JEBAT ARJUNA KEE JIA LIANG
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Jebat Kee is a musician whose activities have brought him across the globe, and is adept both as a violist and as a conductor. He currently serves as Principal Viola with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), where he performs regularly in orchestral and chamber music concerts. Jebat made his conducting debut with the MPO in June 2023 in a Family Fun Day concert with presenter Alasdair Malloy, and has since conducted them in several other concerts including a concert of Chinese classical music in June 2024. Other recent conducting engagements include the Disney In Concert series live at the Arena of Stars in Genting Highlands. Jebat was formerly under the mentorship of Marin Alsop at the Peabody Conservatory, where he served as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master of the Peabody Opera Theatre, assisting Antony Walker and Joseph Young. He was also Assistant Conductor of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Jebat is a recipient of a Peabody Career Development Grant, and was a semifinalist at the European Union and Makris Conducting Competitions. He was also selected as a Britten-Pears Young Artist 2020. Orchestras he has conducted in master classes and competitions include the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington D.C.), Charleston Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, and Makris Symphony Orchestra.
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Previously a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Jebat served as Music Director and Conductor of the University of Illinois Philharmonia Orchestra. Additional ensembles conducted include the University of Illinois Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and Illinois Modern Ensemble. Jebat has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Lyric Theater, Millikin Opera Theatre, and Campanile Orchestra at Rice University. He has conducted the Ossia New Music Ensemble and the Empire Film Music Ensemble, of which he was Co-Artistic Director. Passionate about collaboration, Jebat has worked with soloists such as Dmitry Kouzov, Liu Wenwen, Jonathan Keeble, and Ann Yeung, and composers such as Carlos Carrillo and David Kirkland Garner.
As an accomplished violist, Jebat has performed extensively across four continents, in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Suntory Hall, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and Esplanade Concert Hall. Aside from his work with the MPO, Jebat has performed with orchestras such as the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the New York String Orchestra. He has been Principal Viola of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchester, Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, and the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra on its 2016 tour to Carnegie Hall. Jebat’s other summer festival appearances include the Spoleto Festival USA, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Lake George Music Festival. Additionally, he was selected as a winner of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011. Active also in chamber music, Jebat has collaborated with artists such as James Dunham, Jon Kimura Parker, and Mikhail Kopelman. Jebat was formerly Principal Viola of KINETIC, a conductorless chamber ensemble based in Houston, and was a recipient of the Celentano Award for Excellence in Chamber Music in 2014. As a strong advocate for the performance of new music, Jebat has performed with ensembles such as Musiqa, Da Camera of Houston, and Loop38.
Jebat is a Lecturer at the Institute of Music, UCSI University, and formerly at the Department of Film and Performing Arts, School of Arts at Sunway University. Other previous positions include Director of the Bentley Music Academy Training Orchestra and Co-Conductor and String Coach of the Selangor Symphony Youth Orchestra. Jebat has led conducting, viola, chamber music and orchestral master classes for the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth, Permata Seni Muzik, Bentley Music Academy Malaysia, and Allegro Music and Arts. He has also coached chamber music and sectional rehearsals with the Selangor Philharmonic Orchestra, East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra and the Illinois Chamber Music Academy. Jebat has been an invited guest speaker at UCSI University, Penang Philharmonic Orchestra, The Rondo Production, and Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra, and has independently led a series of webinars on string techniques for conductors.
Jebat holds a Master’s in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was under the tutelage of Donald Schleicher. His previous conducting teachers include Larry Rachleff and Brad Lubman, and he has also participated in master classes with Gianandrea Noseda, Osmo Vanska, Nicolas Pasquet, Mark Gibson and Tito Munoz. Jebat completed a Master’s in Viola Performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied with James Dunham, in addition to serving as his teaching assistant. He received a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from the Eastman School of Music, under the tutelage of Carol Rodland. He plays on a 2009 Paolo Vettori viola on generous loan from The Rin Collection.
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As a versatile musician, Jebat also plays violin, piano, guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, and is a vocalist. He is a multi-genre cover artist, songwriter and arranger. His solo metalcore project Prometheus Ablaze has released two singles, the second of which was just released in August 2021.
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