An award-winning guzheng musician of Ding Yi Music Company since 2012, Yvonne Tay has extensive experience performing internationally and is a passionate educator. A recipient of the prestigious National Arts Council Arts Scholarship (Undergraduate) in 2015, Tay mastered the guzheng under the tutelage of Madam Yin Qun at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). She was named Best Graduate as she emerged with a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) conferred in 2017 by the Royal College of Music, which invited her to London to stage a solo recital that same year.
Tay was a soloist at the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games 2010, which was televised live globally. She performed a guzheng solo Wonder Full, composed by late Cultural Medallion winner Iskandar Mirza Ismail, for the 2011 premiere of the Marina Bay Sands Light and Water Spectacular. Her solo recording was again showcased at the 2014 countdown. In 2021, Tay was invited once again to record for Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2021: Light Projection Show – Share the Moment, composed Phang Kok Jun.
Under the banner of Ding Yi, Tay staged sold-out joint solo recitals Proteges of Brilliance in June 2013, and Onwards in April 2018 to critical acclaim.
Her guzheng playing techniques are in the Phoenix Orchestra sample library of traditional Chinese instrumentation and techniques performed by Ding Yi, recorded by Orchestral Tools in 2018. She also performed on the original soundtrack of the Disney movie Mulan in 2019. In 2022, she premiered the local symphony orchestra version of Ru Shi with the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra.
She is an adjunct lecturer with the Singapore Raffles Music College and an instructor with several guzheng ensembles in Singapore, and is frequently invited as a guest lecturer, speaker, and an adjudicator. As an eternal student, she firmly believes in the adage “Practice makes perfect”, which she instils in her students as well.
As a testament to this, she co-founded the award-winning professional guzheng trio Z3nith Ensemble in 2014, and in March 2022, Tay staged a multisensory concert of music and gastronomy, Music Kneads, as its artistic director and producer.
Tay is the secretary-general of Singapore Qinzheng Association and a member of Singapore Chinese Music Federation Youth Chapter.
