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CLASSICAL MUSIC'S BEST & WORST OF 2018

December 28, 2017, 7:54 pm
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Its that time of the year again to relive the landmark classical concerts in Singapore and recordings which I had reviewed for the pages of The Straits Times Life! section. 

Here are the best and the worst. Thankfully, all the concerts I had attended this year were mostly good, and I had no recourse to single out any bad one. So I have decided to focus on a pet peeve of mine: terrible concert etiquette, which were sadly evident on more than one occasion. 

BEST CONCERTS


MESSIAEN TURANGALILA
SingaporeSymphony Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall, 1 April 2017

It took the Singapore Symphony Orchestra some 23 years to perform again Olivier Messiaen’s massive 10-movement, 75-minute long Turangalila Symphony, but it was well worth the wait. The French composer’s grand conception of universal love, encompassing sacred, profane and carnal varieties, with Andreas Haefliger (piano), Cynthia Millar (Ondes Martenot), and over 100 musicians (including 10 percussionist) led by Shui Lan proved to be the year’s most impressive sonic spectacular.



DREAMS OF HOMELAND
SingaporeChinese Orchestra
Victoria Concert Hall, 21 May 2017

Seldom has a visiting soloist so dominated a concert than Chinese dizi exponent Zhang Weiliang with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra conducted by Yeh Tsung. Other than the purely orchestral overture, he played in every work of the 2-hour long concert, including his own composition Tears Of Flowers and the world premiere of Cui Quan’s Southern Wind. Showcasing the full gamut of dizi and shakuhachi technique with consummate mastery and effortless ease, the audience could be excused for feeling breathless on his behalf.



JOHN WILLIAMS. THE MUSIC MAKERS
Orchestra of the Music Makers
Esplanade Concert Hall, 12 August 2017

Edward Elgar’s cantata The Music Makers was given its Singaporepremiere by the appropriately named Orchestra of the Music Makers led by Chan Tze Law. Movers and shakers of the independent orchestral scene, the young ensemble got its name from this work’s title, which appears in the first line of Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s Ode. Joined by 200 singers from Singaporeand Taiwan, the spine-tingling performance had the strong sense of living out its credo, that is to “carry on dreaming”.


WORST CONCERTS
because of concert etiquette befitting the Stone Age.

A blatant case of videotaping a performance,
an activity that is commonplace in PRC.

7 January 2017, Lee Foundation Theatre
Children misbehaving themselves in clear view of the audience and their shameless parents. Only numbskulls will bring kids to a concert of George Crumb and Bela Bartok.

14 January 2017, Lee Foundation Theatre
More children misbehaving including bouncing up and down the seats, with parents being blithely ignorant. How do you say STFU in Mandarin?

13 April 2017, Esplanade Concert Hall
Latecomers spoiling the slow movement of Barber's Cello Concerto by nonchalantly making their way to their seats while the music is playing, not helped by inept ushers who should have known better than to let them in.

4 May 2017, Victoria Concert Hall
A toddler screamed "I wanna go home!" in the front row while Angela Hewitt was playing a Bach partita, and had to be dragged out. Go home and stay home! 

18 July 2017, Victoria Concert Hall
The noisiest concert in living memory was Yao Xiao Yun's otherwise marvellous piano recital. You name it, the audience did it: excessive coughing, dropping of objects, fidgeting children, inappropriate applause, eating, drinking and videotaping with a cellphone.

29 December 2017, Esplanade Concert Hall
Another noisy kid being dragged out, within the very first minute of Melvyn Tan's recital. When will this kiasu madness end?

To make it clear, these concerts were in no way poor, but its takes only a few members of the audience to behave poorly and inconsiderately, thus marring the enjoyment of the moral majority. Young children, in particular, were most culpable but we must lay the blame on their clueless parents who should know better than to bring toddlers to attend concerts of serious music. They deserve to get the "Hamroll of the Year" award (an unenviable accolade created by Troopz of Arsenal Fan TV). End of rant. 


BEST CD RECORDINGS


DEBUSSY Jeux, Khamma
& La Boite A Joujoux
SingaporeSymphony Orchestra / Lan Shui
BIS 2162

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s second Debussy disc is an even greater success that its first. All three works are ballets not often heard in concerts or recordings, coming from the French impressionist composer’s later years. Jeux contains some of Debussy’s finest music, while the orchestrations of La Boite A Joujoux (The Toybox) and Khamma by Andre Caplet and Charles Koechlin respectively are masterful. Conductor Shui Lan and the orchestra’s close attention to detail and nuance is brilliantly captured in this breathtaking recording.


SALVADORBROTONS
Complete Works for Flute Vol.1
Roberto Alvarez (Flute) et al
Centaur 3554

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s principal piccolo player Roberto Alvarez is the ideal interpreter of Catalan composer-conductor Salvador Brotons’ flute music. Fully attuned to his idiom and mastering myriad technical challenges, the performances of his two flute sonatas and chamber music with flute (Coloured Skies, Fantasia Concertante, Three Divertimenti and El Port De La Selva) play like a dream. He is ably partnered by a Who’s Who of Singaporemusic, including Beatrice Lin (piano), Katryna Tan (harp), Kevin Loh (guitar) and Eugene Toh (percussion).


