Composer’s Drawing Board Vol. 1

Duo Tarenna, in collaboration with violinist Farah Wu, cellist Chan Sihan and flutist Paul Huang, is delighted to announce its first open commissioning call for 1-2 composers to have a new work premiered in the second half of 2024. The total commissioning fee available is $1000, which will be divided in the case of two composers being selected. The new work(s) should be 5 to 15 minutes duration for 3 to 5 instruments from the following instrument list:

• 2 violins (Farah Wu, Tan Tiag Yi)
• 1 viola (Cindy Ow)
• 1 cello (Chan Sihan)
• 1 flute (Paul Huang)

In addition to being commissioned to write a new work, the selected composer(s) will collaborate with the musicians to program the rest of the concert repertoire. The pieces for the concert should be selected to draw connections between the selected composer’s practice and that of the numerous musical cultures that inform it, forming a snapshot of a living composer’s sound world. The selected composer(s) must be willing to participate in a post-concert dialogue hosted by the musicians and to be interviewed for social media publicity as part of this project, as well as to participate in other public engagement programmes as decided by Duo Tarenna. The selected composer(s) will also host the concert featuring their music.

Submission Requirements

Applicants for this open call are to required to submit the following items in the following formats :

1. Sketches (lasting about a minute or so, in pdf) and a written/video proposal with a maximum length of 500 words or 5 minutes for the commissioned work (.pdf or .mp4). Computer-generated recordings of the sketches are also welcome, if possible (.mp3)
2. A sample programme of music for the concert (in pdf) lasting at least 30 minutes that can be played by any combination of the instruments listed above, with a short explanation for the repertoire choices in the form of a video with a maximum duration of 5 minutes (.mp4). The programme should not contain more than two works of the composer’s own music, including the newly commissioned work. Please note that the use of electronics will not be possible for this project
3. A portfolio of full scores of two past works for contrasting combinations of instruments, with program notes, of which at least one should include some combination of the instruments listed for this commissioning call, if possible (.pdf)
4. Recordings of the two works submitted as part of the portfolio in mp3 (MIDI and live recordings are both acceptable, although live recordings are preferred)
5. A 200-word biography (.pdf)

To maintain participants’ anonymity, we would like all participants to pick a random 3-digit number from 000 to 999 and name each file according to the following format (where XYZ represents the 3-digit number): 

1. XYZ_CommissionedWorkSketch.pdf
2. XYZ_CommissionedWorkSketchRecording.mp3
3. XYZ_CommissionedWorkProposal.pdf (or .mp4)
4. XYZ_SampleConcertProgramme.pdf 
5. XYZ_SampleConcertProgrammeExplanation.mp4
6. XYZ_(Name of Piece 1).pdf
7. XYZ_(Name of Piece 2).pdf
8. XYZ_(Name of Piece 1).mp3
9. XYZ_(Name of Piece 2).mp3
10. XYZ_Bio.pdf

All of the files listed above should be submitted in one email to opencall.duotarenna@gmail.com. Use of a file-sharing service such as Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer is encouraged, but applicants should ensure that all of the files are accessible through one email. Do NOT indicate your name in any of the files, except your biography. For details on how the open call will be judged, please see the section ‘Judging Process’.

The deadline for submission of all application materials is 31 October 2023, 11:59:59 PM SGT. If you encounter any technical difficulties during submission, do not hesitate to email us at opencall.duotarenna@gmail.com for help.

By submitting an application for this open call, composers consent to the musicians retaining their materials for future reference.

Eligibility

This open commissioning call is open to all Singaporean/Singapore-based composers above the age of 18 years as of 31 August 2023.. Emerging composers are preferred and strongly encouraged to apply. ‘Emerging’ can be variously defined, and could include not having been commissioned before, not having been performed publicly before etc. Participants’ compositional experience will be taken into account in the assessment of the proposal and drafts they submit, following the shortlisting process. Composers who have been commissioned by Duo Tarenna within the last 2 years are ineligible to apply. 

Judging Process

Submitted applications will be assessed by a panel comprising the musicians involved in the project and distinguished musicians. There are no limits to compositional style; key criteria during the judging process include coherence of proposed program and original, conceptually-strong compositional ideas that explore their topics of interest while also putting contemporary classical music in a new, accessible light. All applicants with complete applications will receive feedback on their applications regardless of outcome, as we hope to support all applicants in their compositional journeys in whatever small ways we can.

The applications will be assessed in two stages by the panel. Firstly, all scores submitted (including the anonymised sketch for the new commissioned work) will be evaluated, with each panel member listening to at least one work submitted by the applicant in full. Secondly, all video submissions and the programme proposal will be evaluated by the musicians. The results from both rounds will then be deliberated upon by the panel to arrive at the final selection. The consolidation of applications and direct communication with applicants will be handled by a separate administrator apart from the project musicians, in order to maintain anonymity.

Timeline:

August 2023– Open Call begins

October 2023 – Open Call closes

Late November 2023 – Selected composer announced

Early February 2024 — First draft due 

Early April 2024 — Final score due

July/August 2024 — Performance 

Selection Panel Biographies:

Duo Tarenna

Tan Tiag Yi

Cindy Ow

Duo Tarenna is a new ensemble founded in 2020, although its members (Tan Tiag Yi and Cindy Ow) have been playing together since much earlier. At the 2018 Singapore Performers’ Festival, the duo was part of a group that was awarded the highest award of Platinum. In 2022, the duo presented its first two concerts in Singapore (Journey on Eight Strings and parts + pieces), premiering a total of four new works by four emerging Singaporean composers. In 2023, the duo performed in London (RE:IMAGINE) and Singapore (Silent Moon), exploring the intersections of poetry and music while commissioning three new poems. Going forward, they hope to champion contemporary chamber music through innovative and thoughtful programming, particularly providing opportunities to young composers from Singapore and Asia.

Farah Wu

Farah Wu (b. 1998, Singapore) is a violinist and pianist. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Hons) from the Royal College of Music in 2021, where she studied violin under the tutelage of Michal Cwizewicz, Itzhak Rashkovsky and Berent Korfker, and piano under Kathron Sturrock. She has also played in masterclasses under renowned violinists such as Pierre Amoyal, Albert Markov, Krzystof Wegrzyn and Fanny Clamagirand. During her time in the RCM, she received the RCM Musicians’ Grant Fund and was an active chamber musician who explored works by underrepresented and contemporary composers.

Prior to her studies in the UK, she learnt the violin under Marietta Ku, and the piano under Timothy Ku, Paul Liang and Alice Ng. She has played in numerous local orchestras, such as the Orchestra of Music Makers, Musicians’ Initiative and Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra, and was the concertmistress of the Raffles Chamber Ensemble in 2016. Since her return from the UK, she has been an active violin and piano teacher and accompanist, as well as a conductor for the Nanyang Primary String Ensemble (Junior). She also attained Second Prize in the Violin Classical Senior Category of the Happy Music Festival 2021, and was one of the violin judges in the 2022 rendition. She is currently undergoing the Master of Music programme at University of Illinois under the tutelage of Dr. Salley Koo. Farah is passionate about music education for the underprivileged and shining a light on underperformed works. Some of her other interests include E-sports, strategy gaming and Dungeons & Dragons. 

Chan Sihan

Chan Sihan started playing the cello when he was 8. He learnt under Chan Wei Shing, Herminia Ilano and obtained a Diploma in Music Performance from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Yu Jing. In 2015, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music with Honors with the Royal College of Music, in collaboration with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, learning under Guo Hao in Singapore, and Alexander Boyarsky in London.

Sihan has played in numerous ensembles and orchestras, including the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, Singapore Festival Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, The Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Lyric Opera, Philharmonic Youth Winds ensemble, the Singapore Armed Forces Band, the Chamber Players, and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, in which he was the associate principal of the cello section in 2006, to name a few. 

Sihan is currently a freelance chamber and orchestral musician. Apart from music, he has a passion for diving and is also a certified scuba-diving instructor who yearns for the ocean whenever he has the time.

Paul Huang

Paul Huang is an accomplished flautist and music educator with experience in flute performance and music education. He has taught in various settings, including large ensembles such as orchestras, wind bands, and choirs, and has expanded his expertise by lecturing on performance psychology and musician’s health and well-being. Paul holds a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from the Royal College of Music (RCM) and NAFA. Passionate about scientific research in music, Paul pursued postgraduate studies in Performance Science at the RCM, where he trained in performance psychology. He aims to help musicians perform better by incorporating innovative approaches beyond traditional music education.

Leslie Tan

Leslie Tan has performed to critical acclaim in major venues and festivals worldwide. These include the Tanglewood and Aspen Festivals in the USA; the Melbourne and Port Fairy Festivals in Australia; the New Zealand Festival; the Hong Kong Arts Festival; and the Prague-Vienna-Budapest Sommerakademie, the City of London Festival and the Edinburgh Festival in Europe

In a career that has spanned 35 years, ranging from orchestral to chamber and solo concerts; from contemporary and cross-disciplinary works to historically informed performances, Leslie is sought after both as a pedagogue and concert artiste.

He is also the artistic director and co-founder of the Bach-in-Bali Festival. He is also a founding member of Red Dot Baroque.

