Mark Chan

Mark Chan (born 1958) is a Singaporean composer, recording artist, singer, instrumentalist, poet, and painter. He studied fine arts at the Edinburgh College of Art and is recognised as a renowned Singaporean composer.

Chan trained for 9 years in classical Chinese flutes (dizi and xiao), for 7 years as a classical countertenor and for various years with other instruments including the cello, erhu, pipa, guanzi, piano and percussion. He also plays Japanese and Indonesian flutes. Chan is known for his style, which he describes as a "blend of Eastern and Western sounds, fusing a range of Chinese, Indonesian, Malay and Indian elements with a modern international sensibility." On Singapore television, he was the host of Common Threads and Retro Trek. As an artist, Chan has a reputation for being exacting.

Chan describes himself as a Zen-Buddhist and Taoist.

Chan represented Singapore in the Voice of Asia 1990 in Kazakhstan. In 2006, his music was featured in Cannes, France, at the 40th edition of Midem.

1994 – The Other Actor

1996 – Nature Boy

Theatre Composer Chan was Resident Composer of TheatreWorks for 10 years (1989–1999). He composed, directed and recorded music for over 30 plays in Singapore, China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. The plays he scored have been in English, Chinese, Malay and Japanese. Many of these plays have toured internationally: and the English translation of Kuo Pao Kun's Lao Jiu.

In 2000, Chan took a self-imposed break away from music for the theatre to concentrate on "music for music. was part of the Kuo Pao Kun Festival 2012 to commemorate his 10th death anniversary.

Arts Festivals During his break from the theatre, Chan embarked on a series of commissions from the Singapore Arts Festival:

2003 – Little Toys: jointly commissioned by the Singapore and Hong Kong Arts Festivals 2003, Little Toys premiered in Hong Kong in February 2003 and won widespread critical acclaim in Singapore, Shanghai, Paris and Copenhagen. Chan wrote the 100-minute-long Opiume in five months, dividing the opera into 6 movements, which reflect several chapters of the Opium War story: Discovery, Intoxication, Economics, Addiction, Conflict and Epiphany.

2012 – Flight of the Jade Bird: Chan's latest work was commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival 2012 for its opening. It premiered at the Esplanade Concert Hall in May 2012. Described by Chan as an operatic tone poem, The Flight of the Jade Bird also featured Mui Cheuk-Yin as solo dancer and choreographer. The story was inspired by the mythology that envelops ancient pieces of jade in many cultures, tapping into jade's spiritual quality, historical value and its special relationship with the bearer.