WORKS FOR VIOLIN & PIANO
KAM NING (Violin) &
Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort (Piano)
Etcetera 1582

The Dutch label Etcetera has found a winner in Singaporean violinist Kam Ning who displays incisive and sensitive playing, and her lovely string tone, in this wonderfully contrasted recital disc of music by Mendelssohn (Sonata in F major), Stravinsky (Suite Italienne) and Prokofiev (Sonata No.2). All three works have a common factor, namely a fond look back at past musical traditions, which are well-served by Kam’s vision of conceptual simplicity coupled with outsized virtuosity. A joy to listen.    


WORST CD RECORDING


BEST LISZT 100
Warner Classics 837942

Some bright spark had the idea of cramming 100 tracks of music by Hungarian pianist-composer Franz Liszt into six compact discs for this compilation box-set. This was achieved by sub-dividing his two piano concertos into 10 separate tracks, and allotting the Sonatain B minor some 7 tracks. Also reliving the acts of Procrustes, a number of works, such as Les Preludes, Totentanz and Hungarian Fantasy, had been truncated to fit the confines of each disc’s time limit. There are neither programme notes nor a biography of Liszt, so one wonders to whom this exercise of dumbing down was targeted.     

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ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS / The Philharmonic Winds / Review

December 31, 2017, 3:30 pm
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ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
The Philharmonic Winds
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (29 December 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 January 2018

Christmas has come and gone but its spirit lingered on in this feel good concert by The Philharmonic Winds. Conducted by Leonard Tan and hosted by William Ledbetter, five golden rings were introduced to the audience in the form of a guest conductor, three soloists and a children's choir.


The concert opened with Frank Ticheli's Nitro, a short but energetic scherzo which pulsated with a mercurial beat and radiated Stravinskyan brilliance. There were those rapidly evolving elements of minimalism and tricky cross rhythms, but the orchestra handled its demands with confidence and discipline. The baton was then handed to Ignatius Wang (below) who led in Percy Grainger's Children's March“Over The Hills And Far Away”, a catchy tune which built to a terrific climax before winding down.



Three of Singapore's top young wind talents came under the spotlight, beginning with saxophonist Samuel Phua in Ralph Hermann's Tosca Fantasywhich recycles popular arias from Puccini's opera. Playing alto sax, his smooth and creamy tone relived tenor and soprano moments in soaring melodies like Recondita armonia, Vissi d'arte and E lucevan le stelle.


Euphonium soloist Kang Chun Meng, who appeared in this year's President's Young Performers Concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, also exuded an operatic flair in Eduardo Boccalari's Sounds of the Riviera. A richer and more burnished sound would be hard to find as he ambled from Italianate warmth to Hispanic fire in this dance-like showpiece.


Receiving the loudest cheers was clarinettist Ralph Emmanuel Lim who was in his element for Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto, a big-band era classic rife with jazzy riffs and flourishes. His seemingly effortless show continued into Malcolm Arnold's Pre-Goodman Rag as an outrageously hip encore. Like him, both Phua and Kang also had encores which they nailed with fearless aplomb.


The longest work was Howard Blake's enchanting music for the 1982 BBC animated television classic The Snowman, directed by Dianne Jackson. The wind arrangement by Phillip Littlemore accompanied the 26-minute-long movie that was screened in its entirety. The touching story is about a little boy who builds a snowman who comes to life at night, befriends and takes him on a magical winter flight to meet Father Christmas.


How the orchestra adapted so well to the movie's swiftly changing scenes and Ledbetter's lively narration was a credit to both the players and conductor Tan's abilities. Stealing the show was the 60-strong children's choir from ZhangdePrimary School, which sang the hit song Walking In The Air with wide-eyed innocence and charm. There was a bittersweet end and anyone with dry eyes could be accused of having a heart of ice.


Three encores certainly pepped up the mood. The choir beautifully reprised Walking In The Air before Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride (conducted by Wang) and a sax arrangement of Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is Youheralded the obligatory avalanche of balloons. 



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CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2018)

January 3, 2018, 3:30 pm
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CHOPIN EVOCATIONS
DANIIL TRIFONOV, Piano
Mahler Chamber Orchestra 
Mikhail Pletnev (Conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 479 7518 (2 CDs) 
****1/2

Here is yet another recording pairing both of Frederic Chopin's piano concertos, but this one is quite different. Spread over two discs, multi-award winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov plays the concertos in reverse order, which is chronologically correct. 

The SecondPianoConcerto in F minor (Op.21) was composed before the FirstPianoConcertoin E minor (Op.11) but published later, hence the larger opus number. He takes an expansive view of both concertos, aided and abetted by veteran pianist-conductor Mikhail Pletnev's orchestrations which drags out the tuttis, highlights and adds quirky and piquant woodwind voices.

Trifonov's playing is however light-footed and scintillating which prevent the performances from sounding portentous or ponderous. His Chopin-inspired additions are excellent, teaming with his teacher Sergei Babayan on two pianos in the delectable Rondo in C major (Op.73), and two wonderful sets of variations. 

Chopin's own LaCiDaremVariationsafter Mozart's DonGiovanni and Federico Mompou's VariationsOnAThemeByChopin, based on the little A major Prelude (Op.28 No.7), get performances which will be hard to better. Throw in further encores in the form of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu, Barber's Nocturne and shorter pieces by Schumann, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, one gets a more complete picture. This is truly Chopin advocated with dedication and love.    
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NEW YEAR'S EVE COUNTDOWN CONCERT 2018 / The Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

January 3, 2018, 4:00 pm
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NEW YEAR'S EVE 
COUNTDOWN CONCERT 2018
The Philharmonic Orchestra
SOTA Concert Hall (31 December 2017)

The New Year's Eve Countdown Concert by The Philharmonic Orchestra, now in its eighth edition, took on a different format this year. It became a more serious affair than before. There were fewer of the lollipops, much less talking and philosophising by emcee William Ledbetter, and since it marked the last concert of TPO's Beethoven Symphony Cycle (celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2017), including a complete performance of Beethoven's FifthSymphony.


