Biography

Goi Ywei Chern is a Singaporean composer and guitarist based in London. His music is evocative, intense, and mystical, often inspired by his interests in ancient history, mythology, and traditional music. 

In 2025, his opera Medusa, composed with a libretto by Jess McNulty, was premiered in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. His song Letter from Heaven, composed for the Composers & Poets Forum Showcase: A Leeds Songbook in collaboration with poet Yvonne Ugarte, who wrote the lyrics, was performed in the Leeds Lieder Festival in 2024. His compositions have been performed in Singapore, London, Leeds, Bangkok, and Ayrshire. 

Goi has taken part in numerous performances and competitions, winning the 11th International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition (Senior Category) in 2023 and the Leong Yoon Pin Composition Competition in 2016. He also participated in MusicFest Aberystwyth in 2019, and he was selected as one of eight composers to participate in The Cumnock Tryst International Summer-School for Composers 2024 under the guidance of Sir James MacMillan and Oscar Bettison, where his piece Charybdis for contrabass clarinet and string trio was performed on the Dumfries House estate. 

In 2026, Goi performed as the soloist in Efe Yüksel's piece Confluences for guitar and chamber ensemble, and he performs as part of Duo Flore with flautist Jess McNulty. He is currently undertaking a DMus (Composition Route) in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the supervision of Professors Richard Baker, Matt Kaner, and Julian Anderson. 

He previously studied in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) School of Music, receiving his Diploma in Music Performance in 2016 and NAFA-RCM Undergraduate degree (funded by the OCBC Local Undergraduate Scholarship) in 2019, and the Royal College of Music, where he achieved a Distinction in the Master of Music in Composition degree . He has studied the guitar under Manuel Cabrera II and Hunter Mah and composition under Dr Zechariah Goh, Professor Kenneth Hesketh, and Professor Alison Kay.