String-tales: Stories from the Guzheng and Carnatic Violin

Chan Xin Tong is a young musician currently studying at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore. Primarily trained as a classical pianist and guzheng player, she developed a natural appreciation for both East and West musical cultures. The appreciation turned into a passion when she was exposed to music beyond her practice during her pre-tertiary years, including traditional Malay and Indian classical music. To deepen her knowledge of different musical cultures, she joined the NUS Indian Instrumental Ensemble in 2022. There, she seeks to integrate Indian music elements in her guzheng playing and collaborate with Indian Classical musicians. Her deep interest in cultural work was recognised by the Singaporean music ensemble The Straits Ensemble. Through their New Sights Fellowship Programme (March-August 2023), supported by the National Arts Council, she was chosen as one of the fellows to write an intercultural work for the ensemble.

Sreeranjani Muthu Subramanian is a Carnatic violinist currently studying under Kalaimamani Embar S Kannan. She actively performs fusion concerts with the Swarhythm Yuva Ensemble under the mentorship of Nawaz Mirajkar, and with the Indian Fusion Ensemble at the School of the Arts (SOTA) Singapore. She completed her 8-year diploma course in Carnatic Violin with distinction at the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS) under Guru Nellai Ravindran. She has also received accolades from the National Arts Council at the National Indian Music Competition in 2017 and 2020. Sreeranjani is also in her final year of the IB Diploma Programme at SOTA.