The first half was conducted by Edward Tan, taking leave of his usual Concertmaster role and “promoted” to the podium. The first work was Weber's DerFreischützOverture, not any easy debut task by any means, especially in the slow opening which dragged and saw some straying intonation from the French horns. However the fast section was taken at a very good pace, filled with verve and vitality which made up for the earlier diffidence.


The good start was followed, unusually, by Leroy Anderson's FiddleFaddle, as if to show off prestidigitation from the strings. The section held it together impressively, and this short work was accompanied by projections of photographs from TPO's earlier Beethoven symphony concerts – held in four different venues – and the state of conductor Lim Yau's glorious un-coiffured mane. The photographer certain has something for his locks flying and flapping against the wind.


Bizet's CarmenSuiteNo.1 was next. The suite does not have perennial favourites such as the Habanera, Toreador'sSongor BohemianDance. However its movements amply displayed the prowess of the orchestra's splendid wind section – solo flute (with harp) in the Intermezzo, solo bassoon in LesDragonsd'Alcala, oboe and clarinet in the Seguedilla and others. They are truly the pride of the orchestra, certainly well marshalled by the young guest conductor Tan.

There was a long intermission of 30 minutes, for champagne, snacks and toilet break, thus allowing enough time for the orchestra to rest, begin and end the Beethoven Fifth at the stroke of midnight. Without neither fanfare nor introduction, TPO Music Director Lim Yau leapt onto the stage to give the downbeat for the symphony's familiar four-note motto theme.


The 1st movement was taken at a vigorous pace, nowhere near as hectic or relentless as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's speed (led by Shui Lan at the beginning of the year), but comfortable enough for the TPO players to handle. It was just as exciting, its onward momentum given a check by the excellent solo oboe before closing on a high.

The 2nd and 3rd movements were well contrasted, even if one might have liked the slow movement to have luxuriated a little, but remember this symphony had to end by the dot of twelve. The goose-stepping of the Scherzo was very confidently timed, and the ensuing fugato was excellent, leading up to the triumphant finale for the entry of the trombones.


Again this music's feel-good factor, a counter to the opening movement's Fate knocking at the door, was truly well brought out by the entire orchestra, not just the busy brass. This may be seen as a summation of the symphony cycle's journey from impetuous youth to defiant ageing that was Beethoven's lot. The coda and final bars played as the projected countdown clock made its inexorable way from 20 down to the dawn of 2018.


As it turned out, the orchestra hit its final chord some seconds short of the actual stroke of midnight, but no way was Lim Yau going to slow down and impede the ongoing movement just to make it on time. Thanks for not being a metronome.

The balloons had yet to fall, so it was Edward Tan's turn to cue the audience's synchronised clapping for Johann Strauss the Elder's RadetzkyMarch. The cascade did come down to greet the new year. What will 2018 hold for the world? Amid some shuddering thoughts (the threat of nuclear war and yet more terrorist attacks, not to mention global warning), there is hope yet.  

   

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MAHLER 7 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

January 7, 2018, 4:00 pm
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MAHLER 7
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (6 January 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 January 2017 with the title "Myriad emotions felt in one symphony".

Concerts featuring a single symphony as the only work are now becoming more common with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. This is especially so when programming symphonies by Gustav Mahler as more than half of his ten symphonies run in excess of 75 minutes. The Austrian composer once proclaimed, “A symphony is like a world, it must embrace everything,” and so it was with SSO's fourth performance of his Seventh Symphony.


Considered the most enigmatic and least accessible symphony of the canon, the Seventhis also the most problematic in terms of interpretation. Its sheer profusion of themes, ideas, emotions, moods, philosophies and instrumental quirks often leave listener confused as to the composer's thoughts and intentions. Unlike his symphonies which end with tragedy (No.6), resignation (No.9), bliss (No.4), or triumph (most of the others), the messages sent in the five movements of the Seventh can be seen as mixed or equivocal.


Music Director Shui Lan's vision seemed to to follow Mahler's famous dictum, that is to be all-encompassing. The lugubrious 1st movement opened unusually with the call of the tenor horn, here heard on Marques Young's euphonium, with the pace being a funereal trudge. That was contrasted with a lyrical and yearning second theme first heard on the strings, with the transitions in between being most subtly handled.


Even the first big orchestral climax was patiently built up, and it crept up almost surreptitiously. This made the next climax seem all the more mighty, and more vehement. That surely is the art of interpreting, following close scrutiny and study of the score's architecture, not merely notes and notations.

Percussion principal Jonathan Fox
tending to the slung cow-bells.

The three central movements were also unusual as it included two designated as Nachtmusik(Night Music) with a Scherzo filled with dark, hissing grotesquerie in between. Here Mahler's peculiar scoring included slung cowbells, mandolin and guitar, besides a battery of assorted percussion, almost the proverbial kitchen sink.

