About the Composer Collectives

The Composers Society of Singapore (CSS) is a society of Singapore composers and the national representative for Singapore to the Asian Composers League (ACL). It exists to uphold the interests of Singapore composers, foster creation of new music, and promote interest in Singapore’s new music scene both locally and abroad. Since its founding in 2007, CSS has become a key platform in developing local composers in Singapore and overseas.

Through various initiatives, CSS fosters the growth of local composers by offering opportunities for professional development and serving as a meeting point for creative exchange, platforms the works of Singapore composers by creating opportunities for them to present their works locally and abroad, and engages the public to build awareness of local composers and their music through initiatives that archive and pay tribute to the works and lives of Singapore composers.

Space For Sound is a South Korean organization of composers and performers striving to increase appreciation of contemporary music amongst both professional musicians and the general public. The collective sponsors Korean contemporary creative works and implements performances both domestically and internationally. To this end, Space for Sound holds concerts focused on composers, electronic music concerts, short-term workshops, and seminars for inviting young composers and performers.

About the Composers

Emily KOH (b.1986) is a Singaporean composer+ based in Atlanta, Georgia whose music reimagines everyday experiences by sonically expounding tiny oft-forgotten details, and explores binary states such as extremities/boundaries and activity/stagnation. She especially enjoys collaborating with creatives of other specializations.

Described as “the future of composing” (The Straits Times, Singapore), Emily is the recipient of awards such as the Copland House Residency Award, Young Artist Award (National Arts Council, Singapore), Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize (Asian Composers League), ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Prix D’Ete (Peabody), and the Macagnoni Prize for Innovative Research (University of Georgia). Her work is supported with commissions, grants and fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, National Arts Council (Singapore), Opera America, New Music USA, MacDowell, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, American Composers’ Orchestra, Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy, the Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence (National University of Singapore) and others. Described as “beautifully eerie” (New York Times), and “subtley spicy” (Baltimore Sun), Emily’s music has been performed around the world, and is published by Babel Scores (Europe) and Poco Piu Publishing (worldwide).

Emily is currently Associate Professor of Music Composition at the University of Georgia, USA.

Singaporean composer HOH Chung Shih generates a body of work described as one that “explores unique perspectives on space, time, physicality, process, and ultimately performance, with these often taking on structural importance in ways that are often at odds with normative (perhaps Western) concert music paradigms.” “His scores often draw from notions of irrationality and inconceivability” tied to Buddhist views. “Several scores foreground the relationship between body, breath, movement and instrument, allowing the organic negotiation of body and space to reveal the structure of the music.” 

Through his study and research on Guqin (Chinese 7-string zither), coupled with his interest in music-making communities across cultures, Chung Shih’s art has been “unique within the Singapore context” with “rich and thoughtfully implemented social engagement through interactions with performers and the public,” an art making that “is not entrenched in solipsistic self expression, subsumed by concept and methodology.” 

Extending his approach to music-making to the larger community of practitioners, he has also served as the President of the Composers Society of Singapore since 2016. His works has been featured worldwide, notably at Music at the Anthology Festival, USA; 38eme Rugissants, France; Singapore New Music Forum; Osterfestival Tyrol, Austria; Radar Festival, Mexico; June in Buffalo, USA; Romanischer Sommer Köln, Germany; International Computer Music Conference, Spain; LA ACM SIGGRAPH 25th Anniversry Concert, USA; Zepplin 2008 Sound Art Festival, Spain; Musicacoustica 2008, China; NUS Arts Festival, Singapore; Slow Sound Festival, USA; Sound and Music’s The Cutting Edge, UK; Contemporary Music Festival, Malaysia; Soundscapes After Dark, Hong Kong; Thailand Composition Festival; Asian Music Festival, Japan; Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festival 2010, Indonesia; Southeast Asian Contemporary Music Festival, Indonesia; Asian Composers League Conferences and Festivals; Young Composers in Southeast Asia Competition and Festival, Thailand; A Festival of Multichannel Sound, Hong Kong; Hanoi New Music Festival, Vietnam. 

