“Exciting and refreshing” (Alan Cooper), “original and harmonically engaging” (The Flying Inkpot), and “luminous” (The Straits Times): Kenneth Tay is a Singaporean composer, conductor, and choral practitioner currently undertaking a PhD in Music Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His research explores how Southeast Asian musical traditions and narratives can converse with Western sacred music, creating new possibilities for intercultural encounter. He is supervised by Oliver Searle, Stuart MacRae and Zechariah Goh, and supported by the RCS Trust and Tan Kah Kee Foundation.

His compositions have been performed internationally by ensembles including The Marian Consort (2025), University of Delaware Chorale (2024), and the Arcadian Singers (2023). His music has also featured in the Singapore Choral Festival (2025), BBC Radio 3 with the Echo Vocal Ensemble (2024), and the World Symposium on Choral Music in Istanbul (2023). He was previously adjunct lecturer at Yale-NUS College and the Singapore Bible College’s School of Church Music, where he taught musicianship, composition, harmony, counterpoint, music history, and conducting.

Kenneth is the founder and artistic director of the vocal ensemble Basement Bunch, with a focus on the a cappella choral repertory across a wide variety of Western and Asian languages. He is a published composer and freelance editor for Muziksea; member of the Composers Society of Singapore, Choral Directors’ Association Singapore, International Federation for Choral Music, and Asian Choral Association. He is presently based in Glasgow, where he is Cantoris Bass in the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, conductor of the University of Glasgow Medics Music Society, and research department student union representative at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He holds an MMus from the University of Aberdeen, where he studied composition under Phillip Cooke and Paul Mealor, and conducting with John Frederick Hudson. While completing his bachelor’s in Political Science at the National University of Singapore, he studied harmony and counterpoint with Nirmali Fenn. He remains engaged in professional development through composition masterclasses, including those with Ēriks Ešenvalds, Giovanni Bonato, and James MacMillan.

• Contemporary Choral Composition
• Sacred Music
• Conducting
• Collective Flow Experiences in Ensemble Musicians
• Music in Social Movements and Collective Action

Recent commissions and performances:

• The Redhill Passion (2025), passion oratorio for satb choir, soloists, organ and handheld percussion, for the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, Kevin Bowyer (organ), Gabrielle McCann, Euan McDonald, Alex White (soloists), dir. Katy Lavinia Cooper
• Miserere Mei, Deus (2025), satb choir a cappella with handheld percussion, for the St Andrews Madrigal Group, dir. Michael Chamberlain 
• Duo Seraphim (2024), satb double choir, premiered The Marian Consort, dir. Rory McCleery
• Bartók Rojak: 7 Pieces from Mikrokosmos (2023), violin duo and string orchestra, for the RCS Asian Association, Huixin Hu and Paul Docherty (soloists), dir. Hiew Tzejia
• Can there be any day but this? (2023), satb choir a cappella, for the Singapore Symphony Choruses, dir. Wong Lai Foon
• 偶雨 A Chance Shower (2022), satb choir a cappella, for the Singapore Choral Festival 2022, Victoria Chorale, dir. Nelson Kwei

Teaching and Choral Conducting:

• Lecturer in Composition, RCS Summer Schools for Young People (2024-present)
• Adjunct Lecturer in Composition, Singapore Bible College (2021-2023)
• Artistic Director, Basement Bunch (2020-present)
• Assistant Conductor, Victoria Chorale (2017-22)
• Visiting Lecturer, Yale-NUS College (2018-19)

Research Projects:

• Awarded grant by National Arts Council for Composing Monumentality, focusing on a cantata by pioneer Singapore composer Phoon Yew Tien (2021-22)
• Researcher to Ministry of Education to support policy review of Singapore Youth Festival Music Performances (2020)
• Research Assistant to Assoc. Prof Leonard Tan, studying collective flow in music contexts (2018-19)

Publications, Conferences and Presentations:

• Sacred Choral Composition: Southeast Asian Idioms and/for a Scottish Collegiate Choir, 2025 Royal Musical Association Study Day in Glasgow.
• Reflections on Lux Luminosa, Musica Scotica Study Day 2024
• Tay, Kenneth, Leonard Tan, and Wilson Goh. "A PRISMA review of collective flow experiences in music contexts." Psychology of Music 49, no. 3 (2021): 667-683.
• Kepaduan Suara Podcast Episode 3: What does Singaporean Choral Music sound like?
• Methodist School of Music Worship Symposium, 2021
• Choral Directors’ Association (Singapore) E-teaching Strategies Conference, 2020

Professional Affiliations:

• Asian Choral Association
• Choral Directors' Association (Singapore)
• Composers' Society of Singapore
• International Federation for Choral Music