Far East Sounds is an interdisciplinary performance project exploring the meeting point and dialogue between different cultural, sonic, and environmental worlds. Centred on the encounter between Western contemporary music and the sound worlds of Southeast Asia—particularly Balinese gamelan—the project examines how performers, technology, environment, and audience interact within the present moment of performance.
An interactive video installation draws on the rich and biodiverse sounds of Sungai Renggang Sinderut in Pahang, recorded by soundscape artist Yii Kah Hoe. The installation transports listeners into the sonic and visual landscapes of Southeast Asia, bringing the environment into the performance space. Rather than functioning as a backdrop, it participates alongside the performers, prompting musical responses, improvisation, and dialogue.
Through works by composers from Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the United States, Far East Sounds explores a shared space of play and encounter—one that is organic yet focused, and not confined by cultural or geographical difference. The project seeks to create new relationships between human and environmental sound, and to consider how different musical languages and histories might coexist, interact, and transform one another.
Ultimately, Far East Sounds asks how the present of performance can become a space in which disparate musical languages, places, and histories are brought into renewed dialogue, continually reshaping how we listen, perceive, and narrate our relationship with the world around us.
PROGRAMME
Prologue: Video installation by YII KAH HOE
EVAN ZIPORYN
Pondok (2000)
DAI FUJIKURA
Samarasa (2010)
UNSUK CHIN
Piano Étude No. 1, “In C” (2003)
JACK BODY & WAYAN YUDANE
Paradise Regained (2004)
LOU HARRISON
Varied Trio (1987)
Epilogue: Collective composition-improvisation with interactive video
BARTOSZ WOROCH, violin
MEI YI FOO, piano
JOACHIM THEODORE LIM, percussion
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS
Polish-born violinist Bartosz Woroch is a prize winner at major international competitions including the Pablo Sarasate Competition in Spain and Michael Hill Competition in New Zealand. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Polish Radio Orchestras, working with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Libor Pešek and Łukasz Borowicz.
A dedicated chamber musician, Bartosz has collaborated with artists including Pekka Kuusisto, Sting, Uri Caine, Jörg Widmann, Piotr Anderszewski and Tom Morris. His recordings Dancer on a Tightrope and ConNotations, with Britten Sinfonia and pianist Mei Yi Foo, have received critical acclaim.
Winner of the 2013 BBC Music Magazine Best Newcomer Award, Mei Yi Foo is an internationally acclaimed pianist known for her eclectic repertoire and adventurous artistry. She has performed with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic and Fort Worth Symphony, and at festivals including Lucerne, Ultraschall Berlin and London’s Southbank Centre. Her recordings on Sony, Naxos and Odradek have received international critical acclaim.
Born in Malaysia and based in the UK, Mei Yi is Professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and previously served as Artist-in-Residence at Maynooth University. She received the Setiawan Tuanku Muhriz medal for her contributions to the arts. In 2025, she founded the Nine Arts Festival in Negeri Sembilan, where she serves as Artistic Director.
Joachim Lim is a versatile percussionist known for his adaptability and “razor-sharp” performances (The Straits Times) across multiple genres. A Valedictorian graduate of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, he holds a Master’s degree from the Peabody Institute and has performed with orchestras, chamber ensembles and pop artists across the region and internationally.
Joachim co-founded Morse Percussion in 2020 and performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in 2025 as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. He is also a founding member of classical-crossover group Lorong Boys, which performed a Concerto Grosso with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2022, and a percussionist with The TENG Ensemble, which bridges Asian and Western musical traditions through performance and community outreach. He has taught masterclasses internationally, including at The Tianjin Juilliard School. Joachim is a Freer Percussion Artist and currently serves as Artist Faculty at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.