New Appointments

Bernard Lanskey

Deputy Director

Assistant Director of Music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, Bernard Lanskey took up the position of Deputy Director at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in October 2006. Born in Cairns, Australia, he originally studied music, philosophy and mathematics in Queensland before moving for more specialised pianistic studies first to Paris and then to the Royal College of Music in London to complete a master’s degree with Peter Wallfisch.

As a pianist, he has performed regularly throughout Australia, Great Britain and in most European countries, working principally with string players and singers in chamber music, mixed recital and lecture-recital combinations. In his most recent work, he has focused on the middle and late repertoire of a succession of pianist-composers - Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Bartók  – each of whom also saw chamber music and song as central to their compositional life.  For the past seven years he has worked with the television journalist, John Suchet, with whom he has performed regularly throughout Great Britain, offering lecture-recital presentations on Beethoven and Johann Strauss.

In 1998, he recorded, with the Australian pianist Stephen Emmerson, a CD of four-hand piano music by Brahms, Schubert and the Australian composer Andrew Schultz (with whom he has worked closely for many years) which was released by Tall Poppies in July 2001. A further CD of chamber music by Andrew Schultz will be released soon.

As Assistant Director of Music, his responsibilities included leading the Guildhall School’s orchestral, ensemble and postgraduate programmes. He has organised a range of festivals and concert series, most recently in association with the LSO Discovery Series at St Luke’s in London, as Artistic Director of the 20th and 21st Paxos International Music Festivals in Greece and with the Friends of St Botolph’s for the Music in Hadstock series.

Working closely with Dr Steven Baxter, Bernard Lanskey takes primary responsibility for the management of faculty and curriculum matters.

 

Chan Tze Law

Associate Director

Chan Tze Law is Associate Director at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, where he oversees ensembles and professional development. As the Conservatory Orchestra’s founding music director he is credited with developing it into one of the best of its type in Asia.

Maestro Chan has conducted many of the region’s orchestras and beyond, including the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, China’s Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Singapore Lyric Opera. Recent appearances all met with critical acclaim by the press.
           
Maestro Chan is also noted for his work with conservatory-level students and is Chief Conductor of the Australian International Summer Orchestra Institute. He has conducted the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, USA, and at the Trinity College of Music in the UK. He also conducted the Tasmania Conservatory Orchestra and had twice served as Artist-in-residence at the University of Western Australia School of Music, where he will return to conduct for a third time in 2007.

Maestro Chan has premiered works by outstanding Singaporean composers Ho Chee Kong, Bernard Tan, the late Tsao Chieh, and Australian composers James Ledger and Douglas Knehans. He has also guided student composers and conducted readings of their works.

He contributes his experience to the Singapore arts community as a member of the National Arts Council’s Arts Resource Panel, the National Piano and Violin Competition committee and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s Education and Outreach committee.