NBA star Jaylen Brown’s dedicated gold harp player is Singaporean Tan Li Shan - The Straits Times
Tan Li Shan is the selected harpist to play NBA star Jaylen’s Brown gold-gilded harp.
SINGAPORE – In fitting out his Boston bachelor pad, United States National Basketball Association star Jaylen Brown’s pointed splurge was a 24-karat gold-gilded harp, a re-imagination of an 18th-century antique.
By the Philadelphia 76ers’ small forward own admission, it is probably the most expensive item he owns – no trivial footnote with his 4,000 sq ft penthouse’s Italian marble flooring, bed designed a la Four Seasons Hotels, a medical-grade oxygen chamber and a toilet that makes “ocean sounds” when flushed.
Handpicked to strum this prized possession twice weekly while the sun sets over the horizon and as Brown’s chef prepares dinner is Singaporean Tan Li Shan, who has built a career in Boston as principal harp of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
The 30-year-old tells The Straits Times a great deal of tact is involved. “My repertoire ranges from classical to pop and R&B, and sometimes I improvise too. A big part of my job is reading the atmosphere and tailoring the music to suit the moment,” she says.
Tan landed the unusual gig in Oct 2025, and in an interview with Architectural Digest published on Nov 2, was described by Brown as his therapist. For reasons of privacy, she demurs from sharing more about her interactions over the past year with the five-time all-star, except to say that “he’s been incredibly kind and wonderful to work with”.
Tan says: “I’ve always approached playing for him as I would any other professional engagement. There is gold on his harp, but honestly, a harp is a harp. As a harpist, it’s my job to make any harp I play sound good.”
Tan’s induction into harp playing – more uncommon than the bowed string instruments of violin, viola, cello and double bass – was through the harp ensemble CCA at Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School in Secondary 1.
‘I’ve always approached playing for him as I would any other professional engagement,’ Tan says.
She went on to study at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and moved to Boston in 2018 for her master’s and doctoral studies. In addition to being principal harp of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, she also performs regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the more accessible offshoot Boston Pops.
A varied career has seen her share the stage with legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and members of iconic rock band The Beach Boys.
Playing Brown’s harp well fits her avowed mission to “champion contemporary harp music and show people what the harp is capable of”. Tan is also an educator, composer and writes for magazine HarpColumn.
Brown, who is not harp-trained, confided to Architectural Digest that he has sought to recreate Tan’s sounds on the harp when she is not around. Traded from the Boston Celtics in July, he is now part of a muscular Philadelphia 76ers starting five comprising LeBron James, Joel Embiid, V.J. Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey, who are top of the league with an 8-1 win record this season.