Leslie is a champion of outreach activities, and musical and transformative education in the ASEAN region, teaching in different festivals and projects ,

Through his latest initiative, ProjectArtitude, and as a Citizen Ambassador of the Singapore International Foundation, he hopes to enrich the lives of the underprivileged and the disenfranchised across Asia.

Eugene Birman

EUGENE BIRMAN (b. 1987) is the composer and creator of numerous highly awarded international multidisciplinary productions, with commissioners and partners extending far beyond the concert hall to major international bodies such as the European Union, Hong Kong SAR, the United States Department of State, and others. His creative output, encompassing ambitious, socially relevant works for the stage, synthesizes virtuosic musical content with cutting-edge technology; he has pioneered the use of large-scale holography, immersive opera environments, and interactive digital media in classical music. “High drama” and “intense emotion” (BBC), “magnificent and compelling” (OPERA magazine), “the most stunning and divisive” (Business Times), “the most radical and ambitious” (5:4), “animalistic” (Eesti Kultuurileht “SIRP”), “from haunting and atmospheric to plain brutal” (BBC Music Magazine), “a breakthrough in public art” (ReNew Vision), “at once, ingenious, hypnotic, brave, and beautiful” (Festival Internazionale A.F. Lavagnino)- his work exists at “the convergence of major current issues and supreme beauty” (Gulbenkian). He has been recognized with prominent fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2018) and the US Department of State’s Fulbright Program (2010-11), awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, leading to a season-long residency at the Southbank Centre and world premiere with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall, and appointed the sole Artist-in-Residence of the 2018 Helsinki Festival, Finland’s biggest yearly cultural event. In 2021, he took up the position of Artist-in-Residence at the Manchester International Festival. His work has been prominently featured on major news and media outlets worldwide: CNN, BBC World TV, Bloomberg, National Geographic, the New York Times, Radio France, Deutsche Welle, and the South China Morning Post are among countless others that have broadcast and reported on his projects.

Thank you and we look forward to your submissions!

– Duo Tarenna

Long-awaited updates… an exciting summer ahead!

Hello friends! It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything on the blog, but we promise, we had done so much over the last 9 months. Here is a brief summary!

Tiag Yi has been busy performing and composing this year. His song cycle, Between Ground and Sky, was performed as part of an interdisciplinary staging in April 2023, with follow-up performances at Esplanade Concourse in June 2023. He also performed in a contemporary music children’s concert called Musical Movements in May 2023, which brought together music, dance, theatrics and animation to explore music’s relationship with movement. As a composer, he is currently a Fellow in the New Sights Fellowship Programme organised by the Straits Ensemble and is writing a new piece for the group. He is also a participant in the 2023 PluComp summer music programme, which he is writing a new string quartet for.

Cindy was busy with graduate school in San Francisco, but she has been enjoying the diverse arts and music scene in her free time in the Bay Area! Some of the highlights include seeing post-rock legends Tortoise live at Great American Music Hall, Cindy’s high-school musical hero Caroline Polachek at the Warfield, seeing Hiromi live at SFJAZZ, and attending her first SF Tape Music Festival at Victoria Theatre. Cindy also started playing with SF Civic Music Symphony, as she missed performing orchestral music with like-minded amateur musicians, and the June 11th concert was a blast!

Now, for the big reveal… We are off to London, United Kingdom!

From July 17 – July 24, we will be attending the Cadenza International Summer Music School in North London. We could not be more excited for this opportunity to learn from renowned tutors and collaborate with musicians from all around the world. Our participation in this programme is kindly supported by the National Arts Council, Singapore.

… And there is more! We have announced a concert in London this summer, 28th July at 7pm. This is kindly organized by Cindy’s dear college friend Bea Gruskin and held in collaboration with poets from Goldsmiths, University of London. The evening will feature several contemporary classical works as well as three original poems inspired by these works.

If you are in London this July, we look forward to seeing you there! Tickets to the concert can be purchased here: https://bit.ly/40E6W8t

We are also so delighted to announce a Singaporean iteration of RE:IMAGINE – Silent Moon – happening 19th August at 7.30pm at Arts House Chamber! Working with curators Audrey Tan and Julius Li, we will perform a similar setlist showcasing a new collection of poetry. Those who can’t be there for our concert in London, you wouldn’t want to miss this! Tickets to this second concert can be purchased here: https://tinyurl.com/silentmoon23

We are extremely excited for a fruitful excursion to London, and a successful Singapore premiere of Re:IMAGINE, reimagined! Thank you all so much for your continued support, and keep watching this space for updates on our summer activities

Till then,

Duo Tarenna

8 Months In: What’s next for Duo Tarenna?

Dear readers,

As the title of this blog suggests, we’re here to look back on the first 8 months of Duo Tarenna!

We are super grateful to have organized two (!) concerts over the last 8 months of 2022. Our public debut, Journey on Eight Strings 八弦之旅, was graciously supported by the National Arts Council. The concert was held on April 30th at the Arts House Chamber, and we performed music that was broadly influenced by Chinese cultural heritage. Being the ambitious people we are, we commissioned two violin-viola works from our composer friends, Joseph Lim and Lee Jia Yi to showcase at the concert. The commissioning process was a humbling experience, as we learnt how to communicate our ideas to composers (as far as from Singapore to Baltimore!), workshop drafts with composers, and learn new music quickly! The two works – 马马虎虎 /Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger by Joseph Lim, and eclipse by Lee Jia Yi – are beautiful additions to the small violin-viola repertoire. Recordings of our premiere of the commissioned works will be uploaded soon, and you can also view our enjoyable post-concert talk with the two composers on Youtube!

In July, we had parts + pieces = a night with Duo Tarenna and friends at the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator, which featured two short programmes in one evening.at the. Along with our friends Joelle Chiam and Tan Yan Chong, we performed various string chamber works of differing instrumentations dating from the 1750s to the present day . Our very first open call for scores was held in conjunction with the concert and we performed two works by two very talented young Singaporean composers- Xiao Wen’s ここまで (‘for now’ / kokomade) and Isaac Lim’s Threads.

As musicians, we gained a lot of experience organizing the two concerts independently, from writing grants to running a show. Both JOES and parts + pieces were extremely well attended, and we are really grateful for the overwhelming support from family, friends, and colleagues. We are also thankful for the constructive feedback collected across the two concert surveys, and are working towards implementing some of your ideas in future projects. 

Moving forward, Duo Tarenna might be taking a short break from holding concerts for a few months as Cindy has moved to San Francisco to pursue her PhD at UCSF. However, our brain juices are churning away, and we will be back soon to share more about our plans for 2023 and beyond! To stay engaged with you, the audience, Duo Tarenna has started a Telegram channel (https://t.me/duotarenna) where we will post all social media updates, as well as life updates from Tiag Yi and Cindy! Who knows, there might be interesting concerts coming your way this festive season :>

Till then,

Duo Tarenna

the Mind of a Composer: Lee Jia Yi

Since July 2021, Duo Tarenna has had the great opportunity to collaborate with two young Singaporean composers to bring new works for the unlikely violin-viola pairing to life. As part of our ongoing efforts to make contemporary classical music relatable for the general public, we’ve sat down with the composers, Joseph Lim Soon Keong and Jia Yi Lee, for casual conversations on their experiences working with us.

Edition #2 of the Mind of a Composer features Lee Jia Yi, the mastermind behind eclipse, a unique work inspired by Singaporean art! At the time of interviewing Jia Yi, we were still in the midst of learning the work, but having given eclipse‘s Singaporean premiere in April, we definitely will vouch for its forward-thinking innovations and evocative use of timbre in painting sonic images!

Slight aside: if you have not already heard, Duo Tarenna is holding a second concert, “parts + pieces”, on 29th July 2022, at the Armenian Church! You can get your tickets here at tinyurl.com/partspieces and we hope to see you there!

Lee Jia Yi (b. 1996) is a Singaporean composer who writes music that explores the colours and textures of sound through movement and gesture. She creates imaginative sound worlds inspired by natural phenomena and processes, and is interested in the perception of temporality and timbre in music. 

Jia Yi’s music has been performed by the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, KOU Musik, Ensemble Multilatérale, Trio SurPlus, Ensemble Phoenix, Ensemble Linea, Asko|Schönberg, Ensemble Signal and Talea Ensemble, and heard in festivals such as June in Buffalo, Etchings Festival, soundSCAPE Festival and Asian Composers League Festival. She has been awarded the Otto Ortmann Prize in Composition (2021) and 3rd Prize in the Prix D’Été Competition (2020). 

Jia Yi is currently pursuing her DMA in Composition at Peabody Institute, studying with Felipe Lara. She holds a MM from Peabody Institute and a BM from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore). Her past teachers include Ho Chee Kong, Peter Edwards and Adeline Wong.

Saturday, 10am SGT, Zoom

Cindy Ow: Thank you Jiayi for coming to our zoom chat! Today we’re going to talk a little bit about the piece, and your experience working with us, your musical background, and compositional style. I guess, to start off, maybe we can talk about how we started this collaboration. 

