Ng Chor Guan is one of Malaysia’s most sought-after music composers and sound designers for theatre, dance, film, concert music and new media. He is also a committed arts activist on a mission to democratise music and theatre. Chor Guan began his career as a professional music composer during his years in London. Upon returning to Malaysia in 2006, he collaborated actively with theatrical artists and choreographers, both local and international. Among his most significant collaborations to date are with dancer-choreographer Lee Swee Keong on a Butoh dance project in 2006; with theatre director Kok Man on “The Lost and The Ecliptic”, a experimental physical theatre piece in 2008; and with British visual arts pioneers The Light Surgeons to develop “Super Everything” a project about Malaysia in 2011. “Super Everything”, for which he is composer, musical director and theremin player, was performed again at the Houston Cinema Art Festival in Houston, USA, in November 2012, and toured the United Kingdom in March 2013. His own works, which demonstrate an excellent integration of the classical and the contemporary, have been performed in a wide variety of mediums including orchestral, choral, chamber, and electronic music. They have been presented at numerous festivals all over the world including the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in Germany, Asian Contemporary Theatre Project in Japan, NyobaKan Butoh Festival, Silk Road Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong International Arts Carnival, Surabaya Performing Art Festival, The Studio Singapore, Sydney Fashion Week, Hong Kong Cultural Ambassador Program, George Town Festival and more. His works have also been performed in France, Holland, Italy, Canada and Korea. Chor Guan has also introduced groundbreaking concepts that have revolutionised the way audiences interact with the music or even participate in the performance. One of his most successful concepts is the Mobile Phone Orchestra (MPO) in which the audience are encouraged use the recording function in their mobile phones to record specific sounds to be played during the performance. In Malaysia, MPO was performed in George Town Festival, Melaka Art and Performance Festival and Toccata Studio Earth Hour. In 2012, he was invited to perform MPO at The Playable City Sprint at Bristol, UK organised by the British Council and Pervasive Media Centre. He was one of five Asians selected to represent the continent. In September 2012, he was invited to Korea to perform MPO at the opening ceremony of the 7th Global RCE Conference organised by UNICEF. Chor Guan is also the co-founder of Toccata Studio, which is a small but vibrant arts space. This is a venue for many experimental works in a range of disciplines including his own ongoing New Music Series. The aim of the New Music Series is to cultivate a new cultural language for Malaysia which unites the different media, musical disciplines and traditions. Chor Guan’s film music was awarded the Grand Prize in both the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France (year) and Art Film Fest in Slovakia (year). In 2008-2009, Chor Guan was nominated for Cameronian Arts Awards Most Promising Artist. In 2010, he was nominated for the first Selangor Youth Awards for best music composition. In 2011, he was awarded a scholarship by the Goethe Institue Scholarship. Chor Guan also lectures at University Malaya and New Era College. He has also produced 11 albums.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 08:02:34 +0000
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