More importantly, the performance brought out the vulgar, homespun country inspiration of the 2nd movement and the sickly sweet sentimentality of the 4th movement. The intervening Scherzo abounded with spectral sound effects, nocturnal noises, which just about disguised a parodistic waltz, arguably Mahler's weirdest symphonic movement.


All these earthy qualities, typical of and true to the composer's checkered life experiences, were  thrown into this mix. Outstanding were the solo contributions of French horn principals Jakob Keiding (guesting for the indisposed Han Chang Chou) and Jamie Hersch, trumpet principal Jon Dante, and the brass and woodwind sections as a whole.


The finale, combining Rondo and sonata form in a single movement, provided the symphony the levity it cried out for. To this end, Shui and his charges delivered with briskness and much  aplomb. Its secondary themes were tossed around with playful and almost whimsical abandon before a drive to the symphony's thrilling close. It was a way of saying, “Life's a pain, but have fun anyway”.

With a wave of the hand,
Music Director Shui Lan bids farewell.
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MOVING HANDS, OVERFLOWING HEARTS / The Inspiring Trio / Review

January 6, 2018, 4:00 pm
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MOVING HANDS, 
OVERFLOWING HEARTS
The Inspiring Trio
Esplanade Recital Studio
Friday (5 January 2018)

If you wish to get a glimpse of the future of piano playing in Singapore, you could do worse than to attend a concert by students of Singapore’s most effective and inspiring piano teachers. The School of Young Talents at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts is an obvious start-point, but The Musique Loft (an alliance of music teachers based in Singapore’s east coast district founded by Winnie Tay and Angelyn Aw) has much to offer as well.  If one considers that the likes of Azariah Tan and Clarence Lee (Winnie’s former prodigies) and Serene Koh (Angelyn’s star pupil) arose from their respective studios, performance of their current students will need to be taken seriously.

This concert by The Inspiring Trio – Chen Jing, Toby Tan and Jessie Meng - three students of Winnie Tay, in support of The Business Times Budding Artist Fund may have important implications for the future. Dr Andrew Freris, President of the Chopin Society of Hong Kong, once referred to child prodigies as “real artists who happen to be really young”. Hence there is evidence that something serious and exciting is going on in those studios.


Chen Jing (8 years old) was the first to perform. Close your eyes, and you would not imagine Brahms’Intermezzo in A major (Op.118 No.2), late Brahms to be certain, being played by someone this young. Her warm, cushioned sound was a balm to the ears, and she was also able to bring out the inner voice of the swifter central section. In two of Chopin’s waltzes (Op.64 No.2 and Op.18), an innate feel of rubato was evident, allied by a silken touch and limpid fingerwork. This was an excellent opener to the recital.


Toby Tan (9 years old, but almost a head shorter) put his prodigious finger to work in Debussy’s Arabesque No.1, Chopin’s posthumous Nocturne in C sharp minor and Schubert’s vertiginous Impromptu in E flat major (Op.90 No.2). The repetitive nature of the last seemed a tad unrelenting, and the reading could do with more charm. However there were no reservations in Toby’s original composition Sorrow of Love, a pop and New Age influenced piece which showed development of ideas, culminating with a stormy central interlude with a short cadenza to boot.


Jessie Meng (10 years old) was recently awarded 1st prize at the Singapore National Piano & Violin Competition (Intermediate category), and her performances showed exactly why. I cannot imagine Balakirev’s transcription of Glinka’s The Larkbeing played any better. Her shaping of its melancholic melody, colouring of the accompaniment, capped by virtuosic ornamentations made this a dream performance. Her view of Chopin’s Scherzo No.2, a new work for her, was less formed. There were wrong and missed notes for sure, but there was no denying her passion.



And that was only the first half (entitled The Affectionate). The second half programme, The Exhilaration, saw changes in outfits for all three pianists. Chen Jingemerged to have a heartfelt account of the 1st movement Mozart’s Sonata in F major (K.332). At once, the realisation that she does not play to the metronome but breathes the music with all its myriad dynamic changes showed she is a thinking artist. What was there not to like in a selection from Shostakovich Dances of the Dolls (innocence, irony and droll humour are not alien to her) and the note-spinning of Wang Yu Shi’s Sunflower? 



Toby Tan, now attired in a three-piece suit and spiffy hat, looks the born entertainer in his playing of Astor Piazzolla’s Street Tango, Gershwin’s Prelude No.1 and I Got Rhythm. In all of these, he displays an assurance, swing and pizzazz which adults would be envious of. This was topped by Fazil Say’s Alla Turca Jazz, a ragtime version of Mozart’s popular rondo, which was a charmer through and through.


Jessie Meng returned with the meat of her programme, which began with the 1st movement of Mozart’s Sonata in C major (K.330). This was a very assured reading, and it got even better with the 1st movement of Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Sonata No.3, a work once championed by Vladimir Horowitz. She took its alternating dissonances and lyricism in her stride, which all but suggests that she is ready to tackle the early Prokofiev sonatas. The barnstorming ended with the tempestuous final movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.  


The Inspiring Trio, as the threesome is called, gave an encore composed by Toby Tan called Magical Music Box. It was not so much a tinkling musical box miniature but more of a rumbling and punchy barn dance with musical boxing along the way – very entertaining and a surefire way to close the concert proper.



