MUSIC-MAKING IN LATER LIFE

Presentation by JOSEPH N STRAUS

What does it mean to make music in later life? In this presentation, Joseph N. Straus approaches old age not as a biological status or medical condition, but as a cultural formation and identity with its own distinctive ways of being and creating. Rather than viewing later-life musical practices through an ageist lens—as diminished, exceptional, or valuable only despite the composer’s or performer’s age—Straus asks what becomes possible when we recognise later life itself as a source of creativity, agency, and flourishing.

The presentation considers how we might listen to and understand music created in later life on its own terms, and what such practices can reveal about identity, creativity, and the experience of ageing.

THE IMPACT OF MUSIC-MAKING IN LATER LIFE ON WELLBEING

Panel Discussion

Following Straus’s presentation, the discussion turns more explicitly to the relationship between music-making, ageing, health, and wellbeing. The panel brings together perspectives from artistic research, music and health, and the public understanding of risk, considering how sustained musical engagement in later life may contribute to wellbeing, social connection, and quality of life.

PANELLISTS

JOSEPH N STRAUS
Distinguished Professor of Music Theory
City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center

Joseph Straus is Distinguished Professor of Music Theory at the CUNY Graduate Center. With a specialization in music since 1900, he has written numerous technical music-theoretical articles and scholarly monographs on a variety of topics in modernist music, including Remaking the Past: Musical Modernism and the Influence of the Tonal Tradition (Harvard University Press, 1990), The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger (Cambridge University Press, 1995), Stravinsky’s Late Music (Cambridge University Press, 2001), and Twelve-Tone Music in America (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

He has also written a series of articles and books that engage disability as a cultural practice, including Extraordinary Measures: Music and Disability (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Broken Beauty: Musical Modernism and the Representation of Disability (Oxford University Press, 2018). His most recent book is Cultural Narratives of Old Age in the Lives, Work, and Reception of Old Musicians (Routledge, 2025). He has also written textbooks that have become standard references, including Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, now in its fourth edition, and Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony (co-authored with Poundie Burstein). Many of his books and articles have received publication awards from the Society for Music Theory, of which he was President from 1997–99.

KAT AGRES
Director, Centre for Music and Health
Assistant Professor, YST Conservatory of Music

Dr Kat Agres is an Assistant Professor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Founding Director of the Centre for Music and Health, Southeast Asia’s first research centre of its kind. She also holds a joint appointment with NUS’s Mind Science Centre. Prior to joining NUS, she led the Music Cognition group at A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing. Kat earned her PhD in Psychology from Cornell University and conducted postdoctoral research in Music Cognition and Computational Creativity at Queen Mary University of London. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance and Cognitive Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research explores music interventions and technologies for health and well-being, music cognition, and computational creativity. Her work has received funding in the US, UK, EU, and Singapore. She has presented in more than 20 countries, published over 50 peer-reviewed papers, and performed professionally as a cellist.

LEONARD LEE
Professor and Director
Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR)

Leonard Lee is Lloyd’s Register Foundation Professor and Director of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR), and Professor of Marketing at NUS Business School, National University of Singapore (NUS). His research investigates how emotional and cognitive factors influence consumer judgments and decision making, with applications in public policy domains such as healthcare and sustainability. Leonard received a BSc in Computer and Information Sciences from NUS, a MS in Computer Science from Stanford University, and a PhD in Management (Marketing) from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Consumer Psychology and the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. He is also serving on the Editorial Review Boards of Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Letters, Risk Sciences, and Foundations and Trends in Marketing.

RACHEL HO
Flautist
Instructor, YST Conservatory of Music

Rachel Ho is a baroque and modern flautist and founding member of Red Dot Baroque and Gaolat Quintet. She gave the world premiere of Eric Watson’s Concerto Arabesque with Resound Collective, and her cross-cultural collaboration with Vamshika Quintet, an Indian bansuri ensemble, was praised for creating “true objects of beauty” (The Straits Times, 2024).

Passionate about music’s role in fostering intergenerational connection and wellbeing, Rachel has facilitated creative music-making programmes with children, at-risk youth and seniors. These include Music for Life, an improvisation-based practice for people living with dementia at WoonZorgcentra Haaglanden; Sing Out Loud! with Esplanade; and Take Flight at Singapore Girls’ Home. She has presented her work at symposiums in Singapore, Thailand and Australia.

Rachel holds a Master’s in Music Education from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and is pursuing a PhD in Music Practices at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, where she also teaches community engagement and professional integration.

TICKETING INFORMATION

Admission is free and on a first-come, first-served basis. For everyone’s safety, admission will close once the venue reaches full capacity.

Out of respect for all patrons, late admission will only be allowed at suitable intervals. No children under 6 years of age will be allowed admission. Food and drinks are not allowed inside the venue.