獎學金的馬來西亞人，同時也獲得馬來西亞十大傑出青年獎（文化成就獎）。 在2014年，英國哈德斯菲爾德大學 （Huddersfield University)基於他對東南亞當代樂壇的貢獻而頒發全額獎學金和在2016授予哲學博士學位。
鍾啟榮博士是C工作室的藝術創意總監和馬來西亞當代作曲家協會的副主席（2011－2016），委員（2019－2021) 和主席 （2017-2019）。也擔任2009年吉隆坡當代音樂節和馬來西亞當代作曲家協會當代音樂節“音橋”2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 和2021 的藝術總監。2016-2017上海音乐学院特聘作曲教授和2018丹麦皇家音乐学院访问特聘作曲教授。
http://www.chongkeeyong-studio-c.com
E: kychongcom@gmail.com
Chong kee Yong 鍾啟榮 