Chew Jun Ru

In his early life, Chew was already an avid player of the erhu. He attended Rosyth Primary School,^[1] Nanyang Junior College and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.^[1] Born to a working-class family of four children (Chew being the eldest), his father Sin Hwa is a business person^[2] and founder of ICO Music and Culture Consultancy^[3] while his mother is a homemaker.^[2]

Pursuing his interest in the erhu, Chew applied to study at the Singapore Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) validated by the London-based Royal College of Music (RCM) in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.^[4] He managed to take up erhu as an instrument, despite RCM not having a Chinese traditional instrument department. Graduating in August 2013 at his alma mater (NAFA), he became the "first graduate [of RCM] specialising in a Chinese traditional instrument".