Rebecca Tong
About Rebecca
Rebecca Tong is Resident Conductor of the Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra and Artistic Director and Music Director of Ensemble Kontemporer. Tong was the First Prize Winner of the inaugural La Maestra competition in 2020, held in Paris, where she was also awarded the ARTE Prize and the French Concert Halls & Orchestras Prize.
Recent and future highlights include debuts with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic 1 Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester – Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic, Orchestre Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Pasadena Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tonkünstler-Orchester.
Highlights of the 2021-22 season included debuts with Orchestre National de Lyon, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto Casa di Musica, Orchestre national d’Ile de France, Ulster Orchestra, and Manchester Camerata, in addition to return appearances with Orchestre de Paris and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tong has worked as assistant to conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas (London Symphony Orchestra), and Francois Xavier-Roth (Gurzenich Orchester Koln) and recently participated in masterclasses and mentorships with Tugan Sokhiev (Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse), Pablo Heras-Casado (Paris Mozart Orchestra), Case Scaglione (Orchestre national d’Ile de France) and Marin Alsop (Orchestre de chambre de Paris).
In 2019, Tong was recipient of the Taki Award for the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship in 2019 (which grants the opportunity to work closely with Marin Alsop). She was a Conducting Fellow at the 2018 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (mentored by Cristian Măcelaru), and in 2017, Tong was awarded the David Effron Conducting Fellowship for the Chautauqua Institution. She completed a two-year tenure as Junior Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, and previously studied at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
Tong is actively involved in the artistic programming of both Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra and Ensemble Kontemporer; her aim being to educate and familiarize Indonesian audiences about both classical and contemporary orchestral works, whilst expanding her own repertoire. In addition to serving these ensembles, Tong founded the Jakarta Christian Youth Orchestra in 2011, and between 2009 and 2012 served as Music Faculty of the International Reformed Evangelical Seminary. An Indonesian of Chinese descent, Tong grew up in a musical family, and her musical experiences and involvement stem from a very young age. She is continually fascinated by connecting communities through music.