Singaporean composer TAN Yuting explores the interaction and manipulation of rhythm, texture, and timbre to create evocative soundscapes. Her music has been recognized with multiple awards and has been performed in Singapore, USA, UK, Thailand, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Italy. Past collaborations include performances by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Megalopolis Saxophone Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Sandbox Percussion, Ekmeles, National Sawdust Ensemble, Tacet(i) Ensemble, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ding Yi Music Company, The Opera People, K⼝U, Quince Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, ~Nois, Unassisted Fold, and Ensemble Soundinitiative.

Yuting also plays the piano, occasionally writes poetry, and enjoys creating music in collaboration with other art forms. She received her PhD in Music Composition from the University of Chicago and currently teaches at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore.

Yan Ee TOH is a Singaporean composer whose music fuses elements of spontaneity and organicity. Her works explore gestures through the amalgamation and morphing of timbres and harmonies.

Yan Ee’s recent interests in interdisciplinary work and traditional instruments have led to performances at the Courtauld Gallery, collaborations with Duo Nessi (Chatori Shimizu and Niloufar Shiri) and School of the Arts Ethnic Ensemble, and the curation of the ‘Landscapes//Atmospheres’ concert series championing new works for the Steingraeber Transducer Piano.

Yan Ee’s music has been performed in 11 countries, with notable performances at Wigmore Hall, Cockpit Theatre, Victoria Concert Hall and Esplanade Recital Studio. She has worked with RIOT Ensemble, CHROMA, Onyx Brass, TACET(i), Orkest de Ereprijs, b-l duo, Salastina, found sound nation, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Quartetto Maurice, ensemble chromoson, Ensemble Kochi, and Singapore Chinese Orchestra, amongst others. Her accolades include the Priaulx Rainier Composition Prize from The Musicians’ Company, Boston New Music Initiative Young Composer Competition (Winner), Concertia Emerging Composers Fellowship, and Runner-Up Prizes at the Black Bayou Composition Award and the International Composition Institute of Thailand.

Having completed her undergraduate studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Yan Ee recently graduated with a Master of Music from the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded the DipRAM in recognition of an exceptional portfolio. Her studies were generously supported by the Munster Trust and Trailblazer Foundation. Yan Ee’s teachers include David Sawer, Rubens Askenar, Ho Chee Kong and Adeline Wong.

Dr. Hye-Jeong HWANG LEE received B.A. and M.M. in Music Composition from Han-Yang University, Seoul, Korea and went on to complete M.A. in Music Composition from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook with obtainment of Ph.D. in Music Composition from the SUNY, Buffalo, U.S.A. Ms. Hwang has been Lecturer at Rutgers University and William Paterson University in New Jersey as well as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Westminster Choir College. Her composition works were selected at various music festivals, such as International Summer Course for New Music at Darmstadt (Ger.), June in Buffalo (U.S.A.), the 33rd Asian Composers League International Festival and Conference at Phillippines (2015), the 30th Krakow International Contemporary Music Festival (2018), and the 12th NeoArte International Contemporary Music Festival in Gdansk, Poland (2023). She was a professor of composition and theory department at College of Music, Sungshin Women’s University, Korea. Currently she is a CEO of <Space for Sound> and works as a freelancer composer.

Mr. Seung-ki HONG obtained Bachelor’s degree in composition at Hanyang University in Seoul, and advanced his study at the “Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien” in Austria (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) with teachers including Claus Ganter (Harmony and Counterpoint), Erich Urbanner (Composition), and Uros Lajovic (Conducting) at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria.

In May 2004, he won the 1st prize of the Gustav Mahler International Competition for Composer with the piece “Die Schwester” (The Sister: Micro-opera after the text of Gerhard Rühm) and in August this piece was broadcasted on Ö1 (Austrian classic radio). In November 2004, he received the Honor-prize of the Mario Bernardo ANGELO-COMNENO International Compositions Competition with the string quartet “Verstreute Linien” (dispersed lines), and in the same month, the piece “Anreiz” for Flute Solo and string orchestra has qualified for the EPICMUSIC International Composition Prize, and the piano trio “Gespräch zur Versöhnung” won the 2nd prize of the Seoul International Competition for Composers.

