Low Yik Hang has been a percussionist with Ding Yi Music Company since 2009. He also collaborates with the group A Bigger Bang Percussion under conductor Quek Ling Kiong.
A versatile musician, he is skilled in Chinese and Western percussion, as well as the traditional Middle Eastern darbuka, a goblet drum. His artistry has brought him to many stages, from major international festivals to cross-genre collaborations.
Yik Hang’s passion for percussion developed during his secondary school years under the influence of former Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) gaohu and percussion musician Low Cher Yong. He further refined his Chinese percussion skills under the mentorship of esteemed conductor Quek Ling Kiong and SCO percussionist Ngoh Kheng Seng, and learnt the kanjira from Sri D Rajagopal.
He was awarded the National Arts Council’s Overseas Scholarship in 2011 and the China National Government Scholarship in 2015. In 2017, he earned his Master’s Degree in Chinese Percussion at the Central Conservatory of Music, mentored by eminent percussion professor Wang Jian Hua, and in 2023, he completed his Master’s Degree in Music, majoring in Percussion, at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore.
Throughout his career, Yik Hang has distinguished himself with award-winning performances. He won First Prize in Percussion at the NAC Chinese Music Competition, as well as the Silver Medal at the 2013 China Golden Bell Awards for Music, where he also received the New Works Performance Prize. He was also invited to perform at the opening celebrations of the 2014 China-ASEAN Cultural Exchange Year in Beijing.
In 2017, he performed with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra at the grand opening of the Suzhou Centre by CapitaLand, one of the largest malls in China. In 2019, at the Tianzi Guoyue Four Seasons Concert, he premiered Sand Mystique 《沙之幻想》, a work by young Singaporean composer Sulwyn Lok. In 2021, he made his debut collaboration with Malay percussionist Riduan Zalani in the second concert of Ding Yi’s DY-Logue series—an immersive percussive showcase of new compositions and rearrangements by local composers, including both performers themselves.
In January 2024, he performed an excerpt from Monologue by JunYi Chow for Chinese Cymbals solo, and later that year, he co-led the local premiere of Four Tone Poems on Fables (《寓言音诗四首》) by Cultural Medallion recipient Phoon Yew Tien, alongside concertmaster Fred Chan Hong Wei, at the Taoyuan Traditional Music Festival.
In 2014, Yik Hang received the prestigious NAC Capability Development Grant, which enabled him to pursue Middle Eastern rhythm training under world-renowned darbuka master Misirli Ahmet at the Misirli Ahmet Rhythm Academy in Istanbul, Turkey.
Citing Wang Jian Hua, Misirli Ahmet, and legendary tabla maestro Zakir Hussain as inspirations, Yik Hang continues to shape his artistry with an openness that bridges cultures and traditions.