Lee Jia Yi: Mhm, ya, thanks for having me! Cindy, I first met you when I was doing my master’s at Peabody, and you were at Hopkins, and then we met through like a, Singapore students kind of gathering, ya and then we found out that we (laughs), we both went to Nanyang and Hwa Chong (Nanyang Girls’ High School and Hwa Chong Institution). And then I think towards the end of last year, no, it was like the middle of 2021, you approached me with the idea of writing for you and Tiag Yi, whom then I got introduced to… So yeah, I guess that’s how we met and and then I was very interested at that time in writing for violin and viola because it was an instrumentation that – although I have written for like violin and viola in a different context, I haven’t written it together in a duet setting, so I thought it’d be interesting to try out.

Tan Tiag Yi: Nice, nice. So what is your musical background, and also you can tell us about your journey as a composer, up to the present?

JY: Yeah, so… I guess, music, musically-wise I actually started off as a performer. I learned the piano and then the trumpet when I was in secondary school. And then I took the music program when I was in Nanyang, so it’s the music education program, and I also did A-level music when I was in JC. I actually started composing at 16, but I would say I only formally studied composition in my undergrad when I was at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. After that, I got really interested in what I’m doing and then I decided to do a master’s and now I’m a first-year DMA student in Peabody, which is in Baltimore in the United States. Should I talk about my style, or is that enough? (laughs) Maybe that’s the next question.

TY: That is the next question, yeah. So yeah, you can talk about your style, your compositional process, and also where you get inspiration – that will probably be interesting.

JY: Yeah, so I would say I usually get a lot of inspiration from things happening in everyday life. Specifically like natural phenomenon and processes, and I usually use those as ideas to translate into sound. So… a lot of my ideas also have a visual aspect to it, which I try to incorporate as part of the performance. As for musical influences, I’m always interested in creating sort of new and unusual experiences for the audience. A lot of my influence comes from composers who also fully explore timbral qualities of sound, so exploring the color and different combinations of instruments, and also exploring unconventional sounds from instruments to create new and interesting textures. Things that you wouldn’t really expect to hear from regular instrument playing.

CO: Yeah… to what extent has visual art informed your musical practice? Like in your past works as well as this one?

JY: So actually, this piece, I would say, is the first time that I’m actually working with visual art, first time that an art piece actually inspired the piece. I mean, I’ve always enjoyed visiting museums and looking, especially contemporary art, and although some of my pieces previously, there were visual elements to it, they’re not specifically inspired by certain pieces of artwork. So I guess I’m happy to finally have the opportunity to do so and hopefully there’ll be more of this sort of collaborations, or I guess, working more with visual art in the future.

TY: Tell us about the artwork that inspired this piece – how did you come across it and what aspects of it really spoke to you? How did you bring that into your work?

JY: So I guess this goes back all the way to like summer of last year, when I was approached with the commission. I knew the theme was kind of related to Chinese culture, and I didn’t want to sort of incorporate a musical idea such as folk tunes; I wanted to try something new and perhaps look for inspiration in other art forms.

I came across this Singaporean artist’s work when I went to visit this exhibition at the National Gallery.

CO: It was the exhibition called…. something must… something new… or something?

Jiayi: Yeah, yeah! I think it was ‘Something New Must Turn Up’. It featured, 6 Singaporean artists after 1965, and as I was going through all the exhibitions, I found her work very interesting because it was… so this particular work, Eclipse, uses a cloth relief, so it’s not a typical medium of art, I would say. To me it stood out as an idea that I could use for a piece, because, in a lot of pieces, personally I like to explore things that change, so for this artwork it was kind of like 3 phases, where –

a brief sound interruption

TY: No, keep going, sorry laughs

JY: Sorry, I got distracted laughs So basically this artwork was interesting because it had 3 panels which started off – it’s like three panels that represent the progress of an Eclipse, and since in my music I like to use a lot of musical processes, and also play around with color. I thought this would be something that would be, I guess, fitting in what I’m interested in writing.

Eng Tow. Eclipse. 1983. Triptych on spray-dyed acrylic on stitched cloth relief. 72 x 226 cm. Collection of Tang Wee Sung. From https://www.nationalgallery.sg/content/eng-tow-something-new-must-turn-six-singaporean-artists-after-1965

TY: Mmm. Thinking about the structure, does it – the idea of it being a triptych – does it at all come into the piece? I mean, I wasn’t entirely sure because I didn’t go to the exhibition; I didn’t see if it was meant to be ordered in a certain way, like going from left to right or up-down or who knows what. So does the idea of the painting being a triptych – not the painting, but the work being in three parts also inform the piece itself?

JY: Um, so the way the work was, I think it was just, if I remember correctly, it’s just on a panel and then there’s just three [panels] side by side. I guess you can interpret it in any way you want it to be; um, to me it was just, it just represented, like a process of, you know, how an eclipse goes. It starts like everything is like light, and then there’s this dark kind of shadow that covers halfway and then at the end it’s like fully covered, with the aura of light still around it. So when I wrote the piece I didn’t want to only just deal with the three parts of it; I wanted to synthesize the whole idea and abstract it into my piece. So my piece doesn’t necessarily have three sections, per se, but more of the whole – this whole process of something covering and, from light going to darkness. And then I just played around with the speed of these processes in my piece.

TY: Mm, okay, ya. Yes, I can see that.

CO: Does the medium of the artwork – like, it being in cloth – affect the way you approach the composition?

Jiayi: Yeah, I think, especially for this artwork, it really focuses on the two pieces of cloth that are like within each other, I guess? So there’s this element of intertwining and interweaving that I found very interesting. And the title of your concert is Journey on Eight Strings and I think I really like that idea. So in this piece I treated the violin and viola together as sort of like a meta-instrument. It’s working together as one unit of eight strings. And so, in a lot of the parts, I would say the piece is like a huge texture of eight strings playing together. So most of the time, the violin and viola are playing together, but the material kind of overlaps, it transfers from one instrument to the other. Yeah.

TY: Yeah, I think that is something that is quite common to the rest of the pieces on the program as well, because when you only have two instruments, you know, there’s only so much you can do. But they all take it in quite different ways. So, I think we definitely can get a sense that it’s very much a composite texture for yours. Sometimes it almost feels a little bit like, especially for the opening, it’s almost like that kind of organ stop feel. Because I like listening to a lot of organ music right, and sometimes, when they write parts in organ music, they’re not really trying to get another melody or accompaniment but actually it’s just color. Like, Messiaen or whatever, the density of the part writing coupled with the stop choice actually just gives this overall impression of a certain color, so that really comes through because we ourselves can’t really hear where each other, where we are sometimes it’s just like one, one sound, almost-

JY: Yeah, I guess that’s the point.

TY: Yeah, so that’s quite interesting. So nice segue there. So how does this – I don’t know if you have written any other duets before this, but does that contrast to string music that you’ve written before, or duets you’ve written before?

JY: So, um, I guess I haven’t written a lot of duets; I wrote one in undergrad. I wrote a duet for saxophone and percussion but that was like, super long ago. I guess for string writing – yeah, I wrote a string quartet also, way back in undergrad, and recently I wrote a string trio. So in a way, you know, it’s the ensemble getting smaller and smaller — now it’s a duet. I just feel in general, um, duets are especially hard to write, just because you only have – like you said – you only have two options. It’s even harder than a solo instrument, I think, just because usually for solo it’s much more virtuosic, it can be, like, much more free. But then, for a duet, you have two people who are kind of constantly in dialogue with each other, and there’s always this balance of roles: whether they are playing together all the time, whether they should be separate or whether they take turns. And for this piece, I just chose to treat the duet as a composite group together.

TY: Mm, yeah.

CO: Yeah, I think while we’re working on this piece right now I can definitely see the visual score, like the visual aspect of the score – us playing [the] opposite of each other, and then motifs kind of like being in retrograde, so that’s really interesting. Yeah.

TY: Mm. Okay. Yeah, I mean, going back to the idea of solo music, probably the issue with solo music is a lot of it is implied right, especially for non-polyphonic instruments like, not the piano, a lot of what you have to do, like in the solo Bach for the violin, you need to imply the activity that is happening around. But with a duo, of course you have a little bit more of that, but you can also choose to kind of bring them together as one again. So, I guess we can skip the next few questions, because you sort of answered those already, I think.

CO: I had another question. To what extent does your work react to other works we programmed in the concert?

JY: I think my work definitely explores like, the textural and timbral side of writing for the duo that is maybe not the focus of the other pieces. Even though my piece is not very lyrical, or like directly uses folk elements, I think, uh, it still does relate to the other pieces in that, I think, after all it is an interpretation of something, musical or non-musical, that is then abstracted into the piece. So I hope that my work provides the audience with a different experience, and a different perspective, of what a violin-viola duo could sound like, yeah.

CO: What else do you want audiences to take away from what they hear?

JY: Yeah, so I guess, as always for new music, sometimes it can be very intimidating. It can be an intimidating experience just because it’s something new, something that they are not familiar with. So I guess, I would like audiences to have an open mind, open ears, and take in the experience of listening to something that’s unfamiliar, maybe sounds that they might find very noisy and very jarring, or something unique that they’ve never heard before. So, I guess with new music it’s always hard to – and especially I think in a way with the stuff that I’m writing, it may not be apparent the first time, but as long as you’re open to listening to new ideas, ya, hopefully you’ll get something out of it.