Mr. Hong had his first concert performance of his composition at Hanyang University when he was an undergraduate student. Further, he performed the piece “Verlauf” (Course) for flute and piano at the Viennese Tabak Museum and at the Mendelssohnhall in the University of Vienna in collaboration with Österreichische Gesellschaft für Zeitgenössische Musik (ÖGZM; Austrian Society for Contemporary Music) In 2007, his orchestra work “Ecdysis” has been premiered in the Wiener Konzerthaus Vienna. In addition to Vienna, his works have been performed in several places in the world such as Linz, Klagenfurt, Toblach, Rome, Berlin, Augsburg, Paris, Chicago, Hawaii, Okinawa, besides Seoul, Daegu, Dajon in Korea.

Currently, he is working as a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, and a member of Korean Composers Association in Seoul, Korea.

Somin LEE graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School and is currently studying Composition at the College of Music, Hanyang University, where she has studied under Myunghoon Park, Youngbin Jung, and Moonhee Lee. She was selected as an Outstanding Performance Major in the first semester of 2024. In 2025, her work was presented at the 53rd Pan Music Festival in collaboration with Fabrik Quartet. She is currently exploring the relationship between timbre and sound, expanding her compositional language through diverse musical approaches.

Composer LEE Won-jung received a perfect score on the undergraduate accreditation exam at the Heidelberg-Mannheim national university of Music in Germany, entered the Master’s (KA) program at the youngest age, and graduated with the highest score.

During her studies, she won a prize at the International Composition Competition hosted by Schiedmayer & Sohne, and subsequently gained experience and honed his skills as a composer by winning various competitions at music festivals.

Upon returning to Korea, she graduated with the university’s first doctorate in composition from Seoul National University. She engaged in various activities as a resident composer for the Seoul Tutti Ensemble and is currently serving as a professor of composition in the Department of Church Music at Chongshin University. 

She has also served as the Chairman of the Korean Church Music Composers Association and the Artistic Director of the Daegu International Contemporary Music Festival.

Anvay MATHUR (b. 2008) is a Singapore-based composer, pianist, and violinist whose musical journey began at the age of four. A classically trained pianist, he is currently pursuing studies in composition with John Sharpley and David Serkin Ludwig.

Anvay’s compositional voice is shaped by a deep curiosity for color, texture, and narrative. His works have been performed internationally, including A Grain of Sand, premiered at The Juilliard School, and chamber works presented by graduate students at the Jacobs School of Music. In Singapore, his music has been featured at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the Singapore American School Music Festival, where he has also conducted original works with his school orchestras.

In 2025, Anvay was selected as one of 29 students worldwide for The Juilliard School’s Summer Composition Program and as one of seven students nationally for the Young Composers’ Academy at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. He was also chosen as one of four composers nationwide for the Young Composers Forum, a six-month mentorship culminating in the premiere of a new choral work by the SYC Ensemble Singers at the Singapore Composers Festival.

His compositions have received international recognition, including a Gold Medal at the Young Maestro International Competition (Composition), Terzo Premio at the 35th Young Musician International Competition “Citta di Barletta,” National Finalist status in The American Prize in Composition (Charles Ives Award, High School Division), and finalist honors from The Sound Ensemble International Composition Competition, the Music International Grand Prix, and Third Prize at the Sounds Good Rising Star International Young Composers (Under 35) Competition, with the winning work selected for performance at Taipei National Recital Hall.

Beyond original composition, Anvay is an active arranger and orchestrator. His full-orchestra arrangement of “Silent Night” and “Still, Still, Still,” Stille, was commissioned by the Singapore American School Music Department for a 300-performer winter concert. He is also the founder of the Asia Pacific Young Composers Collective (APYCC), through which he has impacted over 100 young composers across the region. He is also a member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society and the Vivace Music Service Club, bringing music to assisted living communities across Singapore.

