Tengku Irfan began piano lessons at seven and made his debut at eleven, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in E-flat major, improvising his own cadenzas with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Claus Peter Flor. He has performed as soloist with orchestras worldwide under conductors Neeme Järvi, Kristjan Järvi, George Stelluto, Jeffrey Milarsky, and Sydney Hodkinson, among others. Recent performances include appearances with AXIOM, Singapore Symphony, São Paulo State Youth, Estonian National Symphony, Peoria Symphony orchestras, and MDR Sinfonieorchester. He won the 2013 Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition and is currently serving his third year as pianist for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Irfan received the 2012 ASCAP Charlotte Bergen Award and the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2012 and 2014. His compositions have been premiered by the New York Philharmonic, MDR Sinfonieorchester, New York Virtuoso Singers, and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Irfan made his conducting debut with the MusicaNova Orchestra in April 2015, for the premiere of his composition Nocturne. Irfan will be double majoring in piano and composition, under Veda Kaplinsky and Robert Beaser, respectively, and studying conducting with George Stelluto at Juilliard. Irfan is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School and Gordon and Lillian Hardy Scholarship at the AMFS.