Artist Spotlight: Chok Kerong

Spotlight

Feb 4

Between Composition, Collaboration, and the Big Picture

Some artists are defined by a single role. Chok Kerong has built his career by refusing to be limited to one.

Widely regarded as one of Singapore’s most versatile musical voices, Kerong is a keyboardist, composer, songwriter, producer, and curator whose work moves fluidly across genres and formats. From jazz and orchestral writing to pop, gospel, and large-scale collaborative projects, his practice is defined by clarity of vision and an instinct for connection.

At Lion City Jazz Festival 2026, Kerong’s presence is felt across multiple layers of the festival — as performer, musical director, collaborator, and curator — shaping not only how the music sounds, but how it comes together.

A Language Built Across Genres

Chok Kerong’s music resists easy categorisation. His compositions have been performed by artists and ensembles ranging from Jeremy Monteiro and Randy Brecker to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra.

As a recording artist, he released two instrumental albums — 2012’s Good Company and 2017’s Tales They Told Me — works that reflect a composer’s approach to structure and storytelling. In 2023, he unveiled a collaborative album with singer-songwriter Vanessa Fernandez, blending hip-hop, classic soul, rock, and gospel. The project was widely praised for its cohesion and musical honesty, underscoring Kerong’s strength as both producer and songwriter.

Writing for the Stage, the City, and the Moment

Kerong’s recent compositional work demonstrates an increasing engagement with scale and public space. Through the Nebula: Concerto for Saxophone, commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, placed jazz language within an orchestral framework. Here We Are, written in collaboration with Charlie Lim, served as the official theme song for Singapore’s 2025 National Day Parade — a moment where contemporary songwriting, national narrative, and collective experience converged.

These projects reflect Kerong’s growing role as a composer who writes not only for musicians, but for audiences and contexts beyond the concert hall.

Educator, Leader, Curator

Alongside his creative work, Chok Kerong plays a key leadership role within Singapore’s jazz ecosystem. He serves as Assistant Executive Director and Deputy Music Director at the Jazz Association Singapore, Principal Tutor of the National University of Singapore Jazz Band, and lecturer at the National Institute of Education.

In recognition of his contributions to music, he was awarded the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore Artistic Excellence Award in 2025.

At LCJF 2026, Kerong’s curatorial voice is especially present — shaping conversations, mentoring contexts, and the flow between performances.

Singaporeana: Our Sound, Our Stories

Kerong’s curatorial sensibility comes to life most vividly in Singaporeana, one of the festival’s defining concerts.

Singaporeana – Our Sound, Our Stories
https://www.lioncityjazz.com/singaporeana

Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2026
Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Venue: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium, Level 9
Tickets:
- Cat 1: $50
- Cat 2: $35

Directed by Chok Kerong, Singaporeana brings together voices from across Singapore’s musical landscape — weaving soul, pop, Indian classical, Malay traditions, and contemporary songwriting into a shared jazz-rooted language.

Hosting the Conversation: Playing the Long Game

Kerong also hosts one of the festival’s most reflective sessions:

Playing the Long Game: Sustaining a Life in Music
by Teriver Cheung
Hosted by Chok Kerong

Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2026
Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Venue: Gateway Theatre, Blackbox L8
Tickets: $15
More info:
https://www.lioncityjazz.com/playing-the-long-game-sustaining-a-life-in-music-by-teriver-cheung-hk

The session looks beyond technique and career highlights, focusing instead on endurance, adaptability, and the long arc of a meaningful life in music.

The Finale: Collective Energy

As a performer, Kerong also takes the stage at the festival’s culminating moment:

Finale Concert – The Brecker Brothers & Beyond
https://www.lioncityjazz.com/finale-concert-the-music-of-the-brecker-brothers

Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2026
Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Venue: Gateway Theatre, Singapore

Led by Randy Brecker and Ada Rovatti, the Finale Concert gathers an international ensemble under the JASSYO! banner — expansive, high-energy, and forward-looking.

The Role Between Notes

Chok Kerong’s work reminds us that music is not only about individual expression, but about creating conditions for others to thrive. As composer, collaborator, and curator, he operates in the space between notes — where structure meets spontaneity, and ideas become shared experiences.

At Lion City Jazz Festival 2026, that role has never been more visible.