TY: Yeah. I think all the pieces – the four contemporary pieces on the program are quite different in a way, so ya, I think on the listeners’ side it’ll always need kind of a different approach: what does the material seem to be saying in that sense. Okay, nice. I guess now the next thing – the next big header here is ‘Process’. Because your piece has quite a lot of, say, technical stuff, maybe you can talk about working with us or you can talk about collaboration in more general terms, the other groups that you work with; basically how do you ensure or – maybe ‘ensure’ is not the right word – encourage the result that you desire in your head with these specific techniques, because sometimes, you know, it can go in many ways.

JY: Yeah! So I mean I definitely enjoyed the process working with you, I thought it was very fun. I think the only unfortunate thing is because I’m not in the same country as you both, so mainly our communication was over WhatsApp and over Zoom. I think with Zoom workshops, it’s always better to talk, and not play music, because it’s just difficult to hear with the sound. But I think recordings have been very helpful, and just sending drafts along the way and having you guys point out all the technical difficulties and notational problems or things that you prefer to see. (note: Jia Yi was in Baltimore, MD, US while Duo Tarenna was in Singapore; we collaborated solely through Zoom, Whatsapp, self-recording, and a back-and-forth discussion of several drafts. It was amazing!) I thought that was very helpful, and in sending bits and pieces of specific sounds, that’s been helpful at least for me to hear and decide on the specific sound that I wanted. Yeah.

TY: So in a sense, it’s like the technical instruction is just the beginning, right, because it’s not really – there’s always room for the interpreter to come in and make something of it, because there’s a limit in what the instruction gives, but also room for imagination, in that sense. 

JY: Yeah, I guess.

CO: How do you go about starting and ending a piece?

JY: Wow, this is tough. So I usually do have an outline of how the piece goes before I even start writing it. Um, and usually I will have the beginnings of each section in my head, and then I’ll try and work them out. To me, the beginning and the ending of the piece are the most important, so I do focus on that more often, I think. Because I’m still a composer who needs a plan to start working; I don’t really write intuitively. So I would say like more than 50% of my compositional process is actually the planning stage.

TY: Interesting contrast to, ahem, the farmer (read Edition #1 for the reference!)

CO: We’ll share with you the story. laughs

TY: Oh yeah. Anyway, we put it up on the blog today already, so everyone can see that.

CO: It’s not up yet.

Tiag Yi: Oh, but by the time this comes live it’ll be up there. (note: he was right) But anyway Joseph was telling us that his friend called him a farmer, a farmer composer, in a sense that to his friend’s mind, there are two [types of] composers: one is the architect, one is the farmer – the architect plans everything and the building kind of just appears, but then the farmer is like planting the seed right, he doesn’t quite know how the crop will turn out, maybe the plant will die, but he makes it work along the way. laughs

JY: That’s a nice analogy. Ya, for sure I’m the building kind of composer.

TY: Although to be fair right, when you want to build a building right, you don’t have to have a plan, like we saw in that documentary that we watched the other day, right Cindy. laughs There’s this house in Japan – the guy just decided “I’m going to build [a house]”, then he just started, and along the way it’s like he’s figuring out as he goes kind of mentality, so the wall a bit senget (tilted). laughs

JY: Aiyo!

CO: Yeah, it [the documentary] is called “ButoHouse“, and basically it’s pretty dynamic, the house looks like it’s moving, and there’s a lot of imprints on the walls, and he has a very weird house shape. Like those that you see of Gaudí or something. So it was very interesting. [Joseph] also had another analogy: composing’s like a game that you play – you set the rules, but then the way you play might be different.

JY: Yeah, maybe I’ll try that next time.

TY: I actually did play a piece that was – I think it was by some Austrian guy – that was literally like that lah. Because it uses computers – like, the score is the computer, so there’s a certain algorithm that comes up with combinations of words then you’re supposed to just respond, and as and when you feel like you’re done with that instruction, you click and another random thing will come up, and it’s just five people doing slightly different things because everybody got different instructions, laughs and all have to come together and figure it out. Yeah, that was fun. Um, okay, so I guess we are at the tail end of the interview right, so now the last thing is talking about [your] career and also your future plans.

CO: Actually, I have one more question that I don’t know if you answered, but what are some composers or literary works or ideas that you’re listening to or fascinated by right now? I think, yeah, we didn’t really answer that.

JY: Yeah hmm… I don’t have? I guess I can say… so I just came back, actually, from a concert, watching Pamela Z – do you know Pamela Z? She literally was at Peabody just now, so cool! I watched her perform, actually, she does a lot of interdisciplinary work and a lot of, like, improvisation, I think? With herself performing like voice and electronics that’s controlled by gesture. She also used video elements in her work so I think it’s just – something that’s interesting to me at the moment is combining different disciplines of art together, like visual art, or video. And then, I mean of course I want to do some things like, you know, installations or some site-specific pieces in the future. But yeah, I guess right now it’s just a combination of different things.

CO: Yeah, that would be exciting.

TY: Okay. Yeah, so… okay, the next one is: Do you have tips for, say, younger composers, about getting into the scene both in Singapore and globally? Or any advice for them as they start out their careers or journeys in composition?

JY: Yeah. Um, I guess there’s a few things. I think the first thing is, don’t be afraid to try out whatever ideas you have. I mean, this is what I always think: there are always people who will like your work, and there are always people who will hate your work, you can’t please everyone. So just write the thing that you wanna hear, instead of writing things that you think the audience will like. That’s the first thing. And then second is just to listen to as much music – listen to different things, get to know other people, talk to different performers, and then yeah, hopefully they will play your stuff laughs. Yeah, I think that’s about it; the two things.

TY: Okay. And the last thing that we wrote here is: has Covid changed the way that you work?

JY: Mm, yeah. So, I guess, of course, definitely for me I have more projects that are happening remotely, like, not in the same country that I’m in. Before Covid it was not really possible, like if I wanted a piece performed or something, I would have to be in the same place as the performer. But I think now, with technology, it’s possible to do this kind of like collaborations with people that, you know, I may have never met them before in person, but we’re still able to do stuff through recordings, or even livestream concerts. Yeah, and I think just having more time and space to try and experiment with new things.

TY: Yeah, yeah. That’s good. Okay, Cindy, we’re at the end right?

CO: Yeah, I think it’s – yeah. Okay, it’s a bit shorter than last time but I think it’s okay.

TY: I think it’s good. 

CO: Yeah. Do you have questions for us?

JY: Oh, can I think about it? laughs

TY: It doesn’t have to be very major lah, and also can be just like: “what kind of oranges do you like?”

JY: Oh, is it? I thought it had to be some, like, music thing.

TY: No lah, or “What orange do you think sounds the most musical?” laughs

CO: I mean, Joseph asked us what our future plans are, so don’t ask us that.

JY: Oh, ok yeah I won’t. laughs Yeah, maybe like, what are your favorite composers?

TY: Okay.

JY: Is it a difficult question?

CO: Uhhhh we’ve kind of answered it before, right? Oh wait.

TY: Happy to go again. 

JY: Did you? Maybe you did. I don’t know, I think I saw- I don’t know, my brain is not really working now but, up to you. 

CO: Okay.

TY: All right. Go.

CO: Okay, I won’t answer favorite composer of all time but like, um.. I’m listening to something right now.

JY: Yeah, yeah, what you’re listening to right now, also can. Maybe that’s more fun.

CO: I’m trying to do a deep dive of this band called Karate. Yeah. It’s a three-person band that does a lot of… jazz-infused indie rock. It’s very stripped back, it’s in a bit of like a bedroom style, the singer sings in a very… preachy way — like, he says instead of sings. And then I think just… the grooves are so very good. And, yeah, I’m addicted.

TY: What am I listening to right now… I haven’t really sat down to listen to a lot of stuff recently. I think the one that I can really remember very well listening to is The Little Symphony by Alexander Goehr.

JY: Oh I actually don’t know that piece, I’ll check it out.

TY: Aiya, it’s just a small thing lah, not one of those big blockbuster works that he wrote I think, but I happened to buy the score somewhere so I was listening to it. Very, very classical actually. So.. I really liked that it was very playful. I think that really comes across, and it also comes across when I was trying to analyze it ‘cause it’s like trying to purposely confound some kind of system I’m trying to throw at it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I tried to do pitch class analysis for the first movement and it really did not make sense. But yeah, which really goes into his aesthetic, he doesn’t really conform. A bit like that, so, that was nice.

CO: This, this might not be included, but I was at SFMOMA right. Then I heard Wu Tsang. Do you know them?

JY: Can you spell?

CO: W-U T-S-A-N-G. Anyway I saw their work, “Move by the Motion” and it’s just like free-composed jazz, like, just poetry and music, and then there was a short installation thingy, that was pretty cool. Because there were like, many different speakers around the room. 

JY: Oh yeah, that’s interesting.

CO: When you talked about Pamela Z it reminded me of that. It’s cool, with multimedia.

TY: Okay, any other questions?

the musical conversation gets overtaken by administrative details…

JY: Can also, can. How’s everything so far? Y’all look very tired. I’m also very tired lah…

we were indeed tired… but so happy now that the concert was a success!

