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Singers
Catherine Loke,
soprano
Marianne Tan, soprano
Thomas Manhart, alto
Alan Lau, tenor
Shui Jiang Tian, tenor
Singers On Leave
Leslie
Tay, tenor
Former Singers
Melanie
Christie, soprano
Reuben
Lai, baritone
Ng
Tian Hui, baritone
Kee Kirk Chin,
baritone
Guest Singers
Katherine Wallace,
soprano
Ellen Hartinger,
mezzo-soprano
Ng Sheh Feng, alto
Phua Ee Kia, alto
Tham Pei Wen, alto
Nicholas Loh, baritone
Albert Tay,
bass
Daniel Ho, bass
Ralph McDonald,
bass
Stephen Rapkin, bass
Guest Organists
Chong Ten Yeen
Pauline Lee
Neo Ming Wei
Yoo Ji Eun
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Catherine
Loke began piano lessons in Kuala
Lumpur at the age of five. At eighteen, she obtained an
Associate of Trinity College of Music, London (ATCL) diploma
in piano performance. Subsequently, she went to Melbourne,
Australia, to study architecture.
Whilst
an architecture student, she studied singing with Margaret
Arnold and was actively involved in both the Melbourne and
Monash University Choral Societies as a chorister as well
as a soloist. Apart from occasional solo engagements, she
also sang with The Victoria Chamber Singers. In 1992, she
served as the assistant conductor of the Monash University
Choral Society.
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Catherine has a particular interest in Early Music. She
has participated in masterclasses by Emma Kirkby & Anthony
Rooley, as well as the baroque singing course at The Innsbruck
International Summer Academy for Early Music under Jessica
Cash.
After
graduating with an honours degree in architecture from The
University of Melbourne, Catherine moved to Singapore in
1993, where she studied singing with Quek Soo Hiang from
1994-1998, and sang with The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
from 1995-2005. She has been studying singing with William
Lim from 2003 to the present.
In
addition to her musical activities, she is a partner in
an architectural practice.
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Marianne
Tan
was active in her NUS Raffles Hall scene and awarded "Culture
Person of the Year 1998" for various arts participations.
She has continued to study singing under Korean Soprono
Jeong Ae Ree. She has been a part of the SRT Young Co.,
Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO), and as a soloist with Vocal
Associates.
Performances
include To Freedom With Love (2000, directed by Nicholas
Lee) ascast and choral trainer, Dick Lee's Re: Mix (2001
SRT) as singer and dancer, Neil Gaiman's The White Road
(2001 SRT) as Main Cast, A Tribute to Sondheim (2003), Grisette
in Lehar's The Merry Widow (2004 SLO), as a chorister in
Puccini's Madama Butterfly
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(2005 SLO) and in the SLO educational touring company as
Gretel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.
Marianne
has trained formally in ballet, piano and singing. She currently
holds a DipABRSM (singing) and ATCL, and sang at the Trinity
College of Music High Scorer's Concert in Nov 2004.
On
Sundays, she directs the Bethany Trinity Presbyterian Church
Singing Group. She joined Ab Oriente in 2005 and also sings
with a cappella group Upbeat.
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Thomas
Manhart
studied Opera, Oratorio and Lied at the Hochschule für
Musik in Munich and in Vienna with Hanno Blaschke and Helena
Laszarska, and in masterclasses with Donald George, Martin
Hummel and Paul Esswood. His main education, however, he
obtained in his hometown in Bavaria from Sabine Schütz.
His interest for early liturgical music led him to monasteries
in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain for courses in
Gregorian Chant, and Renaissance and Baroque singing.
After
his change from bass to male alto, Thomas concentrated on
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vocal
therapy and vocal education as well as ethnomusicology. He
obtained a teacher's diploma for music, religious sciences
and German language, a Master of Arts in music (vocal) education,
psychology and theology from Passau University as well as
recently a PhD in Southeast Asian Arts from the National University
of Singapore.
