SOPRANO

Charmaine began playing the piano when she was five and started singing when she was thirteen. Her love and talent for singing led her to obtain a scholarship at Mannes College The New School Of Music in New York City where she graduated with a Master Of Music in Voice with Honours. She now spends most of her time teaching singing to people of all ages.

This is Charmaine’s first exposure to singing in an a cappella ensemble and she has been enjoying the chemistry amongst the members.

Besides tickling the ivories, Charmaine also enjoys going for runs, scrolling through dog videos on Instagram and belting musical theatre songs to karaoke tracks on YouTube to de-stress.

MEZZO-SOPRANO

Mezzo-soprano Michelle Tan’s singing journey began humbly with primary school choir. She went on to read Music at King’s College London and attain an MMus in Vocal Performance from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

Building on her extensive opera chorus experience, Michelle debuted as Dorabella from Così fan tutte (2018) with SPOT Opera Theatre Company before taking on the title role in La Cenerentola (2019). Performances of solo artsongs at the Esplanade and private venues have evoked “raw emotions” and at others drawn “plenty of laughs” from her audiences.

Michelle is also the recipient of an Honourable Mention for the 2013 Golden Point Award (Poetry). Today, she performs in support of her adopted charities. She also has two cats @riese.roka.cats :)

BASS

Singaporean bass-baritone John Lee was a semi-finalist at the International Handel Singing Competition 2020 and made his Wigmore Hall debut for the London Handel Festival later that year. He was a Voces8 Scholar, St Martin’s Voices Fellow, Brighton Early Music Festival Young Artist, Iford Arts New Generation Artist, and member of Genesis Sixteen.

A graduate of the University of Oxford and the Royal College of Music, London, he owes much to his singing teachers Alison Wells, Justin Lavender and Toh Ban Sheng.

John lives in Singapore with his amazing wife Paloma, and in his free time loves cooking, board games, and playing tennis.

johnleebassbaritone.com

SOPRANO

Susanna Pua, a former secondary school Music and English teacher turned choral conductor and vocal coach, completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She also hold a diploma in Vocal Music Performance. Presently, she specialises in teaching children choirs and has been producing annual student recital charity concerts for her private students since 2016.

An avid fan of a cappella singing, she has sung in a cappella groups such as In Transit, Girls of Grace, B.Coz, and Key Elements. She listens to Christian contemporary music, Jazz, Chinese pop, and recently K-pop!

Potato chips and chocolate are her weakness.

TENOR

Xie Zhizhong has been making music for as long as his peers can remember. Having fallen in love with choral singing in his adolescence years, Zhizhong went on to study choral music education at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Since his return from the United States, Zhizhong has been actively involved in Singapore's music scene as a music educator, conductor, and performer. He currently serves as President and Assistant Conductor of the award-winning Raffles Singers, where he contributed to the choir winning multiple Grand Prix awards in Europe. Zhizhong is also the Executive Director of Resonance of Singapore.

When time (and money) allows for it, Zhizhong loves to travel the world and learn about different cultures.

COUNTERTENOR

Wen-Yu is a classically-trained countertenor with a diverse musical background. Under the tutelage of Mr. Thomas Kuek, Wen-Yu attained the Diploma in Singing (ATCL) in 2019. He has also been actively involved in recitals and concerts, most notably in The Opera People's production of Handel's Messiah.

Wen-Yu is also an accomplished choral conductor, most notably winning the Festival Grand Prize and Most Promising Conductor Award in the 3rd Asia Cantate in 2016. Beyond classical music, Wen-Yu can also be seen performing with and arranging for contemporary a cappella groups, and even clinched the Grand Prize in the Singapore A Cappella Championships in 2018 and 2019.

TENOR

Joshua’s singing journey started from his primary school years as a young chorister. Trained as a pianist and a music minister in Singapore Bible College (SBC), his musical journey took a surprising turn. After receiving his Bachelor (2009) and Master of Church Music (Piano, 2014), he was recommended by SBC faculty to further studies in singing.

He graduated with a Master of Music (Voice) at Northwestern University (Chicago) and is currently finishing his Doctorate of Music and Arts (Voice) at Claremont Graduate University. Also a current full time lecturer at SBC, he hopes to continue guiding pastoral musicians to learn and practice historical-informed performances.

BARITONE

Yang Kai set his sights on becoming a choral conductor when he first joined the school choir in secondary school. Driven by passion and determination, he went on to graduate with a BA (Hons) in Music, majoring in vocal performance from LaSalle College of the Arts. Yang Kai then attended several choral conducting summer schools over the next few years, including Westminster Choir College (where he learned primarily under James Jordan and Charles Bruffy) and Butler University (where he studied with Henry Leck and worked with the Indianapolis Children’s Choir).

Yang Kai directs several school choirs locally, and is nearing the completion of his Master’s Degree in choral conducting from California State University, Los Angeles. He is married to Karen and enjoys his time with his 2 children, James and Celest.