Singaporean conductor Chan Tze Law is Associate Professor and Vice Dean of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, and architect of NUS ‘Arts for All’, a framework for arts access for all NUS students. He embarked on his professional career originally as a violinist and chamber musician and co-founded the successful ‘The Chamber Circle’. He holds performance diplomas in violin performance and teaching, a Bachelor’s degree in conducting, a Master’s degree in Arts and Cultural management, and a Doctoral degree in conducting, having trained under distinguished violinists John Ludlow and Hugh Bean, and conducting maestros Christopher Adey and Norman Del Mar.
Chan is the founding music director of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music orchestra, and was appointed 2025 visiting professor of conducting at Mahidol College of Music, Mahidol University, Thailand. He has a longstanding relationship with Australian musicians, conducting at Australian music conservatoriums and youth orchestras, and more recently appearances at the National Music Camp in 2020 and 2022.
His pedagogical reach extends internationally through masterclasses at institutions such as the Peabody Institute (USA), Royal Academy of Music (UK), and Queensland Conservatorium (Australia). He has served on the selection committee of the Oxford Conducting Institute International Conducting Studies Conference.
As a conductor Chan has garnered international critical acclaim for his interpretations of large-scale symphonic repertoire. His performance of Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Orchestra of the Music Makers was named “Best Concert of 2015” by Singapore’s Sunday Times, with Germany’s Der neue Merker noting that “listeners felt they have concluded a great journey of time and spirit.” The West Australian praised his Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring as “a tour de force,” while his performance of Elgar’s The Music Makers in Taiwan was described by Classical Voice America as featuring “breathtaking walls of sound and intimate moments of haunting beauty.”
Chan made history in 2020 conducting Singapore’s first-ever Wagner ring cycle opera, Die Walküre, with Opera (UK) noting that Chan “elicited a multitude of expressive nuances and drew immense power without force from his musicians.” He currently serves as music director of Singapore’s Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and the award-winning Orchestra of the Music Makers, and recently returned to his chamber music roots as festival director and founder of the SoutheastAsian Chamberfest.
Chan’s recordings have been featured on Singapore Airlines’ KrisWorld in-flight classical music selection and broadcast on Australia’s ABC Classic FM and UK’s BBC Radio 3, with recordings available on Spotify and Apple Music. For his outstanding contributions to Singapore’s cultural landscape, Chan was bestowed the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore’s award for Artistic Excellence and Merit in 2018 and 2023.