♫♪

We are featured in Singapore’s local Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao’s zbNOW!! (April 9 2022)

Translations coming soon!

the Mind of a Composer: Joseph Lim

Since July 2021, Duo Tarenna has had the great opportunity to collaborate with two young Singaporean composers to bring new works for the unlikely violin-viola pairing to life. As part of our ongoing efforts to make contemporary classical music relatable for the general public, we’ve sat down with the composers, Joseph Lim Soon Keong and Jia Yi Lee, for casual conversations on their experiences working with us. Join us, as we have a look into the Mind of a Composer. Edition #1 features Joseph Lim, speaking to us about his work for Duo Tarenna, entitled 马马虎虎 (Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger). Enjoy reading and stay tuned for our next conversation with Jia Yi!

Joseph Lim Soon Keong is a composer, educator, saxophonist and pianist with works performed by the English Young Artist Sinfonia, CHROMA, Hermes Experiment, Lontano, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Audioimage Wind Ensemble and ADDO Chamber Orchestra. Recently, he has become a published composer with Retsel Mil Japan. Joseph is also a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) and Composers Society of Singapore (CSS). He completed his postgraduate composition studies under Professor Gary Carpenter at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He did his undergraduate studies in King’s College London under Dr Rob Keeley and Dr Ed Nesbit where he was awarded the Sambrooke Exhibition in Music Prize. His earlier compositional teachers include Mr Phoon Yew Tien and Mr Benjamin Lim Yi. He is currently a music educator in a primary school.

Saturday, 5pm, at Tiag Yi’s house

Tan Tiag Yi: Okay, so, what should we do ah?

Cindy Ow: I’ll start. Thanks Joseph for coming down today to chat about the work and kind of reflecting over the whole process, the whole journey in preparation for our first concert. So, to start off, I guess, we can talk about how we met and got collaborating together.

Joseph Lim: Yeah, so I met Tiag Yi in a composer workshop way back in 2017, and I think that was by the ADDO Chamber Ensemble. 

TY: Yeah. 

JL: We were sort of fellow participants in that workshop. And that was how I got to know his music, how he got to know my music, then we met up actually, when he came to the UK as well, met up once or twice. And that was how we got collaborating, after we came back to Singapore together. That’s how I got hooked up to do this project, yeah.

TY: Okay, nice. So, what is your musical background? What has your journey in music been like so far?

JL:  I think it’s been quite an interesting journey. So I started off as a band person, I played the saxophone. And that sort of led to more open doors. I did IB music, and went on to do higher music education at King’s College London and RAM, or the Royal Academy of Music, to specialize in composition. Now I am teaching music in a primary school, so I’m trying to pass on these big music ideas to the next generation, yup. I’m sort of going through the entire process again.

TY: chuckles

CO: What made you pick music as a career?

JL: So I think, it’s something that… It was band that made me enjoy music. I enjoyed looking at scores, I enjoyed studying the conductor’s scores, and thinking about how various instruments sort of fit together. And that made me think about – Okay, if I enjoy looking at scores, I think it’s time for me to make my own scores. So that sort of got me into composition and through my higher music education I had professors that helped me to really define my musical material and develop it. That’s how I got into music, and why I’m still doing music.

CO: Mhmm. How about the switch to a teaching career?

JL: I wouldn’t really consider that a switch… I think that’s a very sort of a natural progression, I guess? Once we learn something, it’s very natural for us to then share it. I think that how I compose affects how I teach music and how I teach music affects how I compose. As a composer, I enjoy playing with sound. We like to explore sounds on instruments, we make new sounds on old instruments. When I teach my kids, I want them to sort of do the same, I want them to have this inventive and creative way of exploring music. But, how I teach also affects how I compose. So as a teacher, I want to make things clear to my students; I want to prepare them to receive the knowledge. And as a composers, that is what I do as well through the piece of music. I want to continuously prepare my listeners to receive the knowledge and my ideas must also come across very clearly to them as well. That’s how I think education and composition come hand in hand and mutually affect each other.

TY: What is experience with, kind of, Chinese culture in general, because now we’ll go a bit into the piece? You said you came from a band background. So what made you want to write something like this [Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger]?

JL: That’s quite a good question. I mean, I come from a mainly English speaking background. I come from a boys’ school that is not the most established in Chinese, so ya, I probably struggled with the Chinese language in school. But when I went overseas, right, where I’m now sort of a foreigner in this new environment, I think it may be interesting to then reflect on what it means to be a Singaporean and what it means to be a Chinese-Singaporean as well. That made me see that maybe culture can be a source and a resource for musical composition, right, I guess… trying to approach Chinese culture as a Singaporean? Trying to see what makes it different, and how to make it fun for myself and for my listeners. Previously, I tried to look into Chinese poems as well. For my graduation gift, one of my friends gave me a book on Chinese poems and I actually used these Chinese poems to compose, which inspired some pieces that were recently performed, such as 春雨 (“Chun Yu”), or “Spring Rain”, that was performed, I think last year, or the year before, by a solo violist.

CO: Yeah, I think that was one of the first pieces I listened to written by you, after Tiag Yi told me about you as a potential collaborator, yeah. It’s a good piece!

TY: You should play it ah.

collective laughter

JL: Actually this piece was quite interesting, it was actually supposed to be for the cello. Then I just transcribed it for viola because of the CSS project. I think it became one of my more, quite frequently played pieces as well. It’s a very simple piece, actually. It tries to be simple, but yet, tries to be as evocative for my listeners. It’s something that I like to do – to use very limited materials but to develop something from there.

CO: Apart from Chinese culture, what are your artistic interests? And where else do you get inspiration from? 

JL: I guess, various places. Of course, I do enjoy contemporary composers, I listen to Thomas Adès, sometimes (Helmut) Lachenmann, all these contemporary composers, but I’m also quite influenced by jazz. In university, I played in a big band, so that was quite interesting and introduced me to the world of improvisation, and the use of small motifs, riffs, to create something much larger. Jazz music is something that I started to really enjoy. And then the use of fun, energetic rhythms – something that is quite prevalent in my writing Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger, I think, is the idea that is fun, is dance-like, something that comes from the world of jazz. Being in a big band, I played in a dance hall before with people dancing. And I think this link between music and movement is something that’s extremely important. Even as a music educator myself, for younger pupils, you know, music and movement is very important, because music moves you. I think I want that kind of music, my music, to move people as well. Jazz is something that is quite an important feature in my music recently, after my experience in big band. 

TY: Oh, what kind of music were you playing? Like uh, swing, or?

JL: I mean, we play uhm, mainly swing, big band… 1920s, 1930s kind of swing, we played some Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, you know, all these very typical swing stuff, and of course some modern jazz pieces as well. But that was our staple, Count Basie and all these people, because we’re playing mainly for gigs and music for people to dance to. So (jazz) is something that I started to enjoy, and I also enjoy teaching jazz to my kids. As I said, how I compose affects how I teach, and how I teach affects how I compose, yeah.

“…music and movement is very important, because music moves you.”

– Joseph

CO: What kind of jazz do you play to your students, and do they like it? laughs

JL: Yeah, that’s a good question. I recently introduced “C Jam Blues” to my primary 6s, and I got them to learn the Chopper Blues as well, by doing actions that correspond to the chord changes. So, again, going back to this idea of music and movement, use their bodies to learn music.

CO: Yeah, because I feel like a lot of people get scared about jazz? Especially with the new curriculum. It’s great that you’re introducing it to them at a really young age, as you said, brainwashing them!

JL: Brainwashing them! collective laughter

JL: I mean, that’s true. I mean, I won’t say I’m an expert in jazz, I’m still very much a novice in it. I just discovered it very recently. But I think it’s still really important for my younger students to swing along as well. 

CO: Yeah, just for exposure, right?

JL: Right, I mean that’s where they get exposure to, for example, more complex rhythms, right. And syncopations, rather than just going in the very typical “ta-ta-titi-ta”-kind of very simplistic rhythms.

TY: So maybe this is a good point to ask about, like, your composing work style, or like, how do you come about creating a new piece? Do you listen to music? Or, what do you do?

JL: I guess there’s no fixed way… I had a chat with one of my RAM classmates before about this. He says that there are two kinds of composers: one are the architects and one are the farmers. 

Tiag Yi and Cindy laugh hysterically

JL: And he said that he feels that my pieces come from the farmer group. So it’s not to be planned. For architects, they pre-plan almost everything, and then they just execute it, but as a farmer, I sort of dare to nurture it as it grows and blooms. But I guess for me, I start with uhm… the first step of defining my musical materials. What is the game that I’m trying to play? Something that I learned from my composition teachers, is that composition is a game. And the first thing you need to do is to set the rules. So what are the rules? What are the notes? What parameters am I trying to set for myself? And then I play the game. 

The house phone rings

TY: Interesting! 

CO: Farmer… haha!

Cindy is not getting over the analogy. Tiag Yi walks to answers the phone.

TY: You know, that could be a sound bite, the farmer bit. Hello?

CO: In a sense that, the seeds that you plant can grow any way they do.

JL: Yes. Yeah. I mean, it’s not like I pre-plan everything. 

JL: I mean, we still plan a bit but we still nurture it as it goes along.

CO: It’s organic, you’re an organic farmer.

JL: Yes, organic farmer. We want to see it bloom with our hands. 

