Since 2020, the Composers Society of Singapore (CSS) has been releasing a monthly series for our Musings section, Composer of the Month! The Composer of the Month for May 2025 is Danny Imson.

Danny is a Singapore-based Filipino composer teaching composition, music technology and integrated arts (a multidisciplinary module) at the School of the Arts Singapore. His works have been presented in Austria, the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Southeast Asia. He was awarded the highest prize by the Goethe-Institut at the Young Composers in Southeast Asia Competition and Festival. Danny is currently the music director of PsalmiDeo Chorale, a Singapore-based Filipino choir and a member of the Sari-sari Philippine Kulintang group.

How would you describe your musical style?

Hi, my name is Danny, and I’m a Filipino composer based here in Singapore.

I would say my musical style is an experimental approach, exploring pitch, time, and timbral elements that integrates controlled indeterminacy, and cultural references. I navigate a balance between theses elements while allowing space for performer agency and interpretive variations.

My recent compositions actually involve a growing interest in using Filipino children’s games, I find it really interesting. And I use these games as symbolisms and metaphors which serve as a framework for expressing my intentions and shaping my compositional decisions. 

These games offer a unique lens through which I discovered a recently explored playful, often unexpected sonic interactions between the performers and sometimes the audience. Enriching my work with a sense of identity and at the same time, some aspects of narrative. 

My music frequently draws from cultural or contextual frameworks, as I mentioned earlier, and it gives a treatment of this within the sound, a layered meaning. So I like this ambiguous or doubled meaning, when the audience hears them (the sound materials, or the sound work as a whole), and also it gives them a multi- dimensional sense of identity (these compositions). I think this stems from me being really away from my home country, which is the Philippines, and at the same time, living in Singapore for more than a decade, (close to two decades), and at the same time, having a lot of references from my mom’s hometown in Italy.

What pedagogical approaches do you employ to inspire creativity and innovation among your students in the realm of contemporary music?

So some of the pedagogical approaches I used to foster creativity and innovation among our students at SOTA they include, foremost research, experiencing music (contemporary music, non Western music, or traditional musics) in a live setting (or in a live performance), we do a lot of listening analysis at the same time, having discussions about them and having also open questions. I think these are very very important.

Research plays a very vital role, an important role in deepening the student’s conceptual understanding. They do discover different compositional practices and diverse musical perspectives and methodologies. I think these are really important for students while they discovered their learning along the way, and as they mature as musicians. I also encourage students to engage their senses and observe their surroundings, and this can be a source of inspiration or a starting point in their compositional process.

So the discussions that stem from their observations and questions are essential in fostering critical thinking, especially among their peers and cultivating a healthy collaborative discourse. Potentially, this can incubate new ideas and creative directions.

Do you have any upcoming projects/works that we can look forward to?

This year, my electronic work “Taya” will premiere this May at Schwetzingen in Germany during the SWR Festspiele. The performance will be recorded and broadcasted by SWR, they are the public radio station in Southwest Germany. In addition to this, “Taya” is scheduled for another performance in October in Salzburg, Austria at the Le Petit Ecurie concert. And another of my pieces, entitled “Salimbayan” will be premiered this August at the Bali International Choir Festival in Indonesia. And this will be premiered by PsalmiDeo Chorale of Singapore.