Chern Hwei Fung

           Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Fung Chern Hwei absorbed a large amount of musical information since young in his diversed surroundings: Chinese pop and classical music, Indian Bollywood tunes, Malay dance music, and Western classical music. He insisted to learn the violin since he was 4 or 5 years old, but couldn’t find a teacher until he was 8 years old. Since then Chern Hwei thrusted himself into the world of violin and never looked back.

           Shortly after starting his violin lessons, Chern Hwei soon found himself imitating electric guitar and saxophone sound on his violin. In his high school years, he actually broke the school’s banning on rock music and electronic instruments by sneaking in a heavy metal band onto the stage during a charity night.

           Upon finishing his masters in New York, Chern Hwei chose to stay on as a freelance musician, playing different genres of music, absorbing yet even more musical languages and expressions. Styles that he plays frequently includes western classical, jazz, Middle Eastern belly dance music, baroque historical performance, rock, and                                                                                                                                       hip hop. He recently self-released his debut album, “From The Heart”.

            Artists that he was fortunate to work with include Uri Caine, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stanley Clarke, Tony Bennet, Bobby McFerrin, Steve Wilson, Elliot Sharp, Antonio Sanchez, composer Mikael Karlsson, among others.

            Aside from being a fine performer, Chern Hwei possesses a unique ability of sharing. His expertise and passion in different genres of music provided him with the necessary understanding of humanity which is crucial when it comes to music education. Chern Hwei received his Bachelor’s degree from University Putra Malaysia, and earned his Master’s at the Aaron Copland School of Music, where he led the orchestra as a concert master.