SINGAPORE – The Voices of Singapore (VOS) Children’s Choir (Concert Group) landed a Carnegie Hall gig on June 10 without having to audition.
Darius Lim, founder and artistic director of VOS, received the invitation about a year ago from National Concerts. It is one of the United States’ biggest choral organisations, which brings international choirs to renowned American performance venues.
The invitation is an achievement as choral ensembles from around the world usually have to compete for limited slots in the National Concerts’ Ensemble Spotlight series at Carnegie.
“This is the first invite we know of, ever, in Singapore for a children’s choir. The moment we got a call to do this, we immediately accepted,” says Lim.
VOS and Lim were recommended to National Concerts by Saunder Choi, one of the organisation’s composers-in-residence at Carnegie Hall, and conductor Jeffery Redding. Both were impressed by videos of the choir’s performances they had stumbled upon on Lim’s social media accounts.
The 71-strong choir’s members, aged eight to 18, reacted to the news in different ways.
Lim says: “The older ones were gasping in awe and cheering. The younger ones were like, ‘Huh? What’s Carnegie?’ They jumped more at the idea of going to New York.”
The choir will sing a repertoire of 15 songs, comprising a mix of Singaporean works and choral classics. They include arrangements of Singaporean folk tunes such as Dayung Sampan, Singapura, Munnaeru Vaalibaa and Youth Medley – a mash-up of two xinyao favourites, Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng (Voices From My Heart) and Xi Shui Chang Liu (Friendship Forever).
Lim says: “We are going out of our comfort zone to sing in all the main languages in Singapore. We really want to show the country’s heritage by presenting the full range of local works, be it past or present.”
The performers will also sing in a solo concert at St Patrick’s Cathedral on June 12.
The choir will pay its own way for the trip with the support of donors who have contributed to making the trip not only affordable, but also enriching for the children, with experiences such as attending a Broadway workshop; visiting one of the oldest Broadway theatres, the Hudson Theatre; and touring The Juilliard School, one of the world’s best schools for the performing arts, during their trip from June 7 to 14.
VOS member and School of the Arts student Arielle Leung says: “Sometimes, I worry that we might forget some parts of our repertoire. Everything needs to be committed to memory.”
The 15-year-old adds: “Practices for Carnegie are a lot more intense. They require a higher level of focus, discipline and stamina.”
Kylie Wee, eight, is the youngest member of the VOS Children’s Choir who will be performing.
The Raffles Girls’ Primary School pupil is excited and not nervous for the upcoming performances. She particularly likes the song Echoes Of The Lost World, composed by Lim, so much that she practises it in the bathroom at home.
Her father Wee Soon Khai, a 49-year-old family doctor, says: “I am rather impressed that she can pull off some of these things at her age. I hope this experience builds up her confidence.”
Lim has also been appointed to the role of composer-in-residence by National Concerts for the organisation’s 2023 season. His commissioned music will be sung by the National Concerts Chorus, which comprises more than 180 singers from different choirs in the US.
He was also appointed in April to the board of directors for the International Federation for Choral Music, alongside 14 other global choral leaders.
The association facilitates communication and exchange among choral musicians throughout the world, through its projects and programmes. His tenure will last three years.
