Tianhui Ng is director of orchestral studies at Mt. Holyoke College, and he is the music director of the Victory Players, the Pioneer Valley Symphony, the Boston Opera Collaborative and White Snake Projects.
Ng was also recently appointed music director of the New England Philharmonic.
When the idea of the Victory Players was proposed by Don Sanders of Holyoke’s Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA), Ng suggested that the ensemble’s focus should be on contemporary music.
And Ng said he thought their initial project should celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the community’s Puerto Rican population.
"Here we are in the city of Holyoke," Ng said, "and there are lots of very, very salient issues that have to be discussed and to be thought of and to be investigated through music."
Ng said: what better way to do that than through new music?
"The music that actually is not peripherally related to the city, but actually directly commenting on the issues of the city," he said. "So I thought about that, and I always start with looking at what the environment presents us. And here we have this wonderful, vibrant Puerto Rican community."
In 2018, MIFA began commissioning new works inspired by Puerto Rico. To de-mystify classical music and the image of the composer, the Victory Players performed the pieces at both El Mercado, a café in the heart of Holyoke’s Puerto Rican community and in the city’s public schools.
Today, MIFA and The Victory Players are recognized as one of the leaders in commissioning new works by Puerto Rican composers.
Ng first conducted a choir of kindergarten children at the age of 5 in his native Singapore.
A pianist, singer and trombonist, he studied composition and early music at the University of Birmingham (U.K.) where he discovered his love for Stravinsky and contemporary music.
Returning home, Ng helped found one of the first contemporary music ensembles in the country, and was soon composing for animation, dance, film, chorus, and orchestra. It was during this time that he discovered his affinity for inter-disciplinary work, and created the ground-breaking, site-specific community-based arts festival NOMAD, with which he has won awards from the Singapore National Arts Council.
His works have since been heard in diverse settings such as the Hong Kong Film Festival, Animation World Magazine (USA), and Apsara Asia Dance (Singapore).
Ng continued his education at the Yale School of Music (USA) where he helped to start a new tradition with the music of his graduation recital reflecting on war and conflict.
Ng is excited to be working to bring to life new American operas created by composers identifying as African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American.
Watch an interview with Ng as part of El Puerto Rico. There's also a transcript below of the interview in English and Spanish.
Spanish language translation: Damaris Pérez-Pizarro
El Puerto Rico is a collaboration of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA), New England Public Media and GBH Music.