Joan Tan Jing Wen
Composer. Experimenter. Artist.
About Joan
Joan Tan (b.2000) is a Singaporean composer, whose music draws upon lived experiences, both her own and of others. She graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Composition at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM), under the tutelage of Associate Professor Peter Ivan Edwards and Martin Jaggi, and is currently doing a Masters in Instrumental Composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, under the tutelage of Professor Brigitta Muntendorf and Oxana Omelchuk.
Coming from a society, and perhaps a world, where much sensory input is tuned-out for the sake of every-day function, she seeks to create sonic experiences that encourage focused listening, guiding listeners through crafted, auditory experiences that are reflections, and perhaps, responses to ones environments.
Attention and perception are at the forefront of her compositions. She is fascinated by how attention constructs, and at times, distorts one's perceptions. How the focus of one’s attention influences one’s entire experience, both in music, and in their everyday lives. Memory and the fallibility of memories are also important aspects in her compositions. She believes that every sound triggers a sensory response, engages ones imagination and evokes emotions through associations. Recognisable sound sources form a part of her compositions, often going through processes of distortion, such that the source of sound is lost, leaving behind crafted gestures and faint memories of what they once were. Incessant repetitions of materials are seen as a form of encoding in the audiences’ memories, with the shifting of attention to different sonic aspects hiding and revealing different variation processes that shape the musical journey.
Joan treasures the collaboration and experimentation processes when working with musicians. Some collaborations include working with percussionist Max Riefer, saxophonist Andreas Marinello, bassoonist Christoph Wichert and pianist Benjamin Kobler. She has also worked with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Chromoson, soloists from Musikfabrik and the Neuevocasolisten Stuttgart, amongst others. She participated in the Manila Composers’ Lab (MCL) 2020, the RED NOTE New Music Festival Composition Workshop 2021, and most recently, the International Young Composers Academy Ticino (IYCA) 2023. In 2021, she was awarded Honourable mention for her piece, ‘Chroma’, as part of Frost School of Music Ensemble Ibis Composition Competition.
Joan hopes to travel widely one day, to experience life in societies beyond her own.