Malaysian Choral Composers Series: Vivian Chua
Vivian Chua
Bio
Vivian Chua studied piano and violin at the Royal College of Music London from September 1994 to July 1996. She transferred to the Royal Academy of Music London in September 1996 to continue with her piano professor Frank Wibaut where she graduated with honours in piano performance in 1998.
Vivian’s first foray into composition began by being one of six young composers for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra’s (MPO) Young Composers Forum and this resulted in ‘Water – Moods and Reflections’ for chamber orchestra, premiered on 30 March 2003 at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas conducted by Kevin Field. Her other compositions were for a local church musical ‘Liguori – The Reluctant Saint’ (1997), ‘Journeys’ for pipe organ (2002) and ‘Contrasts’, an original choral work for girls’ choir (2003). In 2015, Vivian composed an orchestral piece titled Together, in the Spirit of the Games, performed by the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO) for the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee’s Conference hosted in Kuala Lumpur. Following that, Vivian composed ‘Mercu Kegemilangan’ for large orchestra and choir in 2017, commissioned by the MPO to commemorate their 20th year of formation. It was premiered by the MPO, MPYO, the Dythrambic Singers and the MAX Orchestra and Choir of Japan under the baton of Maestro Naohisa Furusawa. It has since been performed as a chamber orchestra version by the MPO in Singapore under the baton of Maestro Eiji Oue in September 2018, and in Johor Bahru and Melaka for the MPO’s Tour of West Malaysia, and in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu for their Tour of Borneo under the leadership of Maestro Naohisa. It was also performed in Taipei, Taiwan in September 2018 by the Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Chang Yin-Fang for the Asian Composers’ League conference opening concert.
Vivian’s vocal and choral arrangements began with ‘Rasa Sayang’ for The Australian Song Company (October 2002); and ‘Balai Berlepas’, an original song by Shahnon Shah, performed by Malaysian crooner Sean Ghazi and Evelyn Hii on piano (September 2003). Malaysian folksong ‘Mak Inang’ (November 2005) for choral ensemble ‘Fingerprints’. ‘Mak Inang’ has since been performed many times by various choirs at choral festivals in Milan, Wales, Singapore and Malaysia. Vivian arranged three songs for Sean Ghazi’s debut album ’Semalam’, two of which were nominated in 2007 for ‘Best Arrangement of a Song’ in the Anugerah Industry Muzik AIM) awards, a recognition by Malaysian musicians of their peers’ contributions to pop and rock music. She won for ‘Semalam’, which Sean wrote. The other nominated song, ’Getaran Jiwa’has since been performed from 2016 by Sean with his big band Tarakucha. Vivian has written choral arrangements of Malaysian folk songs for various levels, such as Oleh Oleh Bandung and Jauh di Mata for beginner to intermediate-level mixed choir, and Watimang Landak and Joget Pahang for amateur show choirs. Besides these, Vivian also arranged popular songs for children’s choir in two parts for her music school students.
Vivian’s extensive and varied arrangements for the MPO began with an orchestral medley commission titled ‘Evergreen Malaysian Folk Songs’ to be performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the closing night of the KL-BBC Proms (May 2002). She also arranged a collaborative piece for the Hainan Youth Ensemble to perform with the MPO in their 2005 Chinese New Year concert. Since then, some of her highlights of orchestral arrangements for the MPO are of local pop music performed at the ‘Merdeka’ Awards presentation (October 2009, 2013 and 2016), themed concerts such as a P. Ramlee tribute concert in Kuching (August 2002), ’Irama Warisan Kita’ (December 2009), and ‘Semalam di Malaya’ (September 2018) and concerts featuring invited Malaysian artistes like Zainal Abidin (‘Ikhlas Dari MPO’ in October 2010 and May 2016), M. Nasir (July 2012) and Aishah (MPO & Aishah - A Musical Journey scheduled for February 2021) as well as popular Indonesian singer Judika (October 2019).
Vivian also arranged and scored for the Malaysian movie epic, ‘Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa’ by KRU Productions, (March 2010) with the MPO recording it under the direction of Maestro Claus Peter Flor.
