Marcus Lee: championing Southeast Asian choral voices

Born into a home filled with music, Marcus Lee grew up with the piano in daily practice, karaoke in the evenings and stacks of choir scores that eventually led to his own venture, Muziksea. He learned to play the violin, piano and electone, but it was through singing in choirs that his passion truly ignited. At school he sang with the Tanjong Katong Secondary School Choir, Vocal Consort, Victoria Junior College Choir and Victoria Chorale. By the age of 18, he had already competed in several international competitions as both a singer and student conductor, winning category prizes and the Grand Prix at the Riva del Garda Choral Competition in Italy under the guidance of his mentor Nelson Kwei. “He was a profound inspiration,” Lee recalls, “and my fascination with choral singing has been an obsession ever since.” A different path Eight years ago, Lee took a bold step by pursuing a master’s degree in choral conducting in the Philippines – the first Singaporean to do so. While many peers looked to Europe or the United States, he wanted to learn from the country that had produced so many world-class choirs. 'My thinking was, why not go to the land of choral champions and find out their secrets?' he says. At the Centro Escolar Conservatory of Music he discovered not only outstanding training but also the remarkable talent of Filipino musicians and composers. Unlike Singapore, where many parents worry about the financial viability of a music career, the Philippines has a long tradition of choral music and artistic expression. Lee found a vast and well-written library of works, much of it inaccessible outside the country. The reasons were clear: a lack of recordings and online sharing, and a culture in which composers often allowed their commissioned works to spread only by word of mouth. When Lee returned to Singapore, he brought many of these pieces with him. They were warmly received by singers and audiences alike, and soon he began connecting local conductors directly with Filipino composers. But as demand grew, he realised this “broker” model was not sustainable. The birth of Muziksea Six years ago, digital sheet music was still in its infancy. Physical copies were the norm, and printing and storing inventory would have been a logistical nightmare. 'I had no expertise in the existing technology or administrative processes,” Lee admits. “So I decided to approach two friends with my idea.' One of them was Gerald Tan, a tech-savvy friend of more than 20 years who had always encouraged Lee’s bursts of ideas. Tan brought in another colleague – a skilled administrator and fellow choral enthusiast – and together they began to shape the platform. The first website, built cheaply by an acquaintance to save costs, was a failure. 'The sales system and processes were simply not adequate,' Lee says. It took hiring a professional company to automate workflows before Muziksea had a foundation it could build on. The greater challenge was a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Composers were hesitant to entrust their rights and sales to a company with no track record, while choirs saw little reason to use a platform with no catalogue. Lee is quick to credit his teachers Maria Theresa Vizconde Roldan, Jude Bautista Roldan and Dr Zechariah Goh, who persuaded colleagues to take a chance. 'This was a pivotal moment,' he says. From the beginning, the team set out to do things differently. Major distributors often paid only a small fraction of sales to composers. Muziksea’s vision was to establish a central archive of Southeast Asian choral works, to support festivals and competitions with cash prizes, and to ensure composers were consistently rewarded. 'Profit would never be our focus,' Lee explains. 'We wanted composers to be paid fairly, and for their music to be celebrated and performed widely.' Building a legacy Today, Lee’s role centres on building and nurturing relationships with composers and conductors, while his team manages the day-to-day running of the platform. They are constantly working on new systems to make their operations more efficient, and Lee actively seeks collaborations beyond Asia to help spread Southeast Asia’s choral gems to global audiences. 'Every piece of music we make today weaves the tapestry of what will become known as 21st-century music.' Muziksea has recently supported prizes at Sing’n’Joy Bohol, the Ken Steven International Festival and the Philippine Choral Directors Association’s composition contest. Last year it commissioned eight new works by eight different composers. Most ambitious of all is the Muziksea World Choir Commissioning Project, which brings together a consortium of choirs from around the world to co-commission a composer and premiere the work in their own countries. Lee sees these initiatives as part of a long-term vision. 'Our goal is to leave behind a central archive and resource library that will be easily accessible to everyone, for generations to come,' he says. Shaping the future Lee believes conductors and choirs play a vital role in shaping the cultural future. 'We must be farsighted enough to know that every piece of music we make today weaves the tapestry of what will become known as 21st-century music,' he says. 'Conductors should be informed practitioners of historical repertoire, but also bold stewards of our current culture.' He acknowledges that the cost of commissioning new works can seem daunting. 'But those with limited resources must be creative and resourceful to make meaningful programmes a reality. This is a powerful way to shape our cultural future.' Beyond the podium Away from his professional commitments, Lee is drawn to the outdoors, especially hiking. If he could meet one composer, he says it would be Francisco Feliciano. And the very first piece he ever sang? Robert Pearsall’s Who Shall Have My Lady Fair. For Marcus Lee, Muziksea represents more than a platform. It is a way to preserve and share the rich diversity of Southeast Asian choral music, building a legacy that will inspire conductors, singers and audiences for generations to come.