Ian Chan is a Canadian-born-Chinese pianist-composer, singer-songwriter and music producer currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in music composition with a second major in human geography at the University of Toronto. As a recipient of the institute’s Faculty Artists' Scholarship, Arthur Plettner Scholarship and Dr. Haberman Herbert Memorial Award, he has been coached by notable Canadian composers such as Larysa Kuzmenko, Saman Shahi, Matthew Emery and Kevin Lau. He has also been under the tutelage of Younggun Kim for piano and formerly Sahar Azar for clarinet. Surround Sound A Cappella Choir (quarter-finalist of International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella), Concreamus Chamber Choir, Voces Boreales Vocal Octet (VB8), Grenadier String Quartet, Markham Wesley Symphony Orchestra and Canadian Sinfonietta are among the numerous music ensembles that he has worked with.
As a graduate of Unionville High School's specialized Arts Unionville piano program in 2019, he has won numerous Canadian piano competitions as a soloist and in duet/concerto groups. The list includes Kiwanis Music Festival, Toronto International Piano Competition, North York Music Festival, Wishing Well Lions Club Music Festival and Yip's Music Festival. He was also a provincial finalist of the piano diploma class of the Ontario Music Festivals Association (OMFA) in 2017. He also completed ARCT in Piano Performance and Level 8 Clarinet at the Royal Conservatory of Music in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Having a deep Protestant faith, he ardently serves as a audio/video producer, composer, arranger, singer-songwriter and keyboardist at his home church (Markham Peoples Community Church). He has also performed with bands from other churches such as Richmond Hill Free Methodist Church and Zion Alliance Church. His music is used in retreat camps, varsity shows, commercials, theatre productions and films created by these organizations. Away from his academic, artistic and religious involvements, he can be found in swimming pools, badminton courts, karaoke venues and voyages to anywhere in the world.
Sakura - World Premiere
Ian Chan x Hibiki
“As the national flower of Japan, Sakura (cherry blossom) is a symbol of renewal, hope and optimism as its emergence represents the commencement of spring, the first season of a new year. Also, the brief blooming season of Sakura represents the brevity of the human life cycle and the philosophy of treasuring every moment. There are always ups and downs, and our time should be spent on embracing good memories and practising empathy instead of resenting trials and tribulations. These concepts are reflected in the wakas (short poems) by 3 Japanese poets - Ki no Tomonori, Ono no Komachi and Motoori Norinaga - that this music composition mostly based on.
Apart from the exact text of the poems, the title word “sakura” is also frequently reiterated by the mezzo-soprano and baritone parts throughout the music composition with the accompaniment of violin, piano and tape, the latter of which includes processed ambient noises (e.g. bird chirps, creek, rain, thunder) to enhance the audience’s virtual experience of the nature during their participation of this musical journey.”