On 22 August 2026, STELLA ÆTERNA CONSORT was honoured to perform at the bi-annual dinner of the Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore (CTIS), held at the Institute in Upper Bukit Timah, Singapore. Around 230 guests gathered for an evening of Chinese cuisine and fellowship, bringing together priests, seminarians, members of the laity, board members, friends, supporters and others from the wider community.
For SAEC, the event was particularly meaningful. Rather than presenting a standalone concert, we were invited to contribute sacred music to an evening centred on fellowship and community. The music therefore became part of a wider communal experience, encountered alongside conversation and a shared meal.
This offered a different perspective on what sacred music can be. While concert performance provides one context in which this repertoire can be encountered, sacred music has historically existed within communities to accompany worship, celebration, education and the transmission of cultural memory. To perform within a theological institute and among such a broad cross-section of the Catholic community felt particularly fitting for an ensemble seeking to explore sacred music as an artistic, historical and cultural tradition.
bi-annual dinner performance
22/08/2026
Sacred Music in Community: Reflections from the CTIS Bi-Annual Dinner
An artistic reflection on music, community and collaboration
at the catholic theological institute of singapore (upper bukit timah)
Date/Time: Saturday, 22 August 2026, 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Venue: Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore (CTIS), Upper Bukit Timah, Singapore
Occasion: CTIS Bi-Annual Dinner
Programme: 1. Franz Schubert, Ave Maria;
2. George Frideric Handel, "He Shall Feed His Flock" from Messiah;
3. Gerard Wong, Our Hands, His Plans
Performers: Esther Jong (mezzo-soprano), Gerard Wong (tenor, piano)
Context: Musical presentation for an evening of fellowship attended by approximately 230 guests, bringing together priests, seminarians, members of the laity, board members, friends, supporters and others from the wider Catholic community.
FROM PERSONAL ENCOUNTER TO COMMUNAL MUSIC-MAKING
The evening also carried a personal significance for me. My own relationship with the Catholic faith began at the Church of St Teresa in Singapore, where my maternal aunt first introduced me to the faith when I was eight years old. Nearly two decades later, I was baptised following a personal encounter with Christ through music.
In introducing SAEC that evening, I was therefore able to speak not only about an organisation, but about the personal journey from which it emerged. What began just over a year ago as a community-driven Easter concert has since developed into a growing sacred music collective, with its work centred around performance, education, collaboration and engagement with the cultural and artistic heritage of Western Christianity.
FROM ESTABLISHED REPERTOIRE TO NEW SACRED MUSIC
The programme opened with Franz Schubert's Ave Maria, followed by "He Shall Feed His Flock" from George Frideric Handel's Messiah. The latter was particularly suited to the setting through its pastoral quality and meditation on Christ as the Good Shepherd who guides and feeds His flock.
The final work moved from established sacred repertoire into contemporary creation. Our Hands, His Plans, an original composition by pianist and organist Gerard Wong, was written for the 180th anniversary celebrations of St Joseph's Church, Bukit Timah, and was subsequently premiered at the parish's anniversary dinner.
The work takes the form of a musical dialogue between St Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, reflecting upon faith, trust and surrender to God's providence.
The piece also forms part of a larger musical work currently being developed for St Joseph's Church, Bukit Timah, scheduled to be performed in November 2026. In this sense, Our Hands, His Plans represents not only a standalone contemporary sacred composition, but an evolving contribution to a larger body of new music rooted in sacred tradition.
For SAEC, presenting this work alongside Schubert and Handel helped demonstrate the continuity of sacred music: not simply as an inherited tradition, but as something that can continue to be interpreted and encountered in the present. Gerard’s work therefore placed contemporary composition alongside established repertoire, creating a meaningful dialogue between inherited tradition and new artistic creation.
STELLA ÆTERNA CONSORT perform during the CTIS Bi-Annual Dinner, with guests gathered for the evening’s dinner and fellowship.
Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore, 22 August 2026.
Photo courtesy of a dinner guest.
COLLABORATION IN PRACTICE
Gerard's involvement also reflected one of SAEC's developing values: Collaboration.