Junsoo BAE (b. 2007) is an aspiring Singapore-based Korean composer and a Media, Arts and Design (Sound & Music) student at Singapore Polytechnic. He plays both piano and trombone, and currently serves as Concertmaster of the Singapore Polytechnic Symphonic Band.

Junsoo’s compositional voice is shaped by his desire to move listeners through fresh musical ideas, while exploring rhythm, texture, and atmosphere. His work draws inspiration from the depth of classical traditions as well as the innovation of modern music.

As a developing composer, Junsoo has written across a variety of genres, including solo piano, chamber music, orchestral music, and other genres such as pop and jazz. Driven by curiosity, he continues to explore different sonic worlds and the endless possibilities of music.

Estene CHEONG (b.2002) is a Singaporean composer and Yangqin musician whose works explore sound as a multidimensional experience through intimate listening and cross-cultural sensibilities. Drawing influences from both Eastern and Western music, she creates music that invites audiences on a journey through carefully decorated time.

Her compositions have been performed by artists and ensembles including, Martin Jaggi, SPECTRA Ensemble, weird aftertaste, Singapore Philharmonic Winds, SOTA Wind Ensemble, The Straits Ensemble, Pipa Society Singapore and Chao Feng Chinese Orchestra. Her electroacoustic work, Transcending (2023) was featured at MUSLAB’s 10th Anniversary Festival, MUSLAB AFTER 2024.

Estene graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in 2025 under a full scholarship and was under the tutelage of Professor Peter Ivan Edwards and Professor Chen Zhangyi. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Therapy at LASALLE College of the Arts, informing her interest in listening, perception, and the ways people experience and relate to music.

Thomas Kai-ren RETTIG is a student composer and performer currently pursuing A-Level Music at Eunoia Junior College. His music explores the intersection between lyrical expression and textural experimentation, with past works touching on themes like urban life, identity, and contemporary world events.

At the heart of Thomas’ musical identity lies composition. Drawing from his German and Chinese heritage, as well as his passion for jazz and all things avant-garde, his voice is distinctively syncretic—balancing familiar traditions with contemporary flair. Highlights include Radiance (2023) for chamber ensemble, premiered at a fundraiser concert; The Circle Line (2025) for string quartet; and One-Hundred and Seven Days (2025) for two pianos.

The sounds and practice of other cultures, especially those of Southeast Asia have long intrigued Alicia Joyce DE SILVA, and it is a large part of her compositional language. This has led to commissions that usually calls for cross-cultural elements, and/or ethnic instruments. Alicia is also an advocate of multi/ interdisciplinary collaborations, exploring the notion of multi-sensory performances that create new experiences and perspectives towards the arts.

As a composer-educator, she has also written extensively for student ensembles. These works often bear a pedagogical slant, encouraging students to develop and learn by exploring different sonorities and music making experiences. This is especially so for the angklung kulintang ensemble, an instrumental combination that generally has a scarcity of repertoire. With her unique portfolio in both the artistic and educational sectors, Alicia looks forward to collaborative multi/interdisciplinary works that also explores technology as another medium and/or platform that could also enhance creativity and education.

Alicia is currently the programme leader in the Office of Academic Affairs at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).

Danny IMSON 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. His principal teacher for composition is Dr. Peter Ivan Edwards. He has undergone classes and workshops with Dr. Jonas Baes, Dr. Bernhard Lang, Dr. Beat Furrer and Dr. Chaya Czernowin.

His interest in using sound materials from various Philippine instruments reflects a desire to root abstraction in memory and cultural resonance. His work explores the tension between structure and chance—between what is shaped and what is allowed to unfold. Through this interplay, the music becomes a space for presence, openness, and transformation.

Danny is currently the music director of PsalmiDeo Chorale, a Singapore-based Filipino choir and a member of the Sari-sari Philippine Kulintang group.

