We do have a wishlist of people whom we want to interview and it’s growing by the day. Among them include local songbird Corrinne May whom has very kindly acceded to an e-mail interview. She’s among those in the music scene that feel that opportunities in the industry are still better abroad. But Corrinne never fails to return. In fact I found myself sitting beside her one day at Coffee Bean in Holland Village and one could have never guess she’s a singer who’s made it big in the U.S..
And here’s another one from the music scene. This one’s from the fine arts side of thing. Sharon had spotted an article in the Straits Times Life! Section yesterday and found a couple of Singaporeans who are returning from overseas to help run the new School of Arts Singapore, and that we should get in touch with her. Among them is Joyce Koh, who is returning home after 20 years overseas to head the school’s music department. She’s returning because she sense certain things in the arts scene back here in Singapore “buzzing now”. Not too sure what that means though. Hope to be able to get in touch with her soon. Her credentials are very, I must say, very impressive. Read on.
Here’s an excerpt from the Straits Times,
JOYCE KOH, 39, Head of Music
WITH her severe bobbed hairstyle, all- black ensemble and a rather cat-like glance, this composer, whose work has been described as ‘abstract’ and ‘uncompromising’, seems a picture of Parisian chic.
Joyce Koh has, after all, been based in the French capital for 20 years. Last year, she was appointed the composer-in-residence at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Montbeliard and held a similar position at Germany’s Herrenhaus Edenkoben in 2004.
A graduate of King’s College University of London, the University of York and Paris’ Institute for Research and Co-ordination of Acoustics and Music, she started out playing classical music on the piano before venturing into experimental composition.
In her own words, she enjoys ‘exploring the texture, density and perceptibility of soundscapes. I allow the environment to nourish me’.
Married to Swedish composer Per Magnus Lindborg with a four-year-old daughter, she was persuaded to make the move back to Singapore because ‘I get the sense that things are buzzing now’.
She says: ‘There is no precedence of such an arts programme. I’m very glad I will be able to contribute and hopefully inspire the young people to take risks.’
In her view, there is a need to address the study of music differently.
‘It shouldn’t be about the Western tradition only, there should be a more investigative spirit
