Born in Singapore in 1956, Melvyn Tan came to England at a very young age to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. There he studied with Nadia Boulanger, Vlado Perlemuter and Marcel Ciampi. They all inspired his lifelong passion for French music. He has circled the globe giving solo recitals and as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors in major concert halls and festivals everywhere – Salzburg, Edinburgh, City of London Festivals, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh and Salzburg to name just a few.

With curator Paul Boucher, he has also continued his role in devising Music and Word at Charleston, a combination of music and readings in the unique setting of the East Sussex Farmhouse made famous by artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.

In addition to his concert and recording activities, Melvyn Tan gives masterclasses at the Villa Medici-Giulini in Italy, at the Yong Siew Toh and Aureus Conservatories of Singapore and Kent International Piano Course. He is a regular adjudicator, most recently sitting on the panel for ROSL Keyboard Competition and ROSL’s 70th Annual Music Competition Gold Medal Final. Melvyn is a keen and long-standing supporter of Buskaid, the outstanding South African music project in a Soweto township, listed by Gramophone Magazine as one of the world’s ten most inspiring orchestras.

Melvyn has a close relationship with Kirker Holidays and will be taking part in two Kirker Music Festivals in 2025, September 2024 - at the Villa Medici-Giulini in Lombardy in September and at The Star in Alfirston in November. He will also make three appearances at the North Norfolk Music Festival in August 2025.