Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, Bang Hean was the winner of the First National Mozart Piano Competition in 1987. Two years later, a scholarship from ABRSM, the music examination board, enabled him to study at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London.

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Bang Hean’s early teachers in Malaysia included Serena Chow and Rickie Oui, while in England, he studied with Yonty Solomon, John Blakely, and Dennis Lee. He won numerous prizes at the RCM and, upon graduation, received awards such as the Anthony Saltmarsh Prize and a grant from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, which enabled him to undertake postgraduate studies with the Hungarian teacher Professor Ilonka Deckers in Milan, Italy.

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Since returning to Malaysia, Bang Hean has made regular appearances in solo recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto performances. He has performed at most major concert venues in Malaysia and has been featured as a soloist with various local orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). An active chamber musician, he collaborates frequently with a range of instrumentalists and vocalists, and has been a regular guest pianist at MPO’s chamber concerts. He has also performed abroad in countries such as England, Italy, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, and Korea.

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Bang Hean is an adjunct lecturer at the Institute of Music, UCSI University, and is frequently invited to adjudicate competitions and festivals, conduct examinations, and give masterclasses both locally and internationally. His students have consistently won prizes and scholarships in Malaysia and abroad, and many have gone on to pursue successful music careers.

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As an educator and presenter, Bang Hean has been invited to present extensively for ABRSM, with seminar tours taking him to various parts of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Middle East, and India. In 2020, he recorded teaching videos featuring 108 exam pieces (2021–2022) for ABRSM’s webinar series, which were viewed by teachers worldwide. He is regularly invited to conduct both online and in-person seminars on a variety of pedagogical and pianistic topics across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and China.