Summer 2011 was a thoroughly enjoyable and fulfilling musical adventure.

In July, I was invited to perform at the Tnjre international festival of young musicians in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Besides solo repertoire and chamber music, I performed the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Stepanakert and at the Aram Khatchaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan.

It was fascinating to experience such a different culture and to meet so many different people. I had a fantastic time with the other young musicians, winging it with the guys on the streets of Yerevan, epic bus rides through the Karabakh mountains, lots of sugary treats and all kinds of daily hilarity!

In August, I attended the Oxford Philomusica International Piano Festival and Academy where I performed in the masterclasses of Menahem Pressler, Christopher Elton and Stephen Kovacevich. I also spent ten days working with Dominique Merlet at L'Academie Musicale de Villecroze in the south of France - a true musicians' paradise! I was very inspired by these valuable encounters and I am sure that what I learnt over the summer will continue to "simmer" during the months to come.

On 21 September, I made my debut in Edinburgh in a recital presented by the Royal Over-Seas League. On 2 October, I am performing Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals with Lim Yan and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in a special tribute concert to former President S.R. Nathan at the Esplanade Concert Hall. The performance will be broadcast on national TV in Singapore on 8 October on Okto channel.