Samuel Tan is a collaborative pianist devoted to the fields of teaching, opera, art song, chamber music, musical theatre, and contemporary music. Samuel completed his Bachelor of Performing Arts (Music) from the University of Malaya with First Class Honours, under the tutelage of Miss Geneviene Wong Jen – Pei. Subsequently, he earned both of his Master of Music in Piano Performance and Accompanying with Distinction and Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Performance with Distinction from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), where he was on a full scholarship. At the conservatoire, Samuel studied with professors Malcolm Wilson, John Humphreys and Simon Nicholls. He also performed in piano master classes conducted by Louis Lortie, Steven Osborne, Peter Donohoe, Mikhail Kazekevich, Andrew Ball, Martin Jones, Kálmán Dráfi, and Graham Johnson.
Samuel was awarded the Yamaha Asian Music Scholarship in 2008. He was also the Champion in the Solo Classical Piano Category of the Roland Piano Festival Competition in 2009. While studying at the Conservatoire, Samuel was the winner of the Delia Hall Accompanist Prize for Pianists, the John Ireland Solo Piano Prize as well as the grand AdvPgDip Course Prize. He was also selected from the Piano Department to receive the Burke Trophy for Piano – Playing and was subsequently awarded a full scholarship to study at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. Besides, he was the finalist in Birmingham Conservatoire Piano Prize, Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize and Gordon Clinton English Song Prize.
Samuel has been involved in a variety of projects, ranging from curriculum development to programme leadership in the music departments of tertiary institutions. He is currently the Programme Leader for the Music Performance programme at Sunway University. He is also pursuing a doctorate in ethnomusicology at Sunway University, focusing on the research of the sociocultural and historical background of Malaysian Chinese art song.