ZECHARIAH GOH: A CHORAL ODYSSEY / Review

 

ZECHARIAH GOH: A CHORAL ODYSSEY

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (6 August 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 August 2025 with the title "Choral concert showcases Zechariah Goh's wide-ranging works".

Singaporean composer Zechariah Goh Toh Chai, recipient of the 2003 Young Artist Award in 2003, was once described as promising. Twenty-two years later, he has established himself as one of Singapore’s most important composers. This two-hour mostly a capella choral concert, the first dedicated to a single composer since the late Leong Yoon Pin’s retrospective in 2008, featured 271 singers and nine choirs from three countries. 16 songs, from 1993 to the present, showcased Goh’s versatility in wide-ranging styles.

Opening the show was the Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir (Conductor: Wong Lai Foon) with Rose of Sharon (2014), ushering in a lush unison and series of echoing voices. More complex was Four Tones (2019), which played on Chinese words ying (阴), yang (阳) and shang (上) as resonating bell sounds, later ornamented with animal and bird calls to maximal effect.

From Anderson Serangoon Junior College Choir (Angela Lee), the folk-influenced In the Bamboo Forest (2004) had percussive drum beats from male voices accompanying lyrical flowing lines from female voices. The 19-women in red kebayas from Crescendo Voices, originally established in Malaysia (Raymond Lee Pei Khoon), sang in Malay for Irama Belia (2003) and Mandarin for Qing Ping Diao (The Beautiful Lady Yang, 2014), the latter’s mellifluous tones based on Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai’s words.

Photos: Tan Zexun

Chinese inspirations continued in Loyalty to the Nation (2015), with the words Jing Zhong Bao Guo (精忠报国) associated with Han dynasty general Yue Fei’s patriotism and martyrdom. The music turned from calm to heroic and finally reflective. Goh’s arrangement of Dayong Sampan (1993) was his first commissioned work, involving counterpoint well-handled by the 20 singers of Novae (Quek Jing).

The combined Eunoia and Hwa Chong Junior College Choirs (Lim Ai Hooi) was the largest contingent, their strength in numbers displaying exuberance for Sounds of Joy (2009), which rang out with bell and drum-like sonorities. Plangent tribal drone effects also coloured Reminiscences of Hainan (1995), a joyous tribute to Goh’s own dialect group and forebears.

The 23 singers of the Taichung Chamber Choir from Taiwan (Yang I-Chen) were the best ensemble, performing four works, a mini-concert within a concert. Whoever thought that the Chinese word for Tea (2024) – cha (茶) - could be subject to so much elaboration and ornamentation. Wonderful solo voices distinguished Hakka Triptych (2025) and The Happiness of Fish (2013) which pondered serenity, contentment and ethereal beauty. By contrast, Assassination (2014) played on the word for kill – sha (杀) - complete with pugilistic poses and martial arts choreography.

Photo: Tan Zexun

Vox Camerata Chamber Singers (Shahril Mohamed Salleh) sang the evening’s only sacred work, Psalm No.1(2023) with its opening line Blessed is the Man a firm reflection of Goh’s Christian faith, while Lullaby (1999), sung in Chinese, was a gentle cradle song.

Closing the evening was Ode (2025), performed by the Voices of Singapore State Choirs (Justin Goh) accompanied on piano by Gabriel Hoe. Sentimental and ear-catching, its aspiring strains about flying away were intruded upon by one of the hall’s alarms. A welcome encore was requested, this time sounding even better. Could this be the song to take over the popular mantle of Dick Lee’s Home?

All lit up for National Day.