| Mr Nelson Kwei (Artistic Director) is an accomplished conductor, music arranger and vocal tutor in the music scene, having attained a licentiate in singing from the Guildhall School of Music. He won the coveted title of “Most Promising Singer” in an Asian Art Song Competition at the age of 20. Mr Nelson Kwei was also the first choral scholar from Singapore. He was awarded a prestigious scholarship in 1990 by the Ministry of Education to do advance post-graduate studies in Choral Conducting from the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1993, Mr Kwei was honoured with the “National Youth Service Award”, the highest Youth Award in Singapore, in recognition of his significant contribution in the field of choral art. In 1999, he was awarded with the “Culture Award” by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and in 2001, the Rotary Club honoured him as the “Ambassador of the Arts” for Singapore.
On the international level, Mr Kwei won the prestigious “Outstanding Choral Director Award” two years in a row at the International Choral Competition in Germany, 1998 & 1999 and also the “Best Conductor Award” at the Petr Eben International Choral Competition 2002 & 2004 in Prague. In recent years, he has led his choirs to 8 Gold awards including 3 Category Champions in the Choir Olympics held in Bremen, Germany & Xiamen, China. His choir was also the first Asian choir to win the Grand Prize & Audience Prize at the prestigious Concorso Corale Internazionale held in Riva Del Garda, Italy. This year, he was also conferred the “Conductor Prize” in the recent 10th edition of the internationally-acclaimed choral competition. Presently, he is a member of the National Arts Council’s Advisory Board for Choral Development in Singapore and the Chairman of the Choral Directors’ Association (Singapore). Internationally, he is the First Vice-Chairman of the Asian Youth Choir Council, an international federation for choirs & conductors, as well as the Artistic Director of “A Voyage of Songs”, an international choral competition held every 2 years. He was also invited as both clinician and adjudicator in many international choral festivals and competitions. Currently, he is the Conductor of many prestigious schools, colleges and community choirs in Singapore that have won numerous national and international accolades. |
