Standing tall
He learnt to play the piano at five and the violin at nine. Meet young music maven Shaun Chen.
AS the youngest – and tallest – member of The Canticle Singers, Shaun Chen makes for an arresting sight.
The 182cm-tall Chen is gifted in music; he plays the violin, piano (keyboard) and is also an arranger and composer.
“I’m currently working on the score for Buyer Beware. It’s a Hong Kong horror film by Jeffrey Chiang, slated for release next year,” says Chen, 20.
Kuala Lumpur-born Chen began to write music at 13; he started doing it professionally three years ago.
His musical talent was nurtured at a very tender age. At five, he started playing the piano and at nine, the violin.
Chen’s love for music flourished when his parents took him to orchestra concerts as a child.
“I told my mother I wanted to learn how to play the violin after watching a soloist perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto,” recalls Chen. He was tutored to play the violin by the late Brian Tan (founder and former conductor of the KLPAC Orchestra).
Fond of the violin, he has made it his “principal instrument”. Ever since then, he has been playing the violin in orchestras and ensembles. Currently, Chen is with the KLPAC Orchestra.
Early this year, he started to play the keys and electric violin with TMJB, a local progressive rock/jazz fusion band.
Music, film and theatre resonates very strongly with Chen. “I started in school and church productions, and TV commercials.”
In August, Chen completed his foundation in music programme at the International College Of Music (ICOM) in Setapak, KL.
He has a scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston, the United States, to double major in composition and film scoring. He is scheduled to depart for the US on Jan 12.
“Being able to study composition and film scoring at Berklee is a dream come true,” enthuses Chen. “I plan to study composition and orchestral conducting once I have graduated.”
He also plans to move to Los Angeles to build a career in the Hollywood film music industry.
Naturally, Chen cannot ever imagine a world without music.
“It will be a world without emotion, expression or life. Music is an extension and amplification of human emotion; it’s the soundtrack of our lives!”
A theatre lover, he finds theatre to be very cathartic.
“You get to explore and experiment. You discover things you wouldn’t normally encounter in real life. Yet, there’s a relatable familiarity to it all as art imitates life,” he concludes.
Chen will be performing for the first time with The Canticle Singers in Music Of Your Life. The concert will be held at Damansara Performing Arts Centre in Petaling Jaya at 8.30pm on Oct 28 and 29.