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 January 2025 is Erika Poh.
Erika Poh is a composer, singer-songwriter, and producer from Singapore. Erika’s versatility is evident in her extensive portfolio, which includes works for chamber ensembles, musicals, dance films, records, and string arrangements, notably for 2NE1’s CL on ALPHA (2021). Erika trained at the prestigious Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where she clinched the Hans J. Salter Award for Composition, the USC Provost Fellowship, the Discovery Scholar Award (bestowed on ten individuals university-wide) and emerged as Thornton’s most Outstanding Graduate in May 2024.
Watch the interview on YouTube here, or read the transcript below!
1. Share with us your musical background, as well as your journey on becoming a composer!
My introduction to music was like that of many Singaporeans: I started taking piano lessons when I was five and continued studying it seriously, eventually taking grades for it. I enjoyed playing others’ works, but I felt the desire to sing my own tunes and invent my own music from the start.
In primary school, I discovered Barbara Streisand’s music. I was immediately drawn to the lush orchestral landscapes that accompanied her voice, and that style of pop influences me to this day. I started songwriting when I was 12 — silly ditties and rhymes — but it wasn’t until I was a teen that I discovered notation as a way of writing and imagining music, leading me to write my first instrumental pieces.
I spent my teenage years enthralled by the great orchestral composers—Beethoven, Ravel, Stravinsky—you name it. However, I was struck, even then, that they were all dead, white men. Determined to find myself in the music I loved, I studied composition with Singaporean composer Tan Chan Boon, and pursued the Music Elective Programme (MEP). The possibility of a career in music began to take shape in my mind, but it wasn’t until I wrote and staged my fully-orchestrated rock musical, Runaway, that I gained the confidence to pursue composition more seriously.
In 2019, I left Singapore to study at the University of Southern California. My experience in LA was life-changing. I met so many talented people, and was exposed to so many different ways of thinking about music. I was encouraged to write and participate in the American New Music community, studying under the likes of Frank Ticheli, Andrew Norman, Ted Hearne, Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) and Donald Crockett. My teachers there taught me what it means to compose music in context, with a strong sense of identity and place.
My sound palette began to shift as I experienced the US pop scene in the flesh — I realized I couldn’t ignore my pop inspirations forever. As I pursued songwriting and arranging, studying with the legendary Patrice Rushen, I started going for gigs around LA as a solo artist. Ultimately, I wrote and produced my first EP, Teens In My Twenties.
I’m really glad that I get to make music like this, and I’m very thankful to have learnt and written so much in LA, and I can’t wait to make more music here in Singapore.
2. What are some interesting things that you’ve experimented with so far in your compositional journey?
I’m invested in making music that blurs the lines of genre. My creative happy place is experimental pop fusion, a world where I’m free to superimpose genres and inspirations, always honoring that original love for orchestration. Last year, I wrote and premiered my song Have you Seen Her with the Thornton Symphony Orchestra, a project which blended my concert and pop music practices.
My recent explorations have focused on finding elements of play and flow in my creative process, including using humor as a formal tool. This has been especially significant to my collaborations with dancers, enabling me to be a more flexible collaborator, with an open ear to my creative partners.
In the midst of my studies in Paris last spring, I created a house remix of the famous Flower Duet aria from Lakmé, which was choreographed and performed as a ballroom-inspired dance piece. The whole experience was as silly as it was liberating.
I’ve also collaborated on more serious, satirical works with dancers, exploring themes ranging from self-deprecating internet humor to American politics (separately). One such piece was commissioned and premiered by Laurie Sefton at the LA Dance Project, titled Herd. In this piece, I had to do a lot of research, and I sampled many voices and speeches. Working with Laurie for this project taught me more about developing a piece of material in an electroacoustic way. Through these experiences, I’ve embraced a sense of joy and spontaneity in my music-making, allowing creative play to shape my artistic voice.
3. As a future educator-to-be, could you share some ideas that you have for teaching composition in the classroom?
I have so many ideas!
I’m excited about the present and future of local music in Singapore. There are many bands and artists in Singapore that sound really good, and I appreciate the honesty and authenticity of it all. I want to inform students and fellow Singaporeans about their local music scene, and inspire them to be a part of it. I hope to show that there is so much more to local music than NDP songs—there’s a whole world of Singaporean music out there to listen, rave, and mosh to.
Most of all, I hope to help my students unleash the music within!!! As I strive to equip them with the tools to make their own music, I hope that my passion for music-making resonates.
4. Do you have any upcoming projects/works that we can look forward to?
I feel that I’m still settling back in Singapore after spending five years in the States. I’ve been taking a break from composing these few months to focus my energy on growing roots and reconnecting with my community in Singapore. I’ve also been taking the time to make new friends in different music circles— so if you’re watching/reading this, please hit me up! I’d love to make more musician friends and collaborators here in Singapore.
In the year ahead, I’m looking forward to writing another orchestral work, as well as beginning work on a musical.
I’m also learning how to DJ >:)
