MISSING YOU
KHOR AI MING Vocal Recital
Esplanade Recital Studio
Saturday (18 October 2025)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 October 2025 with the title "Soprano Khor Ai Ming pays tribute to Malaysian roots in a concert on her 55th birthday".
Performing on one’s own 55th birthday must be a daunting task for most, but not so the Malaysia-born soprano Khor Ai Ming, vocal teacher and founder-chorusmaster of Vocal Associates and Joy Chorale. Her two-hour recital, conducted without a break despite nursing a poor stomach, was a microcosm of her personality: vivacious, tireless and driven by the “can-do” spirit.
Speaking in a comfortable mix of Mandarin and Singlish, her life story was laid bare, filled equally with career triumphs and personal vulnerabilities. The programme of songs in multiple languages also amply illustrated a versatility and penchant for diversity.
Raised by strict but loving teacher parents in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, the provinciality of her beginnings was reflected in the opening song Xiao Cheng Gu Shi (小城故事, A Small Town Story) popularised by Teresa Teng. This was followed by Du Juan Hua (杜鹃花, Azalea), also in Mandarin, a recollection of her very first singing competition, which she won, naturally.
There were two parts to Jonathan Lee’s song I Am A Little Bird, first an admission of humility, and later, a yearning to conquer the world. So this was how the recital’s trajectory went. The young Khor Ai Ming tires of being cooped in, and in the Irene Cara-covered song Fame, seeks the bright lights of Singapore.
As a parting shot to her hometown, her sung Malay and dance moves in the song Kuda Hitam (Black Horse) were so idiomatic as to raise some of the evening’s loudest cheers.
Then came a dizzying set of songs in various languages. There was Spanish in Manuel de Falla’s El Pano Moruno (The Moorish Cloth) and Uyghur for Bir Piyale Mey (A Glass of Wine) where she had to jiggle maracas accompanied by her husband Tamagoh on tarabuka (goblet drum). German was represented in the atonal Mondestrunken (Moonstruck) from Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Mack The Knife from Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera.
Her tributes to her brothers included Xinyao pioneer Liang Wern Fook’s Tian Leng Jiu Hui Lai (天冷就回来, Come Back When It Gets Cold), to her mother a pair of Cantonese songs by Anna Lin and Sam Hui, and her late father who loved American pop songs, a Carpenters medley - Yesterday Once More, Top of the World and End of the World. For her students, she offered the Beatles’ Now and Then.
Khor’s first original composition Xing (信, I Believe), the Chinese word also meaning “letter” or “faith”, was poignantly accompanied by Colin Yong on dizi. To close a busy evening, the premiere of Liang’s The Wind of Shanghai, was sung with audience participation, supported by Mei Sheum (keyboard), Bertrand Lee (piano), Yong (bass), Sebastian Ho (guitar), Jeremy Wong (pipa) and Tamagoh (drums).
There was time for two encores, sung in Mandarin - Shi Jie Zeng Yu Wo De (世界赠予我的, My Gifts From The World) popularised by Faye Wong and Wo Xiang Ni Le (我想你了, Missing You) by Hailai Amu. The last was also the concert’s title, a declaration that despite fame and fortune, an artist also needs true and lasting friends.
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