CHERYL LOKE
//ABOUT//
Cheryl Zoey Loke is a self-taught music composer from the young age of 5. As a child, she was known to write plenty of strange melody that is completely unheard of. Her talent was undiscovered until the year 2012. Most of her childhood compositions remain unpublished.
When the Malaysian-born Eurasian went to Edinburgh in 2012 to further study for a Quantity Surveying course, she was inspired to compose music as a stress-reliever. Her love for Scotland soon enlightened her to write for the land that she called 'second home.'
Cheryl's composition talent was caught by the Heriot-Watt University Music Director, Steve king and she was given a Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh music scholarship from 2013/14 and 2014/15. The scholarship allows her to pursue her dream in music composition. In between the 2 scholarship, She wrote 3 compositions [Nocturne Fantasie No.1 (Night Fantasy), No.3 (Outreach to Heaven) and No.4 (Footpath)] to dedicate her love to the Heriot-Watt University lawn. She also gave a music talk in January 2014 to showcase her unrefined works.
In March 2015, she was accepted to attend the very first summer school at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). Her piece "The Rowan Tree" was performed by the school.
Two of her pieces, 'Broken' and 'The Sound from the Treehouse' have been selected by the Red Note Ensemble for the 'Noisy Night' performance in November 2015 and February 2016 respectively.
In August 2016 and July 2017, she joined Contemporary Music for Allcomers' (CoMA) summer school and exclusively composed 3 and 2 pieces for them to perform respectively. One of her pieces 'The Wind, the Wave and the Sea' was selected for the Showcase Concert programme in July 2017
Ever since then music ensembles around the UK such as Red Note Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, RCS composition ensemble group, CoMA and the University of Edinburgh Music Society started to take notice of her works.
She participated in masterclasses with acclaimed composers such as Oliver Searle, Gordon McPherson, Stuart McRae from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Michael Finnissy, Gregory Rose, Alasdair Nicolson and Jennifer Martin from CoMA summer schools,
She was a former student of Paul Boyd, Thomas Butler and Shiori Usui from 2013 to 2017 before resuming to being a self-taught composer again.
She was also a passionate Soprano 1 chorister and an Electonist. She sang for alma mater and was one of the lead singers in her church.
She is currently a quantity surveyor on weekdays and a music composer on weekends and holidays.
//Awards//
Heriot-Watt Music Scholar 2013/14
Heriot-Watt Music Scholar 2014/15
//Personal Testimony//
“A professional composer with great master-pieces in hand.” - Michael Finnissy (Composer/ Pianist)