Turning passion into purpose: NUS graduates make music and forge memories
Marching to the beat of their own drums, Elton Lee and Bian Tong have been pursuing music in and out of school. Their passion has brought them not only personal success, but also precious memories of their time at NUS.
Elton Lee: Writing pop music for the stars
The NUS University Cultural Centre Theatre filled with enthusiastic cheers as Elton Lee walked among the audience, waving his hands and getting them to sing along to the hit, “Just the Way You Are”, by Bruno Mars.
This rousing pop concert was the capstone project of Elton, a student at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST) with a major in Music, Collaboration & Production and a minor in Entrepreneurship. From stage management and music arrangement to event promotion and marketing, he pulled off the one-man show with panache.
But this was far from his first brush with music production. Elton picked up songwriting in secondary school and began penning songs professionally for local productions and well-known artistes when he was 17.
Elton found early on that in addition to his passion for singing, songwriting allowed him to better express his emotions and thoughts. What started as a creative outlet soon blossomed into a professional career, when his composition was published as a sub-theme song for a local drama on Mediacorp in 2016. He then progressed to producing music and writing songs for artistes like South Korean boy band THE BOYZ, and Mandopop singers Rita Wang Yijin, and Jocie Guo. Since then, Elton has continued writing several theme songs for Mediacorp, some of which were nominated for the annual Mediacorp Star Awards (红星大奖).
Even as an established pop songwriter, Elton wanted to solidify his foundation in music production to get to the next level. This urge to strengthen his music production knowledge led him to join YST in 2021.
Elton attributes his success in staging the concert for his graduation capstone project on 14 March 2025 to those who supported him behind the scenes.
“I collaborated with my cohort mates who performed as my string orchestra, NUS VOICES students who were part of my pop band, and the NUS Arts Production Crew who managed the lighting of my entire show. The show would not have been possible without their contributions and expertise,” he said.
The concert was part of the NUS Arts Festival lineup, and the staff at the NUS Centre For The Arts (CFA) provided guidance on the event organisation process. Elton also enjoyed curating the set list of his own concert — creative freedom that not many pop singers who have signed management contracts get. Drawing together the combined support received, he ultimately chose to stage a show centred around emotional ballads, performing six original songs and seven covers.
More broadly, during his years at YST, Elton’s professors tailored their lessons to support his budding Mandopop career and help him enrich his music. Elton learnt, for instance, to arrange music to suit live performances and write string quartet scores for pop ballads. “After joining YST, I discovered how to bring my music to life — having a pop string quartet, accompanied by a pop band, along with lush ballads,” he said.
Beyond YST’s academic grounding, Elton’s journey at NUS expanded his musical stage and horizons. He joined the student band in King Edward VII Hall and VOICES, a student arts group for Mandopop musicians, performing in harmony with other music enthusiasts. These activities opened the doors to bigger opportunities — in 2023, Elton performed with the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra, and in 2024, he performed with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra alongside Dr Liang Wern Fook, a pioneer in a genre of songs originating from Singapore known as Xinyao.
Alongside these diverse experiences, Elton continued to actively advance his career as a singer-songwriter. A pivotal experience was teaming up with a fellow YST student, Jeffery Tan, to write and produce a song titled “Remember to Forget”. This song was developed as part of Elton’s Year 1 Project, where he was the composer, vocalist, and arranger, while Jeffery handled the production and mixing. It won the Best Song Award at the 2022 SG:SW I Write the Songs, a national Mandopop songwriting festival.
More recently, Elton had the opportunity to be an ambassador for the 2025 SG:SW festival, where he encouraged the next generation of singer-songwriters to find their voice and share their stories.
Elton, who released a five-song EP in 2024, is preparing for a new release later this year. He hopes to continue improving as a singer-songwriter and make music that touches the hearts of his listeners.
“I want to use my talents in songwriting to create lasting memories for people,” he shared.
On that note, Elton will be releasing a graduation song in July 2025 titled “The Soundtrack of Youth(谱写的青春)”, which he will be performing at the NUS Commencement Dinner, as a tribute to his peers and all graduating students. The accompanying music video was filmed at the YST building in NUS.
Elton will graduate with a Bachelor of Music in Music, Collaboration, and Production with Honours (Distinction) with a minor in Entrepreneurship on 21 July 2025.
Bian Tong: Jazzing up lives
For Bian Tong, jazz is not just a blend of rhythm and melody but a powerful tool for social good. That vision took centre stage at Gardens by the Bay in April 2025, when he gathered hundreds of nursing home seniors and volunteers to celebrate Singapore’s 60th birthday and UNESCO International Jazz Day.
As the crowd grooved to the smooth rhythms and brassy tunes at the JASG60 event by The Jazzlings, a youth jazz collective helmed by Bian Tong, he was reminded of how music can bring communities together and bridge generations.
The Business Analytics major from the NUS School of Computing (NUS Computing) founded The Jazzlings in 2023, when he was discovered along with some members of the NUS Jazz Band at the NUS Commencement dinner. After enjoying their performance, Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, invited them to perform at a formal dinner at the school.
The gig was to take place just two days after the Commencement dinner, and Bian Tong, who plays the saxophone, had to decide on a name for the group on the spot. He went with The Jazzlings, a nod to their constant learning journey in jazz.
Since then, The Jazzlings has grown from a collective of 13 members to a commercial outfit of almost 60 performers. It hit a six-figure revenue in 2024.
While music and business analytics are worlds apart, The Jazzlings’ success, in some ways, can be attributed to Bian Tong’s flair for business. Learning about topics like profit and cost in class and witnessing the ups and downs of start-ups he worked with as External Liaison Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Society, meant he was well-equipped to run the collective. As founding director, he deals with logistics, accounts, marketing and more.
At times, he was so busy running the start-up that he struggled to meet academic deadlines. “JASG60, for example, was just a random idea that came to me, but it took so much away from me and away from my academics,” Bian Tong shared.
Thankfully, his course mates would remind him of upcoming deadlines and share their notes. Professors also answered his questions in the wee hours of the night. Their support went beyond his schoolwork. Some engaged The Jazzlings for gigs, while others gave ideas for expansion.
“A huge shoutout to all my professors. From Prof Chong, who started it all and even funded our jersey, to Assoc Prof Loy Hui Chieh from the Department of Philosophy at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Assoc Prof Ben Leong from the Department of Computer Science at NUS Computing, who were very supportive and advised me on what The Jazzlings should do.”
Bian Tong also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Associate Professor Kang Hway Chuan, who is the Master of West Wing of NUS College (NUSC), for supporting The Jazzlings by allowing them to use his master’s commons at NUSC for rehearsals. Assoc Prof Kang is also from the Department of Chemistry at the NUS Faculty of Science.
The collective also volunteers at hospitals and teaches jazz every fortnight at Changi Prison, a suggestion from Dr Norman Vasu, a Senior Lecturer at NUSC. Through jazz lessons, they stay in touch with offenders even after their release and connect them with social enterprise Architects of Life, which helps ex-offenders with reintegration.
As The Jazzlings continues to spread its wings, music is becoming an increasingly viable career option for Bian Tong.
“I’ll devote more time to The Jazzlings and see how it goes. But, of course, if that doesn’t work out, I can always fall back on my Business Analytics degree,” he said.
Bian Tong received his Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics with Honours (Merit) on 11 July 2025.
This story is part of NUS News’ coverage of Commencement 2025, which celebrates the achievements of our graduates from the Class of 2025. For more on Commencement, read our stories and graduate profiles, check out the official Commencement website, or look up and tag #NUS2025 on our social media channels!