Tiag Yi hangs up. TY: Well, luckily this didn’t happen during the shoot. We shot some promotional videos with Joseph prior to the conversation.

TY: Okay, where were we ah?

CO: I lost it!

JL: About the farmer… Tiag Yi bursts into laughter

CO: Something about the game!

JL: Yeah, the game. So, as I said before, I’m encouraged to see composition as a game, right. You set the parameters, you set the rules, and then you just play the game, I guess? Of course, you break the rules to make things more interesting or creative. Yeah, going back to this idea of playing the game, the fact that I need to have fun, and that hopefully my performers also have fun. Playing the game with me.

CO: It’s a really good analogy.

TY:  About your piece, do you want to tell us more about it?

JL: 马马虎虎 (Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger), named after a 成语 (idiom) with the same name. There’s a story to it. There’s a horse who is carefree, just ambling along, and unaware of the lurking danger of a tiger. And eventually a tiger comes up and chases the horse. The ending of the horse is unclear. The point is that you cannot be 马马虎虎, right? We cannot be like the horse and go through life with our ears and our eyes closed. Of course, this is not how the 成语 came about. This is how I interpreted it. I like using stories. Again, that comes back to my teacher identity, where if I teach young kids or young children, they love stories and through stories I can teach them concepts and various things. That is how I guess, the narrative flow works – the different sections in the piece correspond to different parts of the plot. So I mean, that’s basically the story of the piece of music, but why this? I think I wanted to just have a bit of fun. At first, I was thinking, can I use other four word phrases like 风和日丽? (translation: easy breeze, beautiful sunshine; a beautiful day)

CO: 今天是个风和日丽的早晨… (translation: It was a beautiful morning…)

JL: 小明… (translation: John…) (trio bursts into laughter)

JL: These very typical 作文 (essay) things that we use …  But 风和日丽 is a bit too generic and I think that 马马虎虎 is quite auspicious, considering the Zodiac year [Year of the Tiger]. 

CO: So we should play it when it is the year of the Horse again.

 JL: Yes, so it [the piece] is [applicable to] both the year of the Horse and the year of the Tiger as well. That’s pretty multifaceted, I guess. Yeah.

TY: Yeah. Just. I mean, this idea of fun is so good for us. Because I think we talked about when we programmed the concert and also as part of our ideal for our own group, I think contemporary music can be quite daunting and overwhelming a lot of times, but I think there’s so much out there. Not all of it is necessarily very serious. And I think it’s good that we show everything as much as we can.

JL: Ultimately as composers, we want to play with sound, and we want our students to play with sound as well. If you look at how young children play instruments, they really play with it, they really take joy creating sounds, whether using their own voices or instruments, and I think as a composer I’m just trying to recreate this wonder at the variety of sound.

CO: I have a question. Do you think using these idioms to tell stories limits you in a programmatic sense? Would you’d like to experiment with, like more absolute music?

JL: Yeah, so I mean, telling stories is is just one of my composition strategies. I mean, one of my other kinds of ways that I play a game right is that I limit myself to a certain rhythm. So what I can do for example, if I have two semiquavers and a quaver? And then a piece can germinate from there. Right, so there’s one of absolute music processes. But I guess the binary of absolute and programmatic might not be so firm. … And I guess even in the most absolute music composition, they (composers) are telling a story. We are telling a story of how a sound gets from point A to point B and how does it go back to point A, I mean, even functional harmony is a story right? Home, from home and back to home, and how you get from home back home in a way that is as beautiful and as fun as possible. So I guess they’re always telling the story. And there’s always a narrative arc in whatever composition that we do. I think we are innate storytellers.

“I think contemporary music can be quite daunting and overwhelming a lot of times, but … not all of it is necessarily very serious.”

– Tiag Yi

TY: I think we covered a lot about the piece and your process. How about workshopping and working with musicians? What do you typically like to do?

JL: Yeah, I think it’s nice to work with a soloist or a duo? Because it’s a very intimate thing. That’s quite different from giving a score to an entire band. And working with individual musicians is fun in a way that you get to see it grow organically, in a sense that, while I’m the composer, the performers are also there to give their creative feedback. I also learn from the expertise of performers. I learnt more about instruments interacting with performers. They are subject-matter experts on their instruments level. So I think it’s always always very nice to work intimately with musicians, because I think the process is one of a dialogue. I have an idea in my head, but my interpreters or performers may have a better idea. I think that this exchange is very valuable. Because I mean, in the end, the performer is there to make the composer look more intelligent (if the piece is played well). The piece is not just mine. It’s something that is created in collaboration between the creative impulses of the composer and the performer. When I was working with a soloist as a music student at King’s College and at RAM. It was a very intimate, collaborative, dialogical process.

TY:  You talked about how all these journeys in higher education really shaped how you think as a composer. So how, what sort of advice would you give to your younger peers who are also interested in getting into composition?

JL: That’s a difficult question. I’m still trying to find my way around, as well.  It’s really difficult when you’re also a music teacher in school as well. But I guess for young composers, it is just to keep on composing. Of course, but the most important thing is to make friends with performers and musicians, and to be nice to them. To make sure that your score is nicely formatted as well, because an angry performer would not be very happy to play a piece right? So, be nice, be considerate to performers for pieces. I think that’s very important. 

CO: Just curious, did COVID affect your collaborations and interactions with musicians? You probably would probably use Zoom to talk to them.

JL: Yeah, Zoom actually makes things quite convenient, because I can just contact them. But of course, it also showed the importance of meeting face to face as well, the importance of the relational aspect between composer and performer. So it just reinforced the very human aspect of the collaborative process. So has COVID the way I work? I don’t think so. I think it reinforces the need for increased collaboration and communication between both composers and performers.

TY: Okay, last one, pose us some questions, or maybe one or two. 

JL:  So where do you see Duo Tarenna in 5 years?

CO:  I mean, we’re still charting it out, because we started this duo/collective in a really transitional point in my life where I’m applying for graduate school. So I still don’t know where I’ll be. But hopefully… I guess, if I’m thinking five years, I might still be overseas. But I hope that we can do performances in Singapore, if I’m in Singapore, maybe overseas performances as well, collaborating with some of my musical friends overseas. I think we’re also starting up this new call for scores thing. So like, I think that will set us up for a lot of things and materials to play. We definitely want to just keep on collaborating with composers. Playing old music, you can’t really speak to the composer, but with new music, if they’re alive, then there’s so much room for chemistry, as you said, so yeah, I think we’ll just keep on doing bit by bit, within my capabilities each year.

“…with new music … there’s so much room for chemistry…”

– Cindy

TY:  Yeah, I think so. I think one of the things we said on our website was something about uncharted repertoire or adventurous programming. I think that’s important, to kind of thoughtfully see how we can bring things together in new and exciting ways. So this particular concert is something about Chinese culture and putting that against something that might not necessarily considered as related. But actually, if you look at it, the older folk inspiration goes into it. It’s not far at all from the pieces on the program. So I think just finding these connections, especially putting a frame around contemporary music, to give people a sense of where it sits in our contemporary society. 

♫♪

Open Call – parts & pieces – a night with Duo Tarenna and friends

Hello folks! We are so delighted to announce our first open call for scores for our next project, in collaboration with our dear friends violinist Joelle Chiam and cellist Tan Yan Chong. Entitled “parts & pieces”, this concert will feature little-known pieces of the vast string chamber repertoire, showcasing some of the myriad instrumental combinations within the string quartet. 

Eligibility

We invite emerging Singaporean/Singapore-based composers above the age of 15 years to participate in this open call. ‘Emerging’ can be variously defined, and could include not having been commissioned before, not having been performed publicly before etc. Participants’ compositional experience will be taken into account in the assessment of the piece they submit.

Submission requirements

Participants may submit works written for at least two (2) instruments found in a typical string quartet (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello), of which 1 instrument must be the violin. Each submitted work should not be longer than four (4) minutes. 

By submitting works, composers consent to the musicians retaining their scores for future reference and grant the performance rights of their pieces to the musicians for any future performances. Participants under 18 are required to have a signed letter of parental consent when they submit their pieces. The consent form can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2p85tfa5

Six (6) files should be submitted to us via opencall.duotarenna@gmail.com: 

1. The full score (.pdf)
2. Combined parts (.pdf) 
3. Program note (.pdf)
4. Technical instructions (.pdf) 
5. A sample recording (.mp3); both acoustic and MIDI recordings are welcome 
6. A 200-word biography of yourself, for archival purposes

To maintain participants’ anonymity, we would like all participants to pick a random 3-digit number from 000 to 999 and name each file in the following convention (where XYZ represents the 3-digit number):

1. XYZ_FullScore.pdf
2. XYZ_Combined.pdf
3. XYZ_ProgramNote.pdf
4. XYZ_TechIndication.pdf
5. XYZ_Recording.mp3
6. XYZ_Bio.pdf

All files should be emailed in one (1) single email to facilitate the process. Do NOT indicate your name in any of the files, except your biography. We will not read your biography during the vetting process.

The deadline for submission of scores is 19th April 2022, 11:59:59 PM SGT. If you encounter any technical difficulties during submission, do not hesitate to email us at duo.tarenna@gmail.com for help.

