A recipient of Singapore’s National Arts Council Arts Scholarship, Joel is the first Singaporean to graduate, summa cum laude, from Berklee College of Music’s Master of Music degree program in Valencia, Spain, majoring in Scoring for Film, Television and Video Games. Joel studied classical piano with piano virtuoso Ong Lip Tat, and was mentored by Cultural Medallion recipient Iskandar Mirza Ismail. At Berklee, Joel studied composition and orchestration from Alfons Conde, conducting with Maestro Constantino Martínez Ortz. He has collaborated with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, the Budapest Art Orchestra, and several principal players from the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana.
Upon his return from studies, Joel has been actively involved in the theatre scene, as music director, arranger and orchestrator to several local musicals. Selected theatre credits include: Pangdemonium Productions’ RENT, The Full Monty, Spring Awakening, Next To Normal, The Rise & Fall Of Little Voice; Dream Academy Productions’ Company, Into The Woods; Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Forbidden City: Portrait of An Empress (2006); Mediacorp Vizpro’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; SingTheatre’s Jacques Brel Is Alive & Well & Living in Paris (2016); BASE Entertainment (Marina Bay Sands)’s The Lion King, WICKED, The Phantom of the Opera (2013). Joel is also a keen composer, having scored several short films, commercials and stage shows. He hopes to find more opportunities in writing and scoring original music.
OFF KILTER 