Biography
Written in English & Chinese
Thoughts with a little Japanese and Korean
English
Described as having 'idioms of Hollywood film music and Broadway musicals' (The Straits Times, 2023) which 'emanated a variety of aromatic incenses' (pianofortephilia, 2022), US-based Singaporean composer and double bassist Edmund Song is a re-imaginer of Eastern Traditional music with a Western flair.
Edmund began his career as an engraver and copyist for ensembles before becoming an arranger and orchestrator, collaborating with numerous international singers such as Nathan Hartono, Rahimah Rahim, Joanna Dong, and Derrick Hoh. He then ventured into music production and game music, working with 24 Gigakus (Sichuan) and Game Soul Technology (Taiwan) respectively. His recent compositional collaborations include works for Hub New Music, PRISM Quartet, and HyperCube Ensemble, Standing Wave Ensemble, as well as being awarded the Leslie Bassett Graduate Award at Alba Music Festival 2023. In 2023, Edmund will collaborate with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago fellows to feature his film score "The Smart Dog" in concert. Additionally, Edmund will curate the Jacobs School of Music's first student-organised "film score in concert" at Auer Hall, showcasing his film scores and rarely-seen-live Foley presentations.
As a double bassist, Edmund was selected as one of five soloists in the 17th Annual Pirastro Strings Elite Soloists Program in 2020. He also won first prize in the solo division (U-25) of the 2019 Singapore International Double Bass Music Festival and was the sole winner of the 2019 Lan Yang International Double Bass Orchestral Contest. In May 2019, Edmund premiered the symphonic orchestral version of Eric Watson's Double Bass Concerto at the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore. In 2016, he was the founding double bassist of Singapore's first professional chamber orchestra, re:Sound Collective, and in 2018, he became the founding musician of Singapore's first professional Baroque Ensemble, Red Dot Baroque. Currently, Red Dot Baroque is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore. In 2019, Edmund founded BASS around Asia, a Singaporean-Taiwanese Double Bass Quintet, and tours with his chamber mates between Singapore and Taiwan to promote the double bass and its compositions. Edmund also performs upright bass with the award-winning Indian pop contemporary and jazz ensemble, Brahmastra. In the US, Edmund has collaborated on multiple occasions with the Bloomington Bach Cantata projects alongside the Historical Performance faculty of the Jacobs School of Music.
Before leaving for the US, Edmund served as the President and General Manager of the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra (ACSO), which has been promoting multicultural performances with Asian traditional instruments through a symphonic setting, featuring local composers and artists since 2016. With music directors Adrian Chiang and Dedric Wong, Edmund has produced concerts ranging from traditional staged performances to film score concerts, digital streaming events, and orchestral collaborations with dance and beatbox artists. Due to the orchestra's unique instrumentation, which includes an additional Asian ethnic section integrated into the symphony orchestra, Edmund has been advocating for and assisting composers in understanding how to write for and integrate Asian instruments into their compositions.
Edmund is currently studying at the Jacobs School of Music in the US, focusing on media scoring with Larry Groupe, composition with PQ Phan and Annie Gosfield, and double bass with Kurt Muroki. Edmund graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and is currently the appointed Composer-in-Residence of the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra.
中文
集演奏家、作曲家、指揮於一身，宋俊杰曾受新加坡Strait Times讚譽其低音提琴演奏「令人難忘其 多元及豐厚的演奏」以及創作曲目「充滿各式風味」(pianofortephilia, 2022)。目前活躍於美國及新 加坡，致力創作融合東⻄方元素。
起因於樂譜編輯，他進一步成為編曲家及樂團配器者並與多位著名歌手合作，其中包含向洋, Rahimah Rahim 和 何維健。他亦參與音樂製作及遊戲配樂，其中包含二十四技樂(四川)以及耕碩科 技(台灣)。深受亞洲樂器薰陶並致力於其發展，他於2022年成為亞洲文化交響樂團(ACSO)駐團作曲 家並多次參與鼎藝團(Ding Yi Music Company)創作。同年，他參與多項電影配樂音樂節，其中包含 Fusion Film Scoring Workshop (希臘)、Wintergreen Music Festival (美國)、NYU Screen Scoring Programs (美國)、Emerging Composer Festival (加拿大)。同年，他與鼎藝團合作首演舞台劇《楚 霸王》。其與亞洲文化交響樂團及沙畫家Lawrence Koh合作的作品《 如切 幻想曲》亦獲第一名殊 榮，其中他參與了沙畫配樂及影像製作。
在樂曲創作外，他獲選於2020年參加17th Annual Pirastro Strings Elite Soloists Program;於2019 年榮獲新加坡國際低音提琴音樂節獨奏類 (U-25) 第一名，以及榮獲蘭陽國際低音提琴音樂比賽唯一 贏家。同年，他於新加坡維多利亞音樂廳首演了Eric Watson的低音提琴協奏曲。他於2016年成為 re:Sound Collective(新加坡首個專業室內樂團)成團低音提琴演奏家，以及2018年紅點巴洛克The Red Dot Baroque (新加坡首個專業巴洛克樂團，目前駐團於新加坡楊秀桃音樂院) 成團演奏家。於 2019年，他創辦BASS around Asia (低音提琴五重奏)並積極於新加坡與台灣兩地演出及推廣低音提 琴作品。除了古典低音提琴，他亦演奏爵士提琴並曾與印度流行現代爵士團, Brahmastra合作演出。 在美國期間，他積極參與早期音樂的演出，其中包含和印第安納大學音樂學院的教授們合作演出多 個巴赫清唱劇。
赴美求學前，他自2016年起擔任亞洲文化交響樂團行政總監，致力推廣多元文化及亞洲傳統樂器。 期間，與指揮家Adrian Chiang及Dedric Wong製作多項演出，包含舞蹈及口技、電影配樂等。因其 特殊樂團配置，他亦成功讓作曲家理解了融合亞洲器樂至作品的可能性。
他畢業於新加坡楊秀桃音樂院，目前就讀於印第安納大學主修電影配樂、低音提琴及輔修作曲，分 別師從於Larry Groupe (配樂)、Kurt Muroki (低音提琴) 以及 PQ Phan 和 Annie Gosfield (作曲)。