DING Jian Han (b. 1994) is a composer from Singapore, whose compositional style draws inspiration from his varied non-musical interests as he uses these non-musical ideas and concepts to formulate new sounds and textures in his music. He is currently fascinated with the endless potential of open or indeterminate notation in music, using ‘time’ as a guiding principle in approaching composition, as well as the use acoustic models (extracting sonic and spectral information from non-musical objects). Most recently, he has also been incorporating self-created short films into his musical compositions, as well as creating sound design and music for film/art installations such as Singaporean artist Sarah Choo Jing’s Holding Time Gently, currently on exhibit at the Bank of Singapore.

His music has been performed in Singapore, Germany, China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand, by notable ensembles such as Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Trio Surplus, Quasar Saxophone Quartet, Ensemble Multilatérale, Singapore Chinese Orchestra and the Ding Yi Music Company. Some personal highlights of his include having his orchestra piece Let me run ’til I fade away. premiered by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra at the YST Conservatory Concerto Competition 2018, being the 3rd prize winner at the Asian Composers League Young Composers Competition 2018, as well as being awarded the 1st Prize of the Ding Yi Music Company 4th Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Chamber Music (Category B2).

Jian Han graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor’s degree with Honours (Highest Distinction) in Composition and attained a Master’s degree in Composition from the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf in Germany. His principal teachers include Oliver Schneller, Martin Jaggi and Peter Ivan Edwards. Jian Han is currently Composer-in-residence of a new music ensemble based in Germany, Ensemble INprogRES. Being an avid educator, Jian Han has conducted songwriting and composition workshops and is currently a music teacher at Raffles Institution, Singapore. Other professional experience include working as a music arranger and freelance composer for various individuals and organisations, including the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and governmental agencies in Singapore. Jian Han also enjoys songwriting, and has composed and arranged music for two full-length musicals.

About the Performing Ensembles

Morse Percussion is a professional contemporary classical percussion group founded in 2020 by Derek Koh and Joachim Lim. Driven by a bold and eclectic vision, the ensemble brings together like-minded artists to explore and expand the sonic potential of percussion through refined artistry and compelling productions.

Dedicated to promoting Singaporean voices, Morse actively commissions and collaborates with local composers. Notable projects include Amazing Beasts & Botanicals with Arts Fission (under the artistic direction of Angela Liong) and Jon Lin Chua, pandemic-inspired video works with Phang Kok Jun, and a Georgette Chen tribute by Cheng Jin Koh. In 2022, the ensemble commissioned five diverse composers—Dr. Tony Makarome, Jon Lin Chua, Jonathan Shin, August Lum, and Avik Chari—to showcase the breadth of contemporary percussion.

Morse has performed at major festivals including the Singapore International Festival of the Arts and Soundislands: Re:Sound, and opened the Singapore Chinese Music Festival 2023 with a cross-cultural lecture-recital. Through collaborations with institutions like YST Conservatory and LASALLE, Morse continues to push boundaries, reimagine tradition, and inspire a new generation of listeners and performers.

The SYC Ensemble Singers began life in 1964 as the Singapore Youth Choir (SYC), a national choir for young singers. To celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2004 and to mark a point of musical evolution, the choir was renamed the SYC Ensemble Singers.  

Considered a trailblazer and standard-bearer throughout its history, the SYC was the first Singaporean choir to win an international competition, the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. It was also the first choir to receive the President’s Charity and the Excellence for Singapore awards. To celebrate Singapore’s 50th year of independence, the choir performed in Washington D.C. at the invitation of the Embassy of Singapore. 

Led by Jennifer Tham since 1986, the SYC Ensemble Singers promotes and performs the work of living composers, often exploring spatialised sound, theatre and movement. To date, the SYC has commissioned over sixty works, most recently from Emily Koh (Singapore), Saunder Choi (Philippines), and William Hawley (USA). Their flexible musicianship and commitment to diverse and complex voices have earned them an international reputation as performers and interpreters of contemporary music.