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In her role as the 2023-24 composer-in-residence for the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMChoir), Tracy Wong is not only thinking like a composer, she approaches her work with the mindset of an educator, a conductor, a vocalist, and a cultural translator.
Under the baton of Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the TMChoir and the Toronto Children’s Chorus (TCC) will première Wong’s new composition, Patah Tumbuh, which translates from Malay to “broken – renewed,” alongside Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’s Schicksalslied, as part of their Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 concerts at Roy Thomson Hall.
As soon as the Ontario-based composer learned her commission would be programmed in a concert that featured the Toronto Children’s Chorus, she approached Vallée about adding a part for the esteemed children’s choir to her composition. His enthusiasm for this addition is demonstrative of what Wong describes as some of the highlights of her residency with the TMChoir: the strong working relationship between herself and Vallée, and the freedom she has been afforded to explore innovative ideas and flex her skills with new compositional techniques.
Patah Tumbuh is Wong’s first time writing for a double choir, with separate parts for the TMChoir and the TCC, which weave into and out of each other with dance-like rhythms. The vocal range gradually expands over the course of the piece, a courtesy Wong provides the singers as they warm up for the wonderfully challenging Carmina Burana programmed on the second half of the program. Having previously worked with the TCC, Wong knew the “robust impact” the talented young singers could have in this performance. They are thus a main feature in Patah Tumbuh. In fact, it is often the adult choir that accompanies them, rather than the more typical inverse configuration. Wong hopes that by making space for the young choristers to collaborate alongside the older professionals, they will get to see—and hear—what a future in choral singing might be like. “That’s the teacher’s hat coming in!” she chuckles.
Patah Tumbuh is based on Malay proverbs that describe the universal themes of resilience and renewal. Hailing from Malaysia, Wong wanted her piece to introduce elements of Malaysian folk music to Canadian audiences. Moreover, she hopes it will serve to underline the many ways that cultures across the globe share the traditions and storytelling practices that Patah Tumbuh embodies. The vocal writing is inspired by the traditional gamelan instruments used in Malaysia’s shadow puppet theatre. Wong draws a parallel between the gods of Sanskrit folklore who appear in that theatre practice and the mythology upon which Carmina Burana is based. In her words, “we have so much more in common in music and tradition than we think.”
Wong’s new composition, alongside Orff’s Carmina Burana, will be performed by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir on Oct. 26 and 27 in Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall. www.tmchoir.org
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