This concert was in aid of The Business Times Budding Arts Fund, and one of its previous beneficiaries, a vocal group called Harmonix formed by four rather self-conscious teenagers, performed two pop songs Don’t Stop Believing and You Raise Me Up. They were more of an incidental side show in an evening dominated by three quite incredible children.


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OMM10 DISCOVER: OPEN REHEARSAL

January 8, 2018, 1:54 am
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OMM Conductor Chan Tze Law
addresses his audience. 

OMM10 DISCOVER
Open Rehearsal
Sunday (7 January 2018)

The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) celebrates this year its 10th year of existence. Whoever thought that a group of students who yearned to play their favourite pieces in an orchestra could sustain their interest and recruit newer members for their course over a period of ten years?

The first concert of its 10th anniversary celebrations will be held on Saturday 13 January 2018 at the Esplanade Concert Hall, conducted by its Artistic Director Chan Tze Law. It brings back popular works the orchestra performed during its early years as well as some new and landmark works. The programme includes Dvorak, Wagner, Korngold, Arutiunian, Marquez and the World Premiere of young Singaporean composer Jonathan Shin's Siginnah! 

OMM10: DISCOVER
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (13 January 2017), 7.30 pm

Tickets may be purchased at SISTIC. 
Please click on this link:
https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cdiscover0118
Jonathan Shin speaks at an informal Q&A.


Jonathan Shin's Siginnah! is a three movement modern concerto grosso featuring The Lorong Boys, a 5-member folk band of which he is a member. The title Siginnah! (Naughty Boys!) comes from a Hokkien exclamatory phrase that roughly translates as "damn kids", a sort of Singlish that is heard only spoken by an older generation of Singaporeans (or Malaysians for that matter).

In it, Shin relives the sounds and scents of his youth. Although he is only 25 years old, his experiences have been vastly different from the teens and tweens of today, hence his expresses a certain nostalgia which can only be peculiar for people of his age. Bird sounds and the klaxon of the karang guni man could be heard in his work. 

The Lorong Boys comprises Shin (piano), David Loke and Gabriel Lee (violins), Rit Xu (flute) and Joachim Lim (percussion). This folk band caused a stir while performing inside Singapore's MRT trains during peak hour. Instead of being arrested as an unlawful assembly, their antics went viral and have been justly celebrated. In a way, Siginnah expresses this exuberance we oldies can only dream about. 

Jonathan Shin speaks to his audience.
A view from the mallets.
OMM rehearses Marquez's Danzon No.2.

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Photographs from PIANO ISLAND FESTIVAL: OPENING CONCERT

January 8, 2018, 7:04 pm
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INTERNATIONAL 
PIANO ISLAND FESTIVAL 2018
Opening Concert, Steinway Gallery
Monday (8 January 2017)

There is a new international piano festival in town. Named the International Piano Island Festival, it is the brainchild of young Singaporean and Paris-trained pianist Wang Congyu. The festival alternates between Singapore and the Reunion Islands where Wang and his wife Julie reside and run a music school. This festival includes a piano competition for young musicians, a series of masterclasses, private lessons, lectures and concerts by an international panel of pianists.

Please find more information at its dedicated website:
www.pianoislandfestival.com

and its detailed calendar of events:
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/af746e_f920949b063b40049ee5f981a1114f1d.pdf   


Below are photographs of the festival's opening event, a short recital by members of its faculty, held at Steinway Gallery Singapore at ION Orchard.

Wang Congyu opens the Festival.
Well-known Singaporean piano pedagogue
Benjamin Loh played with great sensitivity
Leonard Bernstein's Touches.
The duo of Nicholas Ong (Malaysia)
and Kim Bo Kyung (South Korea) charmed with
En Bateau from Debussy's Petite Suite.
Michael Bulychev-Okser (Russia/USA)
offered the Humoresque from
Rachmaninov's Morceaux de Salon Op.10 
Elena Nestorenko (Russia/Germany)
gave a sneak peak to her all-Chopin recital
on 12 January with the Fantaisie-Impromptu.
Aimo Pagin (France) was most expressive
in Liszt's Petrarch Sonetto No.104. 
The festival team is introduced.
Here are the faculty members,
now joined by Eliane Reyes (Belgium)
who had just arrived from Changi Airport.
The kid needs piano instruction now!
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CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2018)

January 10, 2018, 5:19 pm
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SZYMANOWSKI &
KARLOWICZ Violin Concertos
TASMIN LITTLE, Violin
BBC Symphony / EDWARD GARDNER
Chandos 5185 / *****

Some sixteen years separate the two violin concertos of Polish nationalist composer Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), but when heard one after another, they sound like contiguous movements of a mega-concerto that plays for some 45 minutes. 

The First Violin Concerto (1916) is so ethereally beautiful that its neglect in concert halls is perplexing. The outsized demands for the soloist, both technical and expressive, are likely the reason. Its rhapsodic nature and dynamic shifts from impressionistic dreaminess to boisterous drama makes it an exciting listen. The Second Violin Concerto (1932-33) that follows is more compact, utilising gritty folk music elements in its two movements linked by a cadenza.    

The Violin Concerto in A major (1902) by the short-lived Mieczyslaw Karlowicz (1876-1909, killed in an avalanche while mountaineering) comes from a different era. Its spirit is closer to the effusive Romanticism of Wieniawski, Bruch and Glazunov with the requisite fireworks to match. 

