This March, The Esoterics is thrilled to be kicking off its 33rd concert season with Bellevue Youth Choirs! This exciting collaboration was first suggested by Kayla Johnson, the director of BYC, who has also sung for several seasons with The Esoterics. Both directors have been fascinated by the music of the Malaysian-Canadian composer, Tracy Wong, and approached her about programming a concert for three choirs of different ages – singing in tandem as well as together. On this concert weekend, the two ensembles of BYC (Lyrica and Cantare) and The Esoterics will be joined by percussionist James Doyle and pianist Nathan Shiu to present a concert of twenty different choral works by Tracy Wong, who will be joining us from Ontario.

Dr Wong hails from Malaysia and is a choral conductor, music educator, composer, vocalist, and pianist. She is passionate about choral education and strives to create compositions that not only provide unique aural experiences, but also teach young singers about to develop vocal technique, musicianship skills, and artistry. 

In a continuous search to define her Chinese-Malaysian-Canadian identity, Tracy’s music evinces a truly remarkable blending of influences. Her texts come from sources as disparate as Bihzhu and Fairuz Fee Tauhid (a Malaysian pop singer and dancer), the Filipino writers Kitbielle Pasagui and Joey Gianan Vargas, Hildegard of Bingen, French Canadian folk music, and Marianas Trench, the pop-rock band from Vancouver.