MUSIC
"Having heard the entire work from start to end, I can only conclude that Passage will become one of the great concertos in the Singaporean canon of compositions. Concentrated within 16 minutes, it is a very moving piece of music, distinguished by a strong power of the narrative and exotic instrumental colour."
- The Straits Times, 2012
Perayaan - performed by Orchestra Collective, 2014
Selections
Way of Play - performed by Singapore Chinese Orchestra, 2019
A DREAM RETURNED
(1997)
Floating in a dreamscape of recurring lush and contrastingly stark landscapes. Mysteriously intimate and revealing only with another dream-walker.
BROKEN REFLECTION
(1999)
Trying to remember, lost in thoughts, in time, in memories. Lost. Like the broken pieces of her reflection.
DECONSTRUCTION
(1998)
Drawing from the sounds of a mechanical action organ, a canvas of sounds are layered into a composite of textured events and eventually peeled away into a single event.
It was a welcome re-encounter with Singaporean Ho Chee Kong’s Shades of Oil Lamps, commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival in 2008 and premiered by London Sinfonietta and Masson. Over a spirited counterpoint of percussion (woodblock, gong and marimba), a Chinatown storyteller spins a tantalising yarn, regales and draws his audience in before abruptly leaving it hanging as he collects hand-outs. A marvellous piece of musical characterisation that will be often heard, one hopes.
- The Straits Times, 2012
EVENING LIGHTS
(2007)
Strolling along the Queen Elizabeth Walk. Bright modern lights illuminate memories from the past, struggling to be remembered.
GARDEN IN A LABYRINTH
(1998)
From an elusive portal, through the winding labyrinth, triumphantly reaching a beautiful garden suspended in time.
LAST DRAGONFLY DANCE
(2010)
蜻蜓點水, a dragonfly dancing delicately above the soft rippling waters.
MOBILES (1997)
Sunlight shines on the colorful figurines on mobiles and a dancing myriad of colors is cast off as hanging glass ornaments spin and twirl, gently and freely.
NIGHT (2003)
Dedicated to the heroic efforts of all the medical staff who worked hard to save their patients stricken with SARS.
Night, another one rises.
the skies move, it takes its place.
Without a farewell,
that fleeting moment in time,
your face is fading
into the Night.
NIGHT OF ELECTRIC WINDS (2004)
Chinese orchestral sounds are transformed through the computer creating a soundscape where swirling energies collide, bringing the new and old together to create a dazzling display of lights and sounds.
OF PASSION AND PASSAGES
(2007)
Celebrating the ‘Can Do’ spirit.
SAEYA SAEYA
(1999)
OLD BIRD, OLD BIRD SAEYA SAEYA
Old bird, old bird Saeya, saeya
-- you old green bird, -- paran saeya,
Do not sit down on Noktu batei
the noktu bush. anji mara.
If the noktu flowers Noktu kochi
fall on the ground, toroji m'yon.
Then the Jonman will go Jon po jangsa
Crying away, Ulgo ganda,
Crying away. Ulgo ganda.
SHORELINE
(2013)
Warm breath gently flows
painting nights in misty white
to follow or dream
Cold seas rush inward
on edge with breath lingering
to rest or follow
Seas coldly seeps in
covering stars from the skies
to dream or to live