All three concertos receive gorgeous performances by British violinist Tasmin Little that go to the music's heart, the perfumed decadence of Szymanowski and the showmanship of Karlowicz. Every detail of is captured on demonstration sound by Edward Gardner's excellent BBC Symphony Orchestra. A must listen for violin lovers.
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More Photographs from OMM10:DISCOVER OPEN REHEARSAL

January 10, 2018, 7:15 pm
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Here are some more photographs from rehearsals of the Orchestra of the Music Makers' 10th anniversary concert to be held on Saturday 13 January 2018 at Esplanade Concert Hall. Conducted by Chan Tze Law, works by Dvorak, Wagner, Korngold, Arutiunian, Marquez and the World Premiere of Siginnah! (Naughty Boys) by Singaporean composer Jonathan Shin will be performed.

Tickets are still available at SISTIC:
https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cdiscover0118

The Lorong Boys take centrestage for
Jonathan Shin's Siginnah!
Violinists Gabriel Lee and David Loke.
Flautist Rit Xu and percussionist Joachim Lim
with conductor Chan Tze Law.
As you can see, Siginnah!
is a concerto of naughty pranks.
With a lusty shout of Siginnah!
from the Lorong Boys,
the concerto closes with exuberance.
OMM alumnus and present SSO trumpeter
Lau Wen Rong plays Arutiunian's Trumpet Concerto. 
Jonathan Shin and the Lorong Boys
meet students from Ang Mo Kio Secondary School
and National Junior College.

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INTERNATIONAL PIANO ISLAND FESTIVAL / Review

January 12, 2018, 7:02 pm
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INTERNATIONALPIANO 
ISLAND FESTIVAL 2018
Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Tuesday & Thursday 
(9 & 11 January 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 January 2018 with the title "Delicious sounds at new piano festival".

In the 25th year of the well-established Singapore International Piano Festival (due later in June), a new international piano festival has emerged. Founded by Singaporean pianist Wang Congyu, the week-long event included a competition for youngsters, masterclasses, lectures and piano recitals by members of its international faculty.

There could not have been a more varied programme than Thursday night's offering by young Portuguese pianist Vasco Dantas. Opening with Schumann's Kinderszenen(Scenes Of Childhood) and closing with Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition, this was a recital of contrasts, from arch simplicity to a vivid play of exotic and sometimes disturbing visions. 

He possesses the technique and endurance to master the sprawl of these canvasses, the imagination and palette to colour and characterise each of the 28 short pieces within. In between, Liszt-student Vianna da Motta's delightfully rustic Portuguese Scenes and the fearsome Guido Agosti transcription of three movements from Stravinsky's The Firebird provided further delicious piques for the ears.

A standing ovation from the audience was a just result. Tagged on like encores were Gershwin's Three Preludes, teasing with rhythm and blues, and Dantas' own improvisation on the hit song I Got Rhythm with motifs from Jingle Bells cheekily inserted.

Earlier in the evening, Michael Bulychev-Okser (Russia/USA) held a lecture-recital that centred on the art of transciption. The Bach-Busoni chorale prelude Ich Ruft Zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Glinka-Balakirev The Lark and Kreisler-Rachmaninov Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow) were familiar enough, but it was his selection of rarities that stood out.

Eduard Schutt's transcription of Brahms'Wiegenlied (Lullaby) was a showpiece guaranteed to keep babies (and audiences) awake. The lilt of Tirindelli-Liszt Mazurka No.2 was simply disarming while the Arensky-Siloti At The Fountain shimmered brilliantly through the underlying melancholy. Two Earl Wild etudes on Gershwin songs (Someone Like You and The Man I Love) and Rachmaninov's coruscating Floods Of Spring sealed a totally enjoyable virtuoso showcase.  


Held on Tuesday evening was a four-hands recital by locally-based husband-and-wife duo of Nicholas Ong (Malaysia) and Kim Bo Kyung (South Korea). Debussy's graceful 4-movement Petite Suiteconjured visions of the Belle Epoque, from the gentle lilt of En Bateau(Sailing) to the final Ballet's exuberance. These paradigms of gentility were soon trumped by the waltzing tritones and dancing skeletons of Saint-Saens'Danse Macabre, a witty celebration of things that go bump in the night.

On his own, Ong gave a scintillating reading of Schumann's Allegro in B major (Op.8), a rarity in recitals simply because it is so difficult to play. The duo resumed in the second half with Six Morceaux (Op.11) of Rachmaninov, varied short works that included a barcarolle, scherzo, waltz, romance, Russian song and Tsarist anthem. The interactive tension, delicate interplay and impeccable musicianship displayed are reasons why live performance will always be more exciting than any reproduced recording.


There will be competition performances and recitals till the closing evening on Monday. 
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CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2018)

January 17, 2018, 3:30 pm
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KAZHLAEV Piano Music
CHISATO KUSUNOKI, Piano
Grand Piano 688 / ****1/2

Murad Kazhlaev (born 1931) is the grand old man of music in the Russian republic of Dagestan, located in the Caucasus. His multi-faceted talents involved composing, conducting, teaching and leading a jazz band during a period of Soviet history when West-leaning activities were frowned upon. 

He was a friend of composer Shostakovich and pianist Sviatoslav Richter besides also being an excellent pianist. The late Lazar Berman recorded some of his Preludesfor piano, but London-based Japanese pianist Chisato Kusunoki's 70-minute anthology represents the most comprehensive survey of his music to date. 
 