The evening was not simply an occasion for me to perform while Gerard accompanied from the piano. His original composition formed the culmination of the programme, allowing collaboration to become visible both through his role as a performer and as a composer.
This distinction matters to SAEC. Collaboration is increasingly understood not simply as the participation of several musicians in the same project, but as an artistic practice involving different perspectives, skills and forms of authorship.
The CTIS performance therefore brought together established repertoire, contemporary composition and live musical partnership within a communal setting.
STELLA ÆTERNA CONSORT Artistic Director Esther Jong (right), performing with music collaborator Gerard Wong (left) at the CTIS Bi-Annual Dinner, 22 August 2026.
St Mark’s Auditorium, Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore, Upper Bukit Timah.
Photo courtesy of a dinner guest.
A NEW CHAPTER FOR SAEC
The evening also marked a small but significant moment in SAEC's continuing development. During the presentation, we shared publicly for the first time that we have begun an international artistic exchange with Italian composer Martino Vergnaghi.
Martino first encountered SAEC through a recording of our performance of Bruckner's Christus factus est at the Church of St Teresa. That initial encounter has since developed into a Singapore–Italy artistic collaboration, with Martino's sacred compositions among the works we are developing for future presentation in Singapore. The collaboration has also attracted the interest of the Italian Embassy of Singapore.
For a collective that began as a small community-driven project, this represents an encouraging development. More importantly, it reflects the direction in which SAEC hopes to grow: remaining rooted in Singapore while developing relationships with artists and cultural communities beyond it.
Martino Vergnaghi, Italian composer and SAEC’s international artistic collaborator.
Photo courtesy of Martino Vergnaghi.
MUSIC, COMMUNITY, AND WHAT COMES AFTER THE PERFORMANCE
Perhaps the most meaningful aspect of the evening was not contained entirely within the performance itself.
The dinner gave me an opportunity to bring together people from different parts of my life, many of whom I am grateful to have had there not only that evening, but throughout my own journey. This is one of the reasons I increasingly see SAEC's work as extending beyond the concert platform.
A performance can end when the curtains close, but the relationships formed around it do not necessarily end there.
That idea continued later that evening, when some of us went on to St Joseph's Church on Victoria Street to support friends and fellow musicians performing with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Choir as part of Night Festival Singapore 2026. Gerard and I had originally been invited to participate in the performance ourselves, but had chosen to prioritise the CTIS dinner. Being able to attend afterwards, even if only for part of the programme, provided another opportunity to reconnect with members of Singapore's sacred music community.
The two events were quite different in character, yet connected by the same underlying reality: sacred music continues to exist through people, relationships and communities.
LOOKING FORWARD
The CTIS bi-annual dinner was therefore more than a performance engagement for SAEC. It provided a moment to reflect on where the collective has come from and where it may be heading.
From a personal encounter with music and faith, to a community-driven concert, to the development of an emerging sacred music collective, the journey continues to unfold through collaboration with other musicians, communities and cultural partners.
The evening brought together several of the principles that increasingly define SAEC's work:
Collaboration: through our work with fellow musicians, composers and members of the community.
Curation: through bringing together repertoire from different periods and contexts within a single programme.
Stewardship: through the continued presentation of inherited sacred repertoire while creating space for new works and artistic relationships.
Ultimately, the evening reminded us that sacred music is not confined to the liturgy or the concert hall. It can be encountered around a dinner table, within a community gathering, through a conversation between musicians, or in the continuation of a friendship after the performance.
For SAEC, that is part of what makes this work meaningful: not simply preserving music from the past, but allowing it to continue creating relationships in the present.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary Choir performing at Night Festival Singapore 2026.
St Joseph’s Church, Victoria Street, 22 August 2026.
Photo by Esther Jong.
Written by Esther Jong, 24th August, 2026
George Frideric Handel — "He Shall Feed His Flock" from Messiah, HWV 56
Esther Jong, mezzo-soprano
Gerard Wong, piano
Performed at the CTIS Bi-Annual Dinner, 22 August 2026
St Mark’s Auditorium, Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore
