List of Performances

2016

LAND with NO SUN II: Dance of the Earth

DATE: 27 February 2016 TIME: 7:30pm VENUE: Esplanade Recital Studio

The year is 2051.
After the apocalypse, we rebuilt our civilization in the skies.
Now we live in perfect societies of technology - our Sky-cities, while the natural world below us dies.

Is this the beginning, or the end?

A third world war in the distant future had devastated the Earth's surface and forced humanity to rebuild their civilization in the heavens. A girl born in the sky-cities sees a whale for the first time in a hologram, and begins to wonder if life still existed on the world below. She escapes to the surface in search of answers, and unexpectedly journeys through humanity’s past, present and future.

LAND with NO SUN II: Dance of the Earth is an immersive audio-film concert which combines video/animation, sound design and live fusion music, performed by the groundbreaking TO ensemble and its contemporary orchestra.

Experience a journey of hope and discovery with original music, orchestration and story by award-winning composer Tze Toh, featuring soloists Lazar T.Sebastine (Indian violin), Boon Chye Teo (saxophone), Christina Zhou (violin), Shing Min Yap (soprano), Wei Lung Wong (drums).

Review by The Straits Times

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK: “Great compositions. Imaginative. Love the idea of a different world”

“We came to the first episode of this series last year and it's amazing how much you guys have progressed and improved since the last one. It's great musically, we enjoyed every bit of the performance and the visuals too, glad to be able to catch it again! Fascinating production!”

“Came before for LAND with NO SUN and this time really enjoyed it as comparison. Like the Dance of the Earth.”

“Enjoyed all of it and this isn't just out of convenience to your question. I'm having a hard time picking my favourites. It was really awesome. Nice!”

“You have got some very talented musicians. Music pieces were lovely. Overall, the whole concert was sweet and enjoyable.”

“Wonderful music and consistent story. It really touched me.”

“I like the sharing session as we can learn more about the performance and it quenches my curiosity=)”

Please visit Gallery photos here

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H960637PX6o

CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy1BSFO9qzE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R5rIn-CuFs

LAND with NO SUN Music Sharing Session

DATE: 22 January 2016 TIME: 7:30pm VENUE: Grassroots Book Room

Composer pianist Tze Toh of contemporary fusion music group TO ensemble shares about the creative process behind the music for their upcoming concert LAND with NO SUN II : Dance of the Earth. A fusion of film score, jazz and Asian sounds, the ensemble's music has been described as "sophisticated and accessible" by The Business Times.

He will discuss how the environmental issues facing the world today and elements of nature inspired the melodies and sounds he composed for the concert. He and fellow musicians from TO ensemble will perform excerpts of music from the concert.

2015

Gallery Late Night

DATE: 18 December 2015 TIME: 8pm, 9pm VENUE: Supreme Court Terrace, National Gallery Singapore

SERIES: Gallery Late Night

Get a dose of late-night inspiration every month at the National Gallery Singapore when the sun sets and the fun continues!

Our inaugural Gallery Late Night programme this 18 Dec celebrates Defining Moments in 2015. Come fill your evening with an invigorating line-up of late-night curated tours, live music performances by local group TO ensemble, specialty bites and museum merchandise by Gallery & Co., and a glass of bubbly by Champagne Perrier-Jouët which is the official champagne for National Gallery Singapore, while browsing our must-see exhibitions and spectacular building architecture till 10:00pm.

Performance photos here

Improvfunsation - Contemporary Improvisation Workshop

Date: 11 December 2015 Time: 7:15pm, 8:15pm, 9:15pm Venue: Esplanade Concourse

Description: Led by violinist Rei Tan and flautist Clement Chan, Improvfunsation is a collective of classically trained MEP students from various schools who seek to explore new and diverse music experiences through improvisation and experimentation with alternative musical genres. Coached by soloists from TO ensemble, pianist Tze Toh, violinist Christina Zhou, drummer Weilung Wong and saxophonist Teo Boon Chye, this young ensemble performs their exciting collective improvisations, arrangements and also original music by Tze Toh.

Concert highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lh65xTlEwc

LAND with NO SUN: Whispers of the Wind

Date: 21 and 22 November 2015 Time: 3pm, 9pm Venue: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Festival: Titian Budaya

In the distant future, a third World War ravaged much of the Earth’s surface. Mankind tried to rebuild civilization in massive Sky-cities. Others continued to live on the contaminated surface. Among them, a girl was born with the ability to understand the secret language of the Wind– a gift that could ultimately lead to survival for her people, and possibly a means to alter the future.

LAND with NO SUN: Whispers of the Wind is a continuation of TO ensemble’s highly successful 2015 audio-film concert LAND with NO SUN. Experience an audio-film journey of hope and discovery through a sonic tapestry of jazz, film, carnatic and classical music.

Featuring original story and music by award-winning composer Tze Toh, and performed by Lazar T.Sebastine (Indian violin), Christina Zhou (violin), Wong Wei Lung (drums), Takako Tsurumi (cello) and Tze Toh (piano).

Audience feedback:

Titian Budaya Website Link: http://titianbudayasg.com/to-ensemble/

Concert highlights:

Jazz Composer's Series for LARGE Ensembles (October Edition)

Date: 5 October 2015 Time: 9pm, 10pm Venue: Blujaz Cafe

TO ensemble (formerly Tze n Looking Glass) performs music from their albums Stories from Wonderland and Return to Wonderland. A contemporary Asia fusion group, they play original music which is a blend of film score, jazz, India, Chinese and European classical music.

Performance photos here

JB Arts Festival

Date: 23 September 2015 Time: 8:30pm Venue: The Black Box@Map Nusajaya

Festival: JB Arts (JBAF)

Tze n' Looking Glass is a talk and performance presented by jazz pianist and upcoming Singaporean composer Toh Tze Chin. He will be sharing his views on composing film music, influences (with focus on Asian influence, e.g. Indian Carnatic music, and illustrating the concepts of collective improvisation together with established jazz saxophonist Teo Boon Chye through musical examples and performances of his original music and film compositions.

Audience feedback: "Free flow of musical expression. Enjoyed it very much!"

Red Dot Radio

Date: 1 August 2015 Time: 8:45pm, 10pm Venue: Esplanade Waterfront

Description: Tze n Looking Glass celebrate Singapore's unique identity as a melting pot of cultures and a gateway between the East and the West. Soloists Lazar T. Sebastine (Indian violin) and Wu Bing Ling (violin) perform original fusion pieces and film scores by composer-pianist Tze Toh, with Wong Wei Lung (drums) and Wendy Phua (e.bass), accompanied by the string ensemble with Karen De Silva, Barnabas Chua, Tomoko Kakegawa and Takako Tsurumi.

Audience feedback: "Great music!"

Concert highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inWtPF6FP90

LAND with NO SUN: Promemoria

Date: 25 May 2015 Time: 8pm Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio

The year is 2050. Humans now live in massive Sky-cities. Artificial mechanical lifeforms known as Archivists observe and collect data on human beings daily - our memories, dreams. They were built into our new system/society to logically maintain order and progress - a fail-safe to prevent future global conflicts like the last war that devastated the planet, and drove Man from the Earth's surface to seek a new Utopia in the skies.

The Archivists store our memories, dreams in digital form, abstracting each into a piece of music to create visualizations of them.

This is the story of the beginning, told through the eyes of The Archivist - a portrait of life in the future, where humans are seeking a new life, displaced from their organic world and building a new technological sanctuary.

Promemoria is a sequel to LAND with NO SUN, Tze n Looking Glass' highly successful recent concert and continues to explore themes/issues that affect our world today, e.g. loss of natural environments, impact of technology on human evolution and society etc.

It is a solo piano concert that pushes boundaries of piano music, bringing together not only various genres from jazz, film score, fusion, classical, Anime soundtracks to the orchestral and textural, but also combines "live" piano performance with sound design.

Come experience a solo piano journey like no other, where memories and dreams of tomorrow perhaps long for the Earth of yesterday, and discover what the future holds.

Featuring original music & sound design by Tze Toh

with Cast:
Tze Toh (piano) as The Archivist
Christina Zhou (violin) as The Girl in the Wind
Gabriel Lee (violin) as The Messenger

Review by The Straits Times

Audience feedback:

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAced_03wkM

Performance photos here

LAND with NO SUN

Date: 29 January 2015 Time: 7:30pm Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio

Tze n Looking Glass presents a unique audio-film concert which tells the story of a post-apocalypse world, seen through the lives of 10 different characters. In a future Earth where the sun has been extinguished, digitized memories are sent back in time to preserve humanity's history, dreams - it is also possibly man's last act in hope of creating a better future/past.

Come experience this journey of original music + video art/projections, featuring Tze Toh (piano/Macbook + keyboard), Teo Boon Chye (sax), Lazar T.Sebastine (Indian violin), Felicia Teo (voice), Christina Zhou (violin), Tomoko Kakegawa (viola), Masato Miyata (bass), Luke Ng (cello), Christoph Wichert (bassoon) and Wei Lung (drums).

The Longest Dream

Date: 5 September 2013 Time: Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio

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Review by The Straits Times

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Festival: Ha Yi Arts

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Kalaa

Date: 2010 Time: Venue:

Festival: Kalaa Utsavam Indian Festival of Arts

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National Day Celebrations - Fusion Fever

Date: 9 August 2010 Time: Venue: Esplanade Waterfront

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Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame (JYOF)

Date: 2 August 2010 Time: Venue: Auckland

Description: Singapore Showcase

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Flipside Origins

Date: 2010 Time: Venue:

Festival: Singapore Arts

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Electronic Fusion

Date: 26 March 2010 Time: Venue: Esplanade Waterfront

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2009

Jazz Piano Trio

Date: 2009 Time: Venue:

Festival: ASEAN Jazz

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2008

Jazz Piano Trio

Date: 2008 Time: Venue:

Festival: ASEAN Jazz

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