“An extraordinary musician whose idiom straddles comfortably between genres of classical, jazz, world and film music... he possesses an original voice”
- The Straits Times
Life, the eternal Symphony. When you truly listen, you will realise the music has always been there.
composer for
concerts
film
contemporary dance
commercials
animation
video games
documentaries
brand experiences
multi-sensory projects
installations
An exceptionally versatile composer/pianist, Tze Toh was described byThe Straits Times as “an extraordinary musician whose idiom straddles comfortably between genres of classical, jazz, world and film music" who "possesses an original voice”. The Business Times described his music as “sophisticated and accessible”, selecting his debut album Stories from Wonderlandas one of the top 10 albums of the year, for having “helped shape music in 2011”.
In 2011, he won first prize in the UK Song-writing Contest (Instrumental category) for his fusion pieceAn Indian Folk song meets Jazz,which the judges praised for its "originality in its attempt at fusing traditional Indian music and western jazz".
He is prolific as both composer and pianist.
Commercially, he has composed original music for international brands including Cartier, Club Med, Rosewood, Porsche, Toyota, Epson, Ding Tai Fung, DBS, SAP and Discovery Channel.
As a film/theatre composer, some of his notable works include the original score for Singapore's first animated filmSing to the Dawn, Discovery Channel's Man Made Marvels, theatre director/artist Ramesh Meyyappan'sSnails and Ketchup(London 2012 Cultural Olympiad), award-winning film maker Royston Tan's film Popiah［薄餅］, SG50 film Sands of Our Our Fathers. He also composes for contemporary dance, and has written music for Singapore's renowned dance choreographer Jeffrey Tan, T.H.E Dance Company. He also collaborated with various artists/musicians internationally, including Yasuo Watani (Japan, harmonica), Marsha Chow (HK, organ), Alba Escayo (Spain, visual artist/painter), Stefen Chow (Beijing, photographer), Helena Hulsman (Netherlands, jazz vocals, Montreux Jazz Competition Finalist).
His original works have been performed in Brazil, Poland, Spain, France, UK, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China.
Contemporary Music
With his contemporary music group TO ensemble, he has created immersive music experiences and performed for Cartier's International Women's Initiative Awards 2017, DBS Treasury Private Clients Dinner 2016, Xynteo's Performance Theatre Dinner, National Gallery Singapore's inaugural Gallery Late Night series, the Official Opening of Singapore's iconic Gardens by the Bay, Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame 2010 and presented creative fusion dinner concerts with Coriander Leaf restaurant.
He's also performed in various local and international festivals including the Delft Fringe Festival (Netherlands), Spoiwa Kultury Festival (Poland), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Singapore International Festival of Music, IMEX (Indonesia Music Expo), Titian Budaya festival (Malaysia), ASEAN Jazz Festival (Indonesia), Singapore Arts Festival, MOSAIC Music festival, Hua Yi Arts Festival of Chinese Arts and Kalaa Utsavam Festival.
He loves the music of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ennio Morricone, Keith Jarrett, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, Rachmaninoff, Yoko Kanno, Nobuo Uematsu, Brad Mehldau, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, the films of Alfonso Cuarón, Richard Curtis and Alex Garland, the works of Nederlands Dans Theater and TAO Dance Theater.
