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The Singaporean fortepianist, harpsichordist and pianist, Anastasia Chin, obtained hrer Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore (2007-2011), where she studied with renowned pianist Albert Tiu. Her full scholarship for undergraduate studies was sponsored by the Singapore National Arts Council. She then moved to the USA, where she obtained her Master of Music degree in Early Music (Fortepiano) (2011-2013), her Performer Diploma in Harpsichord (2011-2012), and her Doctor of Music in Early Music (Keyboard) (2014-2022) from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. Her mentor is eminent harpsichordist and fortepianist Elisabeth Wright, to whom she credits for igniting her passion for early music. She has been a recipient of the Artistic Excellence Award, and was a Graduate Assistant and Associate Instructor in the Historical Performance Institute. She was one of three finalists in the 2018 Berkeley Festival International Early Piano Competition and top prize winner ex aequo of the Ninth Mae and Irving Jurow International Harpsichord Competition 2021.
Starting her musical career as a pianist, Anastasia Chin made her fortepiano debut performing W.A. Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414 with the Indiana University Classical Orchestra. The Bloomington Herald Times wrote of the performance, “Chin showed compelling evidence of her training, along with a musicality that could have come only from native bent and talent. Her Mozart honored Mozart. Technically, she offered the listener pristine clarity and precision in execution. She seemed at one with the fortepiano, the lively action in its keys and the limpid tonal quality. Her interpretation featured stylistic elegance but also, in welcome abundance, the lyricism and caprice that pervade the score.” (Peter Jacobi, February 7, 2012)
Anastasia Chin made her harpsichord concerto debut in April 2019, performing J.S. Bach’s Concerto in C major for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1064 with the Indiana University Baroque Orchestra and her historical keyboard studio colleagues. In November 2019, she performed Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Concerto in C minor, Wq. 37, and J.S. Bach’s Concerto in E major, BWV 1053 with a string quintet in an intimate chamber music setting. In August 2021, she performed J.S. Bach's Concerto in D major, BWV 1054 with members of Lyra Baroque for the final round of the Jurow harpsichord competition.
As a pianist, Anastasia Chin has made concerto appearances with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (Yellow River Piano Concerto) and the Singapore Anglo-Chinese Junior College String Orchestra (W.A. Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414). She has also worked and performed with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the Wiener Sängerknaben as a member of the Academies Festival Orchestra, under the batons of Julian Reynolds and Alondra de la Parra.
Anastasia Chin is praised for her naturally sensitive, elegant and eloquent performances, and for her ability to make the instruments sing. She is in frequent demand as soloist, chamber musician, and continuo player on the harpsichord, fortepiano and continuo organ. She is a regular performer on the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project series (since July 2022) and the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and also plays regularly with Tonos, an ensemble specializing in 17th and 18th century Latin American music.
Recent engagements include recitals at Cornell University (August 2025), Western Early Keyboard Association and MusicSources (March 2025), J.S. Bach’s concerti for two and four harpsichords with Seven Hills Baroque (July 2024), J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major BWV 1050 with the Indiana University Historical Performance Institute for the Madison Performing Arts Foundation (May 2024), George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the Oregon Symphony (December 2023), concerts with Tonos at Notre Dame de Chicago as part of the University of Illinois Chicago Latin American Baroque Music Festival (April 2024) and in Bloomington for the Bloomington Early Music Festival (2022 and 2023), and guest recitals and lecture-recitals at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore (2023 and 2024).
In her spare time, Anastasia Chin enjoys singing with the Trinity Episcopal Church Bloomington choir and exploring historical Baroque Dance. |
