America’s Got Talent dream comes true for Kuching pianist Jolynn J Chin

The dream of Kuching’s modern crossover pianist Jolynn J Chin to appear on America’s Got Talent (AGT) is coming true on Season 16 premiering June 1 on NBC.

The debut for the 25-year-old on the American TV show was a chance encounter.

“I remembered watching AGT a lot when I was young and always thought that it would be really cool to be on the show. I never expected their casting producer to reach out to me on a random afternoon 20 years later.

“It was insane! But something I am grateful for!” she told The Borneo Post.

She remembered being about to practise on her piano that Thursday afternoon when she received an email from the casting producer of AGT, who had seen her YouTube videos, thought she was very talented, and wanted to contact her on Zoom.

“When I took the call he asked for my permission to pitch me to the executive producers of AGT.”

A few weeks later, he wrote back saying they loved what they had seen and that a senior producer of AGT would take care of and make arrangements to fly her to Los Angeles to film the show.

Chin said she had a wonderful experience with the nice, helpful, and accommodating AGT team there.

When asked about her parents’ reservations about joining the show during the pandemic, she said they were not worried as AGT and NBC had assured strict safety protocols with doctors on set.

Her family and friends were actually thrilled for her to just to stand on the point marked X on AGT’s stage regardless of what the judges said.

She added she only found out that AGT accepts virtual open call submissions of videos from around the world after being involved.

Chin said she started preparing for her performance in December last year with the producers and AGT’s music team.

“I started the music production process, composing and arranging around that time. I also had to get family and friends to film my performance back and forth in my studio, so we could work with the producers and stage them virtually to ensure the best for my audition performance.

“We worked really hard together for a couple months since December 2020 to create the best audition,” she said.

The classically trained pianist started her music education at the tender age of five.

She has been under the tutelage of Dr Nicholas Ong, DMA graduate from The Juilliard School; acclaimed concert pianists such as Andrew Brownell, champion of the 2005 JN Hummel Competition; and Li Ming Qiang, winner of the 4th Chopin International Competition in 1960.

She has worked with many renowned musicians, won several prizes in competitions internationally, awarded the Gold Prize at Asia International Piano Academy Festival Competition and has performed extensively.

Her latest achievement is an album, Beyond Classical EP, which was recently considered for 62nd Grammy Awards under Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. UB