THE Ding Yi Music Company was formed in 2007 by eight graduates of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) who were simply looking to pursue their passion for Chinese chamber music and to keep playing it after graduation. However, when they tried to enter the National Arts Music Competition a year later, they were told an ensemble of 20 musicians was required.

Twelve more musicians were promptly recruited before the group went on to bag top prize in their first competition. The rest, as they say, is history.

"After that, we realised that we wanted to keep this up and become serious so we kept the musicians - mostly graduates from Nafa - and made 20 our standard size," says Dedric Wong, co-founder and general manager of Ding Yi.