Kazhlaev's nationalism is on show in the DagestanAlbum(1973), a suite of ten short pieces based on ethnic folk songs and dances. His Preludes(1956 & 1961) are closer in style to Rachmaninov, Medtner and the nationalist Khachaturian, rather than the dissonance of Prokofiev or Shostakovich. 

The very likeable RomanticSonatina (1952), in three movements, is tinged with subtle blues harmonies without being overtly subversive. The collection closes with PicturePieces (1953-71), nine brief character studies that traverses a myriad of influences including neoclassicism, jazz and film music. 

With the composer's guidance, Kusunoki's very sympathetic and virtuosic performances present this unfamiliar but very accessible music in the best possible light.     
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CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2018)

January 24, 2018, 4:00 pm
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PIANO CONCERTOS
ADDINSELL. ROTA. PIAZZOLLA
DONKA ANGATSCHEWA, Piano
Vogtland Philharmonie / Stefan Fraas
Ars Production 38 168 / ****1/2

CINEMA CLASSICS
THE PIANO AT THE MOVIES
SEE SIANG WONG, Piano
Sony Classical 88985353612 (2 Cds) / ****

The ability of the piano to bring out human emotions and feelings accounts for its ubiquitous use in movie music to augment real-time action on the silver screen. These two recordings mine a well-excavated vein that does not look like exhausting soon.

Not all the works in the album by Bulgaria-born pianist Donka Angatscheva was originally conceived for piano, but every bit sounds evocative. Richard Addinsell's WarsawConcerto (composed for war movie DangerousMoonlight) is a classic in recycling Rachmaninov's lush Romantic renderings. 

Nino Rota's ConcertoSoiree is a concert piece in four short movements, reliving the different styles of his movie music – the pathos-laden, dramatic and comedic. Astor Piazolla's FourSeasonsOfBuenosAires is a celebration of the sultry tango cast as a four-movement piano trio concerto, with hot-blooded passion overflowing.  

Dutch-Chinese pianist See Siang Wong's double-disc of piano solos from the movies leans heavily on the New Age and minimalist groove, which makes for enjoyable lounge music. 

There are tracks by Michael Nyman (ThePiano), Dave Grusin (OnGoldenPond), Ryuichi Sakamoto (MerryChristmas, MrLawrence and TheLastEmperor), Philip Glass (TheHours and TheTrumanShow), Joe Hisaishi (SpiritedAway) and Yiruma (RiverFlowsInYou), but not everything such as Pachelbel's Canon or Mahler's Adagiettotranslates equally well for piano. This is nonetheless easy listening.
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SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW / re:Sound / Review

January 28, 2018, 3:30 pm
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SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
re:Sound
Victoria Concert Hall
Thursday (25 January 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 January 2018 with the title "See how the violin conducted".

Singapore's premier chamber ensemble, re:Sound, has been regularly working with the land's top soloists and leaders through its past two seasons. Violinist Kam Ning and pianist Melvyn Tan have featured centrestage in past concerts, and its latest gig saw a guest appearance by young award-winning violinist Ike See (locals know him as See Ian Ike), now member of the august Australian Chamber Orchestra.


The concert's first half featured only strings, opening with the stirring strains of Grieg's Holberg Suite. This perennial favourite took on a silver sheen in the driving velocity of its Prelude, with a full and rich sonority coming through with great immediacy.

Modelled on baroque dances, much care was taken to shape each of its five movements, such that   they sounded greater than the sum of parts. In the stately Air, cellos sang mellifluously over a rocking accompaniment while the final Rigaudon bristled with invigorating energy.  


See turned soloist for Prokofiev's Five Melodies Op.35b, originally conceived for wordless soprano voice, in a subtle yet effective arrangement by American violinist-conductor Joseph Swensen. See's violin was well-supported by the ensemble, musing in bittersweet contemplations while soaring above the throng in heady climaxes. This was not a showy suite, but one illuminated by a genuine and heartfelt musicianship.

It would not do for the first half to end quietly. Thus Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances fulfilled the role of crowd-pleaser, with See leading the crew in a rowdy romp like a gypsy band high on spirits, the imbibable kind, of course.   


Modern performances of Mozart's Symphony No.41 in C major (K.551), known as the “Jupiter”, are traditionally led by a conductor from the podium. See did what 18th century musicians did in their time by leading the orchestra from his violin. Trading baton for bow, he was an animated presence who moved, swayed, waved and rocked with each phrase and measure.

The results were little short of spectacular. Even the opening bars of the 1stmovement were “in your face”, unafraid of asserting itself and qualified by vigorous thumps from Michael Tan's timpani. This was not a performance that allowed for coasting through, as every musical response and counter-response had something important and vital to say.


After an almost exhausting opening movement, the ensuing slow 2nd movement was to be no traditional Romanze either. Although sharply-placed accents piqued the ears, there was grace all around, living up to the genteel spirit of the Rococo. The 3rd movement's Minuet and Triotraipsed lightly and buoyantly, distinguished by very fine woodwind playing.

The tour de force of contrapuntal writing that was the finale had the feel of a glorious homecoming.  Tricky fugal writing was surmounted with not just finely-honed facility, but with the pride of ownership. Tautly held together from start to end, this was a performance of Mozart's final symphony that one longed for here and hitherto thought unattainable. That is until now.      