Vivian has taught music (piano, music appreciation, arrangement and composition) for 22 years, and is now the Principal of Ann Perreau’s School of Music. To make performance fun, she arranges pop songs in classical ensemble arrangements, such as songs by The Beatles played as piano duet concertos for young children in a children’s orchestra (July 2005). Her students have studied music in various prestigious institutions in the UK and the US, such as Wells Cathedral School, Queens College, Millfield School, Harvard University, Royal Academy of Music and Julliard in New York. Vivian also consults for the development of musical programmes by the MPO, and was invited as a panel member in the MPO ForumPlus I and II programme for young composers in 2009-10.
What do you feel is the Malaysian identity in choral music?
I am still trying to define what constitutes a Malaysian identity in both instrumental and choral music. For me, the obvious influences are those of the races living in Malaysia - Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian races in the Peninsular as well as the East Malaysian ethnicities which are numerous and as of yet not as exposed or researched as much as those of the Peninsular. And now with the global exposure we have in Malaysia, I believe western classical styles are incorporated into compositions and arrangements here in Malaysia. I suppose one form of Malaysian choral singing would be the dikir barat, with the call and response style. The call is done by a soloist and the response by a group in unison.
What do you feel is your role as a composer? What do you advocate for?
I compose in an organic and instinctive way, mostly when I am inspired by a story or a motif. I build on patterns and am inspired by interesting and unusual harmonies which aren’t predictable. I actually write simply on a personal and abstract idea and not necessarily to convey a political or social message. I like storytelling and evoking responses from my listeners, whatever that may be for them. I enjoy creating beautiful and sometimes unusual harmonies, moving melodies and giving fresh takes on any musical ideas.
I am also a teacher, so sometimes that also informs how I compose if I am writing something for learning. It is in my role as a teacher that I advocate music as essential in developing young minds. I think about what I want a student to learn, and incorporate that in an interesting way.
How does your lived experience as a Malaysian inform your compositional writing & output?
I am very much a western classically-trained pianist with early exposure to Japanese-styled music from my early music education from Yamaha, so I mostly think and hear in those terms. I also like jazz, funk, rock and the orchestral soundtracks of John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Thomas Newman and Danny Elfman. But as a Malaysian, I still want to put a Malaysian identity to it, so I incorporate elements like the pentatonic scale for the themes but with western harmonies including jazz, or use Malaysian traditional dance rhythms to simple western classical themes. I like to use both eastern and western influences in a tasteful way to express my perspective of what I think is exciting and fresh music. Admittedly I would like to explore and study more of our traditional Malaysian music to better understand it for future compositions.
What are the gaps/challenges in the Malaysian choral music landscape that you feel needs to be addressed?
I think the gaps/challenges in Malaysian choral music is the same for the general music landscape. We need to cultivate the appreciation of the arts in people such as educators, parents and policy-makers as they are in positions to support the growth of music.
Firstly, we need good education that provides exposure and openness to questioning what you are learning or taught, to have the freedom to have original thought and to be curious. It must also allow for a hard look at our history and culture, both the good and the difficult. These are needed to cultivate originality and the courage to have a voice. Composers and musicians must understand their history, language and craft well to create and express works with conviction.
This means we need good training for teachers to inspire the next generation. Then, there is the financial support needed from schools to pay good teachers reasonably to teach their students, and support from parents to allow their children to work on their music.
In terms of skills, we have more diversity and originality in recent years with more Malaysians having studied and lived abroad and then coming back to Malaysia, and sharing their ideas with their music students. There is also the accessibility of expatriate musicians working here to allow more students to gain that knowledge without needing to go abroad, which helps raise the level of music appreciation and learning locally.
Another challenge is for children to have time to explore music on their own and not simply be spoonfed for the quickest results. That helps in the short term, but not necessarily cultivate a deeper understanding in the longer term. It might result in copying rather than innovating unless the student is fortunate enough to be able to make his or her own discoveries due to their passion and interest.
How is Malaysian choral music unique/special to you?
Although I haven’t written many choral works myself and can’t say much about this, I think we have a large pool of potential material to sing about, drawing from our rich ethnic heritage here, and I find that quite exciting. I like to compare our music with what we have done with our Malaysian food and how we all enjoy them regardless of the food’s origin. There’s still much to explore and create since I think we haven’t delved deeply yet into the traditional songs of Borneo which are passed on orally.
How can people connect with you?
My email is vivchuahk@gmail.com. You can also find me on Facebook as Vivian Chua HK. And you can whatsapp me at +6012-9158516
List of Folk-Inspired Choral Works (as of June 2020)
(most performed works are indicated as *)