Judging Process

Submitted works will be assessed twice by the four musicians – Tiag Yi and Cindy (of Duo Tarenna), Joelle and Yan Chong. The first round will be a blind judging and result in a shortlist of works. In the second round, the four musicians will reassess the works on the shortlist and take into consideration the experience of the composers, before a final selection is made. There are no limits to compositional style; the four of us strive to judge submitted works based on playability, artistic achievement and concept, just to name a few criteria.

Two (2) works will be selected to be performed by Duo Tarenna and friends between July and August. These works will receive one round of feedback from us, before the scores are finalised mid-May. We will try our best to perform other works that were submitted this open call in the near future.

Question-and-Answer session

We wish to make the open call as inclusive as possible. Hence, there will be an opportunity for prospective participants to ask us questions regarding the open call, such as technical requirements, instrumental considerations and ideation. The question-and-answer session will be held online on 11th March 2022 at 8pm SGT. Sign up for the session via the link: https://forms.gle/nM7r6D2HFqVShC737 

We have come up with a list of resources that may help you in composing contemporary works for string instruments. The growing list can be found here. We hope you find it helpful in your submission process.

Timeline

February 19 – Open Call begins

March 11 – Q&A session

April 19 – Open Call closes

Early May – Chosen works are announced, composers of works are contacted for one round of feedback and revision

Mid-May – Final version of scores are due

July to August – Chosen works will be performed at our concert “parts & pieces”

Biography

Duo Tarenna

Duo Tarenna is a new ensemble founded in 2020, although its members (Tan Tiag Yi and Cindy Ow) have been playing together since much earlier. At the 2018 Singapore Performers’ Festival, the duo was part of a group that was awarded the highest award of Platinum. Going forward, they hope to champion contemporary chamber music through innovative and thoughtful programming, particularly providing opportunities to young composers from Singapore and Asia.

​​Tan Tiag Yi

Tan Tiag Yi is a violinist, composer and arts administrator. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Music with First Class Honours at St Anne’s College, University of Oxford in 2021, where he studied violin with Caroline Balding, composition with Professor Martyn Harry and orchestration with Dr. John Traill. A St Anne’s Camerata scholar, he performed in termly concerts with St Anne’s Camerata. At university, he was also a member of the Oxford University Orchestra and a participant in the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2019-2020 Side-by-Side Scheme.  Most recently, he was a bursary student at the 2021 Dartington Summer Music School & Festival, where he participated in violin masterclasses with Thomas Gould and chamber music coachings with members of the Leonore Piano Trio. As a composer, he has participated in reading sessions with oboists Peter Veale and Veda Lin, soprano Alice Privett, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. He was also awarded First Prize at the 2021 Benslow Young Composers’ Competition (19-25 years category). Some of his other interests include photography, reading and racket sports.

Cindy Ow

Cindy Ow graduated with general and departmental honours from Johns Hopkins University with a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a minor in Music. Prior to her degree, she studied violin with Zhang Ying, before switching to the viola under Dr. Tan Wee Hsin. While she pursued her Bachelors’ degree in Biology with the support of the A*-STAR National Science Scholarship, she studied viola with Rebecca Henry at the Peabody Preparatory and performed regularly with Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, serving as viola principal in two concerts. She was also a member of the Homewood Chamber Music Seminar, where she performed in a trio and helped produce recordings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cindy is an alumni of Singapore National Youth Orchestra and a member of Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM). She toured with OMM in Perth 2018, performing Mahler 2 with the Western Australian Youth Orchestra, and produced a video series “Music Makers’ Guide to the Orchestra” with the support of National Arts Council funding. She has performed under the conductors Jed Gaylin, Lü Shao-Chia, Chan Tze Law, and Joshua Tan. While she is not performing music, she is most probably listening to indie artists, reading or watching films.

Joelle Chiam

Currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Joelle has had the privilege of having been under the tutelage of Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng, violinists of the T’ang Quartet. Her early admission to the Conservatory at the age of 17 was made possible by her teachers Chua Lik Wuk, Tan Wee-Hsin and Lillian Wang. Joelle attended the Meadowmount School of Music during the summer of 2016 where she received instruction from Gerardo Ribeiro, and is grateful to have also studied with Almita Vamos, Ilya Kaler, Kam Ning, and Gil Shaham, among others. Joelle’s most recent engagements include performing a selection of Mozart’s sonatas in the Tang Tee Khoon Homegrown Series, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as soloist in Candlelight concerts. An active orchestral instrumentalist, Joelle has served as Concertmaster and Principal positions for the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Texas Festival Orchestra, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra. She also plays with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, and has qualified as a freelance violinist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Joelle loves dogs and will cuddle any willing pooch. Her other interests include spicy food, photography, and travel. Joelle plays a 1924 Gennaro De Luccia generously loaned by the Rin Collection.

Tan Yan Chong

Tan Yan Chong is a cellist, music arranger and music educator-in-training. He started learning the piano at the age of 4 and picked up the cello at the age of 15, studying under Singaporean-based cellists Brandon Voo and Xu Zhong from SCO. He is currently studying under Chan Wei Shing from SSO. Yan Chong plays in both the classical and popular music scenes, performing for artists such as the A-Lin Sonar Concert in 2016 and film productions nominated in the National Youth Film Award titled “Scavenger”. An avid music arranger, his arrangements were performed both locally and overseas, including his arrangement of Dick Lee’s Home showcased by Changi Airport Group and others works that were performed at the Concert de Noël in 2017. Awarded the MOE Teaching Scholarship in 2020, he is currently pursuing a degree at Nanyang Technological University – National Institute of Education under the Teaching Scholar Programme, on the track to become a qualified MOE music teacher in the future. Currently, Yan Chong’s educational goals are to use music as a tool to inspire students and bring awareness to music cultures in schools and in societies.

♫♪

Journey on Eight Strings

In this festive season, Duo Tarenna wishes everyone a joyous, prosperous and healthy Year of the Tiger! 祝大家新年快乐，虎虎生威，如虎添翼，生龙活虎，身体健康! We are incredibly excited to share details of our debut concert with you on the first day of the Lunar New Year!

Journey on Eight Strings – 八弦之旅 is kindly supported by National Arts Council Singapore. Our debut concert will be held on April 30th 2022 at 7.30pm in the beautiful Arts House Chamber at The Old Parliament. Highlights of the concert include: world premieres of works by Singaporean composers Joseph Lim Soon Keong and Jia Yi Lee (commissioned by yours truly!), rare performances of contemporary Chinese violin-viola duos written by Chinese-American composers, and a casual online post-concert dialogue with Joseph and Jia Yi on May 1st 2022 9pm, where we will re-listen to their just-performed works together and discuss inspirations, compositional processes and more!

Tickets are priced at $22 each and can be purchased via this link. Through this link, you can view the full programme, Safe Management Measures, all that jazz. A central part of Duo Tarenna’s vision is to build a diverse community of music-lovers through thoughtful, innovative music programming. We hope that this first concert can serve as a glimpse into what our collective has in mind for the future, and we hope to see (and chat!) with you at the concert in time to come!

Feel free to email us if you face any issues with the ticketing link, it is our first time using the provider so there may be teething issues. Nothing we can’t overcome though!

Till then, stay safe and healthy!

Duo Tarenna

7+3 Questions with Duo Tarenna

Dear Readers,

Hello, and welcome to Duo Tarenna’s blog. We are so happy to have you here! 

We opened this blog with the intention to connect with our audience through a medium other than music. Contemporary classical music, or even classical music in general, can be intimidating at first; we can vouch for that! Through the blog, we hope to show you a more personal side of our music-making process, beginning with the formation of the group, details of our first programme, and profiles of our upcoming composer-collaborators. We thought it would be fun to begin with a proper introduction, and what better way to do that through an interview!

We have put our own spin to Vogue Magazine’s 73 Questions and are answering…. 7 plus 3 questions. Tiag Yi and I came up with the 10 questions by ourselves – comment below the questions you want answered; we might answer them in a future Instagram AMA…?

Have fun reading our interview and finally, remember to follow us on Instagram (@duo.tarenna) and Facebook (facebook.com/duo.tarenna) for more updates on the upcoming concert! (event ticketing will be up soon, we promise!) Till then~

Your Duo Tarenna blog-master,

Cindy

What’s in the name? Why did we name ourselves “Duo Tarenna”?

Tiag Yi: What’s in the name… I think we wanted something that would reflect our position as musicians based in Singapore ,and we thought that a very iconic feature of our city is currently greenery. Apart from the rain trees we see that, I think everyone knows, we thought we should find something a little more interesting, and also a bit snappier. So, yeah, “Tarenna” is a family of trees.

Cindy: Yeah, I kind of found it serendipitously, like, I googled “local plants” and there was like this page, from NParks about the local species of plants, and I thought this one was the nicest sounding one? The full name was Tarenna fragrans, so it’s like, “River Tarenna Tree”. I saw that you can find it on Pulau Ubin, so I’ve been wanting to go look for it.

Tiag Yi: Yeah, yeah, I think trees are also a nice thing to be named after, they are nice and approachable, which is also what we hope to be, as a group that plays some contemporary music. I think contemporary music can sometimes sound a bit frightening, but we want to make it fun and enjoyable, yes. 

What is something about you that not many people know?

