About Us

Vincent Chong

CEO – IPVAEB

CEO – VP Agency

Chairman – IPVAEB Board

Vincent Chong, founder and Chief Executive Officer of International Performing & Visual Arts

Examination Board (IPVAEB), and Chief Executive of VP Agency International Pte Ltd. He has

more than 40 years of working experiences of which 18 years are in music education and

classical music events and artist management.

He organised the first Ars Nova International Piano competition in 2012 and is the co-founder of Ars Nova Fest.

Simon Soh

Director – Sinfonia Music studio

Academic Advisory Board – IPVAEB

Examiners Council – IPVAEB

Editorial Team – IPVAEB Examination Repertoires

Simon Soh runs a music studio in Singapore since 2002. He is also a music consultant in

Johor. He has several diplomas in both teaching and performance from Trinity College

London, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and London College of Music. In 1995, he was

invited to play with the Singapore Wind Symphony. Beside teaching, he conducts piano

workshops and seminars regularly in Singapore and Malaysia.

Simon is an advisor/consultant for IPVAEB piano exam syllabus development team. He

frequently adjudicating in both Singapore and Johor.

Owen Chong

Member of the Board - IPVAEB

Clarence Lee

Concert Pianist

VP – IPVAEB Examinations

Member of the Board – IPVAEB

Clarence was admitted to the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the age of 15 as a

National Arts Council Scholar, and graduated with 1st class Honours where he was his class

valedictorian and was awarded the coveted Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medallion. Clarence also has

a Master of Music degree and Graduate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Yong Siew

Toh Conservatory of Music.

Clarence is currently on the Piano Faculty at LASALLE College of the Arts, an Adjunct

Collaborative Pianist at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and a Program Director

and a Senior Teacher (Piano) for the Young Artist Program at MW Fine Arts Academy.

Khoong Shok Meng Kellie

Director/Principal – MW Fine Arts Academy

VP/Academic Dean – IPVAEB Academy

Member of the Board - IPVAEB

The author of a children’s music program – Smart Kidz Keyboard Course and the founder of

MW Fine Arts Academy, Shok Meng’s teaching goal is to motivate and nurture young talent.

Shok Meng is a former chief instructress in Yamaha Music School and was also appointed

Clinician for Alfred Publishing Company, conducting public seminars and workshops in

Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong

Benjamin Loh

Steinway Artist

Member of the Board – IPVAEB

Benjamin Loh first obtained his B.Sc. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business,

University of Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he studied at the Manhattan School of Music,

where he graduated with a Master of Music in Piano Performance as a student of Dr. Marc

Silverman.

He is also very much in demand as a teacher. Presently, he is on the piano faculty of the

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the LASALLE College of the Arts, and also maintains an

active private teaching studio....

Kacie Tee

Director – Forte Music Studio Sdn Bhd

Member of the Board – IPVAEB

Tee Pei Ling Kacie, is a director and principal of Forte Academy of Music in Johor, Malaysia.

She has more than twenty years of teaching experience in piano and early childhood

education. Apart from teaching piano, she is also active in organising music activities for the

pre-schools in Malaysia and Singapore. She is currently pursuing her online music degree in

pedagogy.

Dr. Gayl Teo

Violin Exam Syllabus Development Team – IPVAEB

B.M. in Violin Performance – Ohio State University

M.M. University of Hartford

PhD. Indiana University Bloomington

Member of the Board – IPVAEB

Gayl is active researcher who is contributing to research in music perception, sight-reading,

and syllabus design. She has presented at conferences such as the Suncoast Music

Education Research Symposium and the Big Ten Academic Alliance Music Education

Conference. She recently collaborated with Dr, Brenda Brenner (Indiana University Jacobs

School of Music) to design a graded violin syllabus for the International Performing & Visual

Arts Examination Board (IPVAEB).

Melanie Spanswick

Pianist/Writer/Teacher/Composer

Member of the Board - IPVAEB

Melanie Spanswick is a pianist, writer, teacher, and composer, who has authored best-selling

books on many aspects of piano performance and pedagogy.

She is a member of the piano faculty at Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London,

an Honorary Master Teacher at the Tom Lee Academy in Hong Kong, a faculty member at First

Education, which is based in Hong Kong and Macau, and she also teaches at Eton College.

Melanie studied Piano Performance at the Royal College of Music in London, where she won

many prizes, graduating with a Master of Music Degree.

As a pianist, she has performed and broadcast worldwide, and has given recitals as a soloist,

chamber musician and accompanist at countless music festivals and major concert halls, giving

concerts and recital tours in over ten countries. She has also broadcast on Classic FM, BBC

Radio, CBC Radio and Spanish and Swedish television, as well as recording a disc for Opera

Omnia at Wigmore Hall in London.

As an educator, Melanie has examined for the ABRSM, and she adjudicates for the British and

International Federation of Festivals. She frequently hosts piano courses, master classes and

workshops throughout the UK and abroad; most recently in Germany, the USA and the Far

East.

As an author, Melanie is published by Schott Music, Faber Music and Alfred UK. Her three-

book piano course, Play it again: PIANO, has become one of Schott’s best-selling series. And

she is a regular contributor to Pianist magazine and Piano Professional (EPTA).

Her compositions have been featured on a variety of examination syllabuses and in various

competition festivals, and publications, and, during 2021, she has written, compiled and

annotated the Pre-Grade one syllabus for the London College of Music. Melanie is one of the

few female composers to be published in the renowned Edition Schott Composer series.

www.melaniespanswick.com