Jin Ta

Flutist, educator and composer, Jin Ta has been in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) as Principal Flute since 1998.

In 1991, after completing his studies at the Central Music Conservatory (Beijing) with Professor Zhu Tong De, he entered the University of Michigan on a full-scholarship.

In 1995, he studied with Professor Fenwick Smith at the New England Conservatory of Music and was selected as an Artist Diploma candidate in 1997. During the eight years he spent in the US, Jin Ta won numerous flute competitions including the Silver Prize in the National Flute Talk Competition and NFA Young Artist Competition (1995), First Prize in the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition (1996), Israel Haifa International Flute Competition (2001), among many others.

Besides performing with the SSO, Jin Ta is dedicated to teaching. He has taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LaSalle College of the Arts. He is also a founding faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National University of Singapore). His students are now working in many professional orchestras in China, Taiwan and Korea. Jin Ta is also a self-taught composer and has published a number of works such as his First Flute Sonata, and Second Sonata, “Mongol”. He frequently gives talks and masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea.

During the COVID-19 circuit breaker period, he and his wife Yu Jing (SSO Associate Principal Cello) created a flute education WeChat channel “Lumino’s art of flute” (小 鲁仔长笛艺术). This channel focusses on contributing free online flute lessons for both college level students and young flutists, and musical stories for children.