Thomas
is a private vocal coach and lecturer for ethnomusicology
and German Vocal music at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
as well as lecturer for Indonesian music at the National
University of Singapore.
His
performances include solo parts as bass, later alto, in
numerous masses by Haydn, Mozart and Palestrina, Händel's
Messiah (bass arias) and Vivaldi's Magnificat. He sang Colas
in Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne in Germany and Purcell's
Fairy Queen under Charles Brett in Spain. His
appearances as Gamelan player include the opening of Esplanade
and regular performances at the Asian Civilisations Museum
with the NUS Singha Nglaras Gamelan group.
Thomas
has recently founded and registered his own music company,
artyfakt,
providing intercultural music education, performance, and
research.
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An
architect by training, Malaysian tenor Alan
Lau began singing in his secondary school choir
in Singapore . After relocating to Perth , Western Australia
for further studies, he sang solo and chorus parts with
several local ensembles including Collegium Musicum Choir
and St George's Baroque Consort. He was a founding member
of the Giovanni Consort, a chamber choir comprising Perth
's most promising young singers, performing a diverse spread
of works from the baroque to the 20th century.
On
returning to Singapore, Alan appeared with early-music group
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Musica
Obscura as well as with local chamber ensembles The Singers
and Ab Oriente.
In
his capacity as secretary of the Classical Singers' Association
( Singapore ), an organization committed to promoting classical
vocal music, Alan helped to organize the 2005 FestaCanzone
Art Song Festival and Competition at the Esplanade Theatres
on the Bay.
Alan
is currently training under tenor Lim Shieh Yih. Recently,
he appeared in Voce 2008, a concert series by students of
Mr Lim, on the 180th anniversary of the death of Franz Schubert.
In previous Voce productions, he has sung the parts of Ferrando
and Idomeneo in excerpts from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and
Idomeneo respectively. In 2007 he sang the part of Acis
in OperaStudio' s production of Handel's Acis & Galatea.
In 2009 he appeared, also with Operastudio, in the title
role of Gustav Holst's The Wandering Scholar at the Esplanade
Recital Studio.
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An
IT specialist by profession, Shui
Jiang Tian
began his musical education in Xi'an, China, where he studied
er-hu and violin as a boy. He then learned guitar & drums
by self-study, as well as singing, composing and conducting.
Whilst a university student, he conducted the Northwestern
Polytechnic University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, wrote
music for and led them to gold prizes in provincial competitions
between 1984 and 1989. He also won the first prize in the
singing category in the 1st Pop-Song Open Competition of Shaanxi
Province in 1987.
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Since
moving to Singapore in 1991, Jiang Tian has taken an active
role in the local music scene. He was the third prize winner
(no first prize) in the Vocal Open Category of the 10th
National Music Competition in 1995. Since then, he has been
invited as tenor soloist in quite a few concerts, including
Mozart's Requiem with The Philharmonic Chamber Choir, From
Poems To Songs with the National Theatre Club, and the Singapore
Lyric Opera's production, etc.
Jiang
Tian's compositions have been performed by choirs worldwide.
Local schools singing his arrangements have won top prizes
in national competition. In particular, his arrangement
of Usuli Boat Song, composed for The Philharmonic Chamber
Choir (TPCC) under Maestro Lim Yau, was published by the
American publisher "Earthsongs", and has been
performed by The Philharmonic Chamber Choir at a number
of significant events, with himself singing the tenor solo,
namely the opening and closing ceremonies of the 5th International
Choral Competition, Riva del Garda, Italy (1998), the Folklore
Category of the 19th Béla Bartók International
Choir Competition, Debrecen, Hungary (2000), and the International
Performing Arts Festival in Tokyo (2002). In 2004, Singapore
Youth Choir commissioned and world-premiered his arrangement
of the Chinese folksong "Water Flowing In The Brook"
in their 40th Anniversary Concert. This work has just been
published by Germany publisher "Carus verlog".
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