For 51-year-old Karin Widell, music has always been part of life’s rhythm. Growing up in Stockholm, she sang in church choirs, school choirs and at home, where melodies were woven into everyday moments.
“We grew up singing and playing the piano and guitar — around the dinner table, at Christmas, everywhere,” she says.
With a jazz-playing and singing father and a sister who shared the same choir, music quickly became a natural way for her to connect with others.
That didn’t change when she moved abroad. Ten years ago, Karin arrived in Singapore with her husband and their two children, then six and twelve years old. Raising children in a new country became her main focus — challenging at times, but a privilege she remains grateful for. But she also knew she needed something that was hers: a hobby, a community, a way to feel rooted.
Music was the obvious place to start looking.
A lifelong love for singing
As a young adult, Karin studied at Sweden’s Music Academy, but career opportunities were limited. She eventually moved into IT and later ran her own businesses. No matter the path, she always kept one evening a week for singing.
“I needed that one rehearsal,” she says. “It kept the music alive.”
When the family settled in Singapore, she immediately looked for a choir. She had heard about a Swedish group and joined almost at once.
“I walked in and thought — yes, this is it,” she recalls. “Nordic songs, warm people, that familiar feeling of beautiful Christmas music.”
Karin loves the Swedish traditions of the Lucia celebration, which she has celebrated for many years while growing up in Sweden.
Leading a Swedish choir abroad
Today, Karin has been the conductor of the Swedish choir in Singapore for five years. Before her, there has been several other conductors. The choir started in 1988.
It is open to anyone who likes singing, can sing and have some kind of connection to Sweden. Most members are adults from Sweden, Norway or Finland, but others have joined as well, including several teenagers and older children. There are currently around 30 singers, about ten of them young participants. Her own children have also been part of the choir. Her youngest daughter is a part of the choir this year as well.
“It’s not about perfect harmony,” Karin says. “It’s about creating something together – that makes a very special feeling.”
Rehearsals, recruiting new members, choosing songs for different events and finding musicians all take time. But she never sees it as a burden.
“People often tell me after rehearsals how much they needed these hours,” she explains. “You feel it the moment the voices blend — that sense of belonging.”
More than Lucia
The choir is perhaps best known for its yearly Lucia procession — one of Singapore’s largest Swedish community events, organised by SWEA, the global association for Swedish women living abroad. The tradition is deeply ingrained in Nordic culture. For many Swedes, it starts in kindergarten, where the first Lucia procession often takes place.
“It’s a tradition we all grow up with,” Karin says. “Bringing it to Singapore feels very special.”
Every 13 December on Lucia day, between 150 and 250 people gather to watch the choir perform. Even during the pandemic, they were allowed to continue — though with masks and distance. One year, the procession took place at Gardens by the Bay.
“That was unforgettable,” she says.
But the choir’s work doesn’t end with Lucia. They perform at midsummer celebrations, spring concerts, May 1st celebrations and other Swedish events throughout the year, including Christmas bazaars. They have prepared ABBA medleys — always a success — and once performed with a well-known Swedish singer visiting Singapore.
The choir mainly sings in Swedish and English, reflecting both their Swedish roots and their international setting.
Giving something back
“We want to spread the lights, the traditions and the music,” Karin says — a sentence that captures why the choir and singing means so much to her.
For her, leading the choir is a way to contribute to the Swedish and Nordic community in Singapore. She has long been active in volunteer work, writing for SWEA’s magazine, supporting SwedCham and participating in charity initiatives.
“In Sweden, people grow up being part of different groups — sports, culture, associations,” she explains. “You bring that with you when you move abroad.”
The choir is built on that spirit.
“It creates connections that go beyond the music,” Karin says. “Especially when you’re far from home.”
Home is still Sweden
Singapore has given Karin and her family a decade of new experiences, friendships and opportunities. But Sweden is still home. They return every summer and every Christmas, spending time in Stockholm and at their summer house in Dalarna.
“The future is in Sweden or somewhere in Europe,” she says. “But living abroad has been a privilege we wouldn’t want to be without.”
She continues, also this year, to lead the choir that brings people together — with candles, harmonies and Swedish traditions carried into the tropics.
Because for Karin, music is more than a passion. It is a way to connect, to create community and, especially in December, to bring a little Swedish light into the warm Singapore night.
