Njo Kong Kie
Of Chinese heritage, Njo Kong Kie was born in Indonesia but moved to Macau where he received his musical education from the Academia de Música São Pio X. He continued his studies in Portugal and Canada where he eventually settled. He has been, since 1996, the pianist and music director of Montreal's contemporary dance company La La La Human Steps with which he has given over 600 performances throughout Canada and abroad. Kong Kie writes music for his chamber band Day OFF. Selections from their album Picnic in the cemetery have been used on multiple occasions by choreographers including Shawn Hounsell and Aszure Barton in their creations for contemporary dance companies such as Ballet BC, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Nederlands Dans Theater. The music has also been used on independent short films. A composer of operatic works, Kong Kie has created five chamber operas dissecting controversial issues ranging from same-sex marriage to human organ trafficking. Bridging the gap between modern opera and theatre, classical and contemporary popular music, these works attempt to introduce contemporary operatic works to a wider audience by presenting them in theatres and other alternative venues rather than opera houses. Excerpts of Kong Kie's compositions have been used on the web site of Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake, on a web video of the London International Festival of Theatre, on the soundtrack of Edouard Lock's film Amelia, the CBC documentary series China Rises and Alejandro Alverez’s award-winning short film Deep Sleep. He has also arranged and orchestrated a Chinese musical.