Cindy: Let me think… When I was young, I wanted to be an archaeologist or an interior designer. Those were two occupations that I considered in primary school. Archaeologist… because I was into mummies and dinosaurs, and excavation. I realised it wasn’t very realistic to do it [in Singapore]? *laughs* Or I was being very realistic. Interior design, because I wanted to do something to do with design and art, but something practical [too] and I heard that someone’s mom was an interior designer and thought, hey that’ll be cool!

Tiag Yi: Yeah. And now you’re doing science, so… Well, childhood dreams.

Cindy: *laughs*

Tiag Yi: I wanted to be a doctor, I think.

Cindy: Really?

Tiag Yi: Apparently… I was told that I wanted to be a doctor. I’m not too sure about that.

Cindy: *laughs* So you don’t remember?

Tiag Yi: No, not really.

Cindy: Wow.

Tiag Yi: I think I remember I wanted to be a writer at some point. Yeah, different medium. At one point yeah, I wrote a story.

Cindy: I see! I’d love to read it.

Tiag Yi: Not very good lah…

If we’re stuck on an island, what music would you bring with you?

Cindy: You can ask questions to clarify right? Because I’m thinking, what kind of format?

Tiag Yi: Hmm… what music would you bring with you… well if I could bring a piece, then probably the most interesting, I don’t know if it would be the most interesting one, or maybe the one that will sustain interest for the longest is the one playing in Germany right now. It’s gonna take maybe 300 years to finish, so that’s good…

(Cindy did a quick Google search and in fact, it’s 639!)

… by Cage, I think, so at least I wouldn’t get bored. Although it changes note maybe every other year or something, not sure about that… well at least it will be changing. It literally is an organ pedal – now all organs have electronic pedals so they can go on forever. It’s very slow lah, very, very slow. I guess that will be a nice sort of sound fixture to have. Hmm what else… If I’m on an island by myself that would be really tough right… Maybe…

Cindy: We’re kind of ignoring the fact that the island might not have electricity, right? We’re just assuming it will have electricity *laughs*

Tiag Yi: Yeah I know, a very ideal world. If I could bring my phone, then I would bring this recording of 10 string quartets by Ben Johnston with me. I think it is something that is going to puzzle me for a long time. Yeah, I think that is already exceeding the limit, ya?

Cindy: I’ll bring… Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues. I mean, it’s one of my favourite albums that I can listen to front to back, and I’ve kind of memorised the whole song sequence and melodies; I think it will keep me sane, because a lot of the themes are about being helpless too so maybe it it’ll keep me sane on an island. Also, just hearing someone speak might be good [for me]. And then maybe… maybe a recording of Rite of Spring. I think it sounds fresh every time I listen to it.

What musical instrument do you wish you could play?

Cindy: I always wanted to play the oboe? I don’t think I have the right embouchure for it, but I like the oboe’s timbre, and also many of its orchestral solos. Yeah, it has a really nasal but very expressive sound. And… maybe the thumb-picking instrument… kalimba? Yeah. I have a friend who plays the kalimba really, really well. She played it for me once and it was amazing. It’s really complicated, your thumbs have to go in opposite directions. And it’s very angelic.

Tiag Yi: I would say, voice. I think it is something different and also very interesting because there’s just so many different traditions and ways of thinking about it. Yup. 

Cindy: Do you think being in choir now helps with your voice?

Tiag Yi: A bit yes, but I think, I would have to go for some lessons.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Tiag Yi: I’m effectively a freelancer now, so I wake up, have breakfast, probably practice or compose, uhh teach a bit? Come back home, and carry on working. Or rather there is no typical day, I think that is a better answer. Every single day is different. Okay, what about you?

Cindy: I’m a researcher, so… I have a day job. But it’s still relatively flexible. I wake up, eat breakfast, then I take the train to Biopolis and then work till six, then I’ll go home. Sometimes I’ll meet friends. Then go home and maybe rest, spend time with family. Get some work done at night, maybe work on our duet publicity. I just try to get everything done in the day.

Why did you start Duo Tarenna?

Tiag Yi: Of course COVID (1) has played a role in this, but generally in the repertoire there are not that many violin-viola works. But along the way, we have found quite a few from people, from quite a few contemporary composers, and uhh… 

(1) note: social gathering sizes were changing all the time in 2020

Cindy: I must say that it’s mostly you recommending stuff to me.

Tiag Yi: Haha, yeah, yeah. I guess so. I have a passion for underperformed and relatively unknown works.

Cindy: And we just wanted somewhere to perform it. And since, for me, these composers are not really well known in Singapore, by playing it here, we hope that more people can hear that kind of music.

Tiag Yi: Yeah, and I think they [the works] also showcase the kind of diverse approaches that contemporary composers have, yeah. And it’s amazing how with a seemingly very limited medium there’s still so much diversity of sound and colour. 

Cindy: I can say that our program started off with the Martinu (Bohuslav Martinu; “Three Madrigals”) for us and it was my first proper chamber duet, but I could tell how difficult it is to write for two instruments and still make it interesting. Especially two instruments with almost the same timbre. 

Tiag Yi: Yeah.

Cindy: Working with such a narrow range, and still making it interesting. That made me more interested in duet repertoire.

What’s your favourite drink?

Tiag Yi: It’s not just one drink right… Okay let’s just say bubble tea.

Cindy: *laughs* Okay then promote your favourite bubble tea place.

Tiag Yi: There is a shop at Sunshine Plaza, run by a nice couple. Very healthy bubble tea that I like to drink. 

Cindy: I’ve been there, by your recommendation. I’d say it’s pretty good! They have interesting bubbles.

Tiag Yi: Okay, what about yours?

Cindy: Recently, it’s been coffee. Shout out to Bird in Hand iced oat milk latte. They’re a shop near my school in Baltimore. Oh, and also Little Big at Biopolis. Great coffee for afternoon lulls.

Do we have any interesting facts about the upcoming concert programme?

Cindy: Hmm… I think our concert is interesting because it’s our first ever public concert, and we’ve commissioned two Singaporean composers. One of them is my friend, Jiayi, whom I met when we were in Baltimore in my second year. She’s a great friend, and I like her music. So I thought we should commission her for this. Right before commissioning her, she wrote a trio that was focused on ambient sounds. I heard bits of it and thought it was really interesting. So… I wanted to collaborate with her as a friend and give her another opportunity to experiment with strings. She will be writing with inspiration from a visual artwork that was exhibited in the National Gallery, so I think that’s something to look forward to. As for Joseph, was it your idea?

Tiag Yi: I guess you can say that, yeah! Yeah, Joseph is somebody I knew… I met him at a workshop a while ago that we were both attending as composers. His music has recently become a lot more lighthearted, so I think that’s good for us also, in this program. Because I think contemporary music can be fun, and it will provide a nice balance to the series of works that we have. This new work is a tongue-in-cheek play on the Chinese idiom “马马虎虎“. 

Cindy: Maybe one day you can write something.

Tiag Yi: Yeah, just… I’m not too keen on playing my own pieces, usually that’s always a bit annoying.

Any visions for how the Duo will function in Singapore’s music scene?

Tiag Yi: Yeah, I think… continuing to program interesting music and telling stories about the music that we play, that puts it in… what people call the web of context. In short, how music relates to other things in culture. Oh, I think they called it the web of culture. By Gary Tomlinson. Might be wrong. Yeah, putting the music in relation to culture more broadly and also to other pieces. To show a sense of history. Okay, what about you?

Cindy: I think what’s unique about our duo is that we’re both not professional musicians. Well, for you, it’s your job, but you’re more of a composer than a performer, and for me, I’m a scientist, not a full-time musician. But I think our other endeavours inform us differently… I feel like that makes us aware of our position in the community, from the ground up. And also having both been overseas a while, we see a lot of change happening in classical music, especially to do with diversity and inclusion. So I think we could bring some of that to Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Dream collaborations and/or projects?

Cindy: Something I’d like to do as a duo would be… music and poetry, or music and art? Yeah, I feel like if someone does poetry slam while we do music, it will be cool. And bringing cross-genre things. Oh, dream collaboration, this is a recent idea, playing a piece with my friend who plays the veena. Because we both love our instrument very much and I’ve known my friend since primary school so I think we’ll have good chemistry. In the past I would think, “I’m a Western Classical musician and she’s an Indian Classical musician, we can’t play pieces together” but now I feel I can just ask someone to write for us. So that breaks down boundaries and, yeah that’s my dream collaboration.

Tiag Yi: Nice, ya. I think… at the top of my head… I think that that thing about music and poetry and music and text is interesting, and one thing that I would like to do, don’t know if I can do it, somebody else could do it as well, is design something themed around Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments, that’s for solo violin and soprano, about 40 minutes, any fragments from Kafka’s writings. Each fragment lasts about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, something like that. It is also a very theatrical work, because the violinist is walking around, doing things alongside the soprano, so it’s quite a feat to work and also to perform it. Yeah, I think it shows us how our art forms can be quite interrelated, actually. With Kurtag’s idea I think it’s like instrumental theatre, one of my professors used to say… how as musicians we also rely a lot on gesture, physicality, body movement, to create something that probes connections between the different art forms and ways it can be melded together. 

♫♪

hello world!

stay tuned for more updates on our *gasp* upcoming concert in april!