BIOGRAPHY

Sebastian Ho has been playing guitar for 26 years. The National University of Singapore Civil Engineering Honours graduate gave up a future in engineering to pursue his love for music upon graduation in 2001. Since then, he has worked and played in diverse situations including concerts, club gigs, corporate functions, festivals, weddings, recordings, musical theatre as well as for Mediacorp TV and radio, backing up stars such as Jimmy Ye, Stefanie Sun, Vivian Hsu, Sammuel Toi, Laura Fygi, Kenny Bee, Shirley Kwan, Qi Yu, Pan Yue Yun, Chen Ming Zhen, Wan Fang, Eric Moo, Mavis Hee, Kit Chan, Li Fei Hui, Liang Wern Fook, Donne Ray (The Platters), Trevor Ashley, The New Minstrels (Philippines pop supergroup), The National Finland Ballet, Siti Nurhaliza (one of the top Malaysian divas), Soo Wincii (Composer/Singer/Former Miss Malaysia), Ramli Sarip (aka Father of Rock), Benny Albaz (Israeli folk / pop star), Hady Mirza (Singapore Idol Winner 2007), Taufik Batisah (Singapore Idol Winner 2005) etc.

 

Sebastian was the principal guitarist for the billion-dollar grossing award winning Broadway musical THE LION KING, as well as involvement in local and other international / broadway musicals and shows like EVITA, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, A CHORUS LINE, SANTA CLAUS MUSICAL and DISNEY IN CONCERT. He has also played for many Mediacorp TV's live shows, as well as collaborative live TV shows between Mediacorp and Malaysia's RTM. He has also gone on tour with Kit Chan on her Spellbound Tour in 2016, Joanna Dong on her Asian Tour in 2018 and played for HSBC World Rugby 7's Halftime Shows at the National Stadium in April 2017. He is currently on a world tour with the cantopop legend, George Lam.

 

Largely a self-taught guitarist, he blends his influences of rock, pop and jazz into his own style and often plays with high energy and zest, propelling him to become one of Singapore’s most versatile and in-demand guitar players. Known for the fire and energy in his playing, he never fails to excite listeners, whether playing jazz, rock, pop or fusion in a solo, duet or group context. Music has since brought him to China, Nepal, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Canada, Indonesia etc, performing for artistes, festivals and musicals.

 

Sebastian recorded for artistes like Kit Chan, Claressa Monteiro, Anne Weerapass, Tay Kewei, Bevlyn Khoo, Gillian Tan etc as well as for other projects like the Gardens By The Bay Lights Show, Mediacorp Star Awards and the popular Chinese TV Drama Series “118”, just to name a few. When not sessioning for artistes, Sebastian also does arrangements while leading his original project bands like The SBT Trio (ethnic fusion) and The Fuzionazz Project (jazz fusion). He is also playing with Chronicles 5, an All-Star Funk and R&B band that was featured in various festivals and clubs. He is also one of the composers for Universal Production Music, writing music for its vast music library. 

 

As a very experienced and in-demand music educator, Sebastian has taught at various established institutions such as The German European School, Mandeville Music and Drama as well as National University of Singapore. He is currently based at ACS International, SJI International, Dulwich College as well as established tertiary institutions La Salle College Of The Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts as a part time lecturer, offering both individual and ensemble / group classes. He has also given masterclasses on specific topics eg improvisation, composition, theory etc required under the International Baccalaurate syllabus. Some of his students have gone on to score distinctions for the IB and IGCSE music program examination. In addition to that, he was also invited by Lasalle College of the Arts to give career talks to graduating students in 2017 and 2018.

 

Apart from his professional engineering qualifications, he also holds an Associate Diploma (Upper) in Jazz Performance from London College of Music, University of West London.