Yvonne Choi: Collaborative Pianist
An accomplished solo and collaborative pianist, Yvonne Choi has had tremendous success working with both singers and instrumentalists in the Greater Toronto Area and Halton region. Winner of the WLU Concerto Competition, the Ken Murray Concerto Competition, and the Penderecki String Quartet Prize, her aptitude for solo and collaborative performance is evident.
Yvonne has had the privilege to perform as the featured soloist with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Wilfrid Laurier Symphony Orchestra, and Wilfrid Laurier Reading Orchestra. She regularly shares the stage with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with renowned organizations such as the Elmer Iseler Singers, Orpheus Choir of Toronto, Toronto Children’s Chorus, Toronto Chinese Orchestra, and Cambridge Symphony Orchestra. She has had the privilege to perform in Masterclasses for world class musicians such as Barbara Hannigan, Lawerence Lesser, Michael McMahon, the New Orford String Quartet, the Penderecki String Quartet, and the Chiara String Quartet to name a few.
Yvonne is passionate in community outreach as she is a firm advocate for inclusivity and unity. Using music as a communicative tool, Yvonne works with all ages to build accessibility around music. Yvonne is currently serving as the Director of Music for Glen Abbey United Church in Oakville. Pianist and Organist at Appleby College, and faculty pianist for National Music Camp of Canada. She was the Associate Music Director, Keyboardist, and Rehearsal Pianist for Sheridan College's production of First Drafts. Co-Music Director, Keyboardist and Vocal Coach for York University’s production of 9 to 5 the Musical. She was also the Music Director, Keyboardist and Conductor for Spirit Express’ Leap of Faith at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. Yvonne is one of the resident collaborative pianists with renowned choral ensembles such as the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth, and Resonance (Mississauga Festival Choir). She is a sought-after collaborative pianist, while also maintaining an active teaching studio, with students achieving awards of distinction.
Since the pandemic in 2020, Yvonne has found success in audio engineering and videography. She has been working closely with organizations such as OperaQTO, McMaster University, Glen Abbey United Church, Oakville Choir for Children and Youth, and Mississauga Festival Choir. She has also been producing music for her studio, as well as her own solo and collaborative career.
Building on her Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University under the guidance of Leslie De’Ath, Yvonne completed her Masters in Collaborative Piano Performance under Lydia Wong from the University of Toronto. Throughout her continuing musical career, she has received coachings by renowned pedagogues such as Marietta Orlov, Steven Philcox, Jamie Parker, Shauna Rolston, and Joseph Johnson. Yvonne has been the recipient of many distinguished scholarships, notably the Richard Kehn Scholarship in recognition of being an outstanding student in the area of music performance, Ken Murray Scholarship, Lydia Wong Scholarship and the Penderecki String Quartet Prize.
Yvonne’s favourite food is any home cooked meal.
Yvonne’s favourite words are wowow, and aiya
Cherie Chai: Audio Engineer, Percussionist, Vocal Percussionist
Cherie is the first full-time female vocal percussionist (VP) in Singapore, and the music director and resident arranger for award-winning a cappella group, 1023.
Cherie has also worked with fellow Singaporean performers, putting up multi-dimensional shows featuring collaborations between musical instruments and vocal percussion. Regionally, she has also featured as the guest VP with the Young Kuala Lumpur Singers, and Malaysian vocal quartet Caipifruta.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cherie conducted virtual workshops both locally and internationally, teaching workshop participants how to best use the sound equipment that they already have, so as to enable them to be clearly understood during online meetings, as well as to be able to continue making music during lockdown situations. Cherie also edited and mixed the audio tracks for several virtual performance video productions, ranging from individual multi-tracked songs, to vocal ensembles and choirs.
As an educator, Cherie is the conductor of several Singapore school choirs, and coaches tertiary a cappella groups SUTD Vocomotives, NTU Harmonix & SIT Just Singers. She frequently conducts a cappella & vocal percussion workshops for schools, sharing her love for the art form with youths.
Favourite local word: kiap, for its efficiency in usage both as a noun and a verb!
Favourite local food: Hainanese chicken rice!
Aaron Teoh: Tenor
Aaron is a musical theatre actor, singing teacher and voice artist. Credits include Aladdin (Pantomime) at The Queens Theatre, Me You Us Them (film remount), Adam Ashburn’s Showreel (feature film) UK and International Tour of The King and I (Prince Chulalongkorn), Malay singing dub of Netflix’s Over the Moon (Gobi), UK premier of The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Tick, Tick, Boom! and Merrily We Roll Along.
Favourite local word: boss. We call everyone boss in Malaysia. Servers, waiters, security guards, bread salesman on motorbikes.
Favourite local dish: Rawa Thosai (dosa) ghee telur bawang. Rawa dosa with ghee, eggs and onions. It’s crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and just perfect in every way.
Mohd. Fairuz Mohd. Tauhid: Dance Artist & Songwriter
Fairuz Fee Tauhid (social media handle: @fairuzfeetauhid) holds a Masters in Performance Studies and is a dance artist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Some of his work on screen included choreography for Anugerah Juara Lagu 34 opening performance, Disney's Waktu Rehat, Disney’s Club Mickey Mouse (season 1), and numerous advertisements such as Watson’s Chinese New Year (2019, 2020 and 2021) and Hari Raya (2019 and 2021) ads.
As a stage performer, he was part of various successful local musical productions such as Puteri Gunung Ledang the Musical, P Ramlee the musical, Adam the Musical, Supermokh sebuah Muzikal and many more.
He is currently exploring the new world of song writing that stems from the rhythm of the movement. His songs such as like TARIKU and JOGETKU are inspired by movements, choreography and his point of view of the world of dance in Malaysia. Since then, he produced and performed 10 songs (available on itunes).
Favourite Malaysian local word: Makan! (Eat!)
Favourite Malaysian food: Masakkan emak. (My mom’s cooking)
Joel Wong: Tenor-Baritone
Photo courtesy of klpac
Joel is a tenor-baritone who grew up on musical cartoons, musical theatre, and children’s choirs. After surviving formal education, he joined The Young KL Singers in 2004 and performed with them regularly.
Other pursuits include being part of The Caipifruta Vocal Quartet. Staged Musical theatre and concert productions include "Kaki Blue" (2009), "Songs For A New World" (2012 & 2013), "Marrying Me" (2013), "Merrily We Roll Along" (2014), "Larger Than Life" (2014), "Cabaret" (2015), "The Best Of Sondheim - Abridged" (2015), “Into the Woods” (2016), "One Thousand Million Smiles" (2016 & 2017), "That's Entertainment" (2017 & 2019) and “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown” (2017).
Favourite Malaysian local word: “kan?” (right?)
e.g. very multipurpose, kan?
Favourite Malaysian food: char kuey teow