Overview
Biography
Singapore-born composer Benjamin LIM Yi (b.1984) first started out playing the Chinese reed pipe mouth organ, the sheng, winning numerous national prizes and performing prolifically. As a composer, his versatility is displayed through the wide spectrum of genres that he writes for, from commissioned concert pieces, theatre, contemporary dance and stage productions, to film, television and children’s songs for pedagogical purposes.
Some of the groups and artists he has written music for and collaborated with include The Central Ballet of China, the Beijing Dance Academy, the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, the Macau Chinese Orchestra, Central Conservatory of Music Orchestra, China Ethnic Song and Dance Ensemble, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, Wu Tong (from The Silk Road Ensemble), Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Lyric Opera Children’s Choir, T.H.E. Dance Company, Theatreworks, Paper Monkey Theatre, The Substation, Dingyi Music Ensemble, Little Giant Ensemble (Taiwan), Re:mix String Orchestra, Oxley String Quartet, The Sing Song Club and The TENG Ensemble; they have been performed and showcased in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, London, and many cities across China including Shanghai and Beijing.
He has also written and produced music for the CCTV 1, CCTV 3 and CCTV 15 Stations, Beijing Television Station, Zhejiang Weishi Station, iQiyi China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank China (ICBC) and arranged music for the popular singing competition Sing!China. His soundtracks for film have accompanied and won various awards at notable international film festivals, including the Busan Film Festival, Asian Film Festival Berlin, Shanghai Film Festival, Cairo Film Festival, Osaka Asian Film Festival, Jakarta Film Festival, Shargah Biennial Festival and the Singapore Film Festival.
A former educator teaching the International Baccalaureate and Cambridge GCE, Benjamin continues to write music and lesson plans for the Singapore General Music syllabus, and frequently collaborates with the Ministry of Education, Singapore in giving lectures and talks on music for pedagogical use and teacher training. His piece ‘Flame’ was the commissioned set piece for the 2017 Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation (Chinese Orchestra secondary section) category, and 'East Coast Sky' was commissioned as one of twelve pedagogical songs by the Ministry of Education as part of the 'Stories We Sing' collection for use in Singapore classrooms. He has also written and produced numerous children’s songs under the ‘Ivy League Dad’ company for distribution across China, and is an overseas external examiner in Tianjin, Guangzhou and Wuhan for the University of West London-Singapore Raffles Music College. His music reviews of the Singapore International Guitar Festival have been published in the Classical Guitar Magazine (UK) and the Gendai Magazine (Japan).
Benjamin graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, with a Masters of Music under the tutelage of Professor Jianping Tang, and was a recipient of the Singapore National Arts Council (Postgraduate) and Central Chinese Government scholarships. He is also an executive committee member of the Singapore Chinese Music Federation and Singapore Sheng Society.