Photographs by the kind courtesy of re:Sound.
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RHAPSODIES OF SPRING 2018: HOME FOR THE NEW YEAR / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

January 28, 2018, 4:00 pm
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RHAPSODIES OF SPRING 2018:
HOME FOR THE NEW YEAR
Singapore Chinese Orchestra
Singapore Conference Hall
Saturday (27 January 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 January 2017 with the title "Canine camp for the new year".

The first music to be heard at the newly renovated Singapore Conference Hall auditorium was Li Huan Zhi's Spring Festival Overture, providing a most rousing start to the Singapore Chinese Orchestra's annual Chinese New Year concert. Soon after conductor Yeh Tsung gave the down beat, one marvelled at the venue's new found acoustics. Once considered over-dry, under- reverberant and requiring audio enhancement, those criticisms will soon be things of the past.


There is now a naturalness to the symphonic sound, such that instrumental details are better defined, rather than being submerged beneath unnatural echoes and artificial augmentations. However hearing better sound does not necessarily translate into hearing better music, as this populist programme proved.


Chinese violinist Lu Siqing was guest soloist, opening with Eric Watson's idiomatic arrangement of Vivaldi's Spring from The Four Seasons. This was the same piece played by Joshua Bell in his famous SCO collaboration in 2016, and it sounded just as good this time, thanks to Lu's innate musicality, virtuosity and sympathetic orchestral accompaniment.


He was also soloist in two short concertante works carrying the imprimatur of Chen Gang, the better-known half in the composing duo of the Liang Zhu Concerto. Basking in his sumptuous sound and Phoon Yew Tien's lush orchestrations would be sufficent reward. But whoever dreamt of such titles like Golden Platform Of The Steel-Smelting Furnace or Taking The Tiger Mountain By Strategy? It seemed more like a marriage between Socialist Realism and the Butterfly Lovers.    

Suona prinicipal Jin Shi Yi is the master
of the single long-held note.

The best music came from Kuan Nai Chung and Law Wai Lun. Kuan's Instrumental Guide To The Chinese Orchestra was the excellent Chinese solution to Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra. Its main theme, Molihua, was subject to variations from all the traditional Chinese instruments and aided by a witty and often mischievous narration by local television personality and comedian Mark Lee.


Law's highly evocative score accompanied the short 2011 film The Reunion Dinnerby award-winning director Anthony Chen of Ilo Ilo fame. Nostalgia reigned supreme in this piece which espoused filial piety, family values, and the good old days of not worrying about speaking in Hokkien.


As the Chinese zodiac counted down to the “Year of the Dog”, there had to be canine-related pieces. Eric Watson's medley of Gershwin's Promenade(also known as Walking The Dog) and the Patti Page classic How Much Is That Doggy In The Window? with winds simulating yelps from mutts was camp beyond words.



Increasingly resembling a television variety show, the concert came close to descending into farce with the Chinese New Year songs and vocal/rap numbers penned by the likes of Jack Neo, Kenn C and Mark Lee himself. Lee was at best a crooner while his otherwise able co-host Chen Biyu tended to scream out the high registers. The lyrics extolled wealth and prosperity, Sinophone audiences are parsimonious in sing-alongs, but do have a happy new year anyway.  

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Photographs from the SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION 2018

January 30, 2018, 7:44 pm
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2ND SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 
VIOLIN COMPETITION 
27 January - 8 February 2018

The triennial Singapore International Violin Competition has returned after its very successful first outing in 2015. Organised by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, it is surely becoming the premier international violin competition of Asia. 31 of the world's finest young violinists from 11 nations were selected to perform in four rounds of competition (including two concerto finals!) to vie for significant prize money, concert opportunities and the chance to play on a priceless violin from the Rin Collection.


At the opening ceremony, the contestants drew lots to determine the order of performance in all the rounds. There were two no-shows, and so 29 violinists performed their first round recitals at the Conservatory over three days.


10-year-old Singaporean violinist Chloe Chua was given the honour to perform at the Opening Ceremony, and she whipped off a Wieniawski Etude-Caprice with an unforced, natural virtuosity and the greatest of ease. 

Some of the contestants are probably thinking,
"Thank God she is not taking part!"
Here are some of the international jury members:
Viktor Tretyakov has a jaw-dropping moment,
Kam Ning and her former teacher Mauricio Fuks
look bemused, while Silvia Marcovici appears concerned.
The great Singaporean violinist, present and future:
Kam Ning with Chloe Chua
Getting to meet a violin legend:
Viktor Tretyakov's Melodiya LP from the 1960s,
which I bought from $3 at the old Soviet Gallery
formerly at Lucky Plaza.
Tretyakov's wife reckons he
looks exactly the same as before!
A selection of Rin Collection historic
violins on display.
"The Pearl" Amati is so named because of its
mother-of-pearl inlaid star on its scroll.

First Round solo recital:
Chisa Kitagawa (Japan)
Sergei Dogadin (Russia)
Kyung Ji Min (South Korea)

12 violinists were selected to perform in the semi-finals from 1 to 3 February 2018. Sadly, Singapore's Gabriel Ng is not among them but there are still three violinist in the running who have had connections with Singapore. Anna Lee (USA) lived in Singapore when she a child and was a student of former SSO concertmaster Alexander Souptel, while Oleksandr Korniev (Ukraine) and Shi Xiaoxuan (China) are both alumni of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. Way to go!

The performance schedules may be found here:
https://www.singaporeviolincompetition.com/latest-news/

SIVC Artist-in-Residence Shlomo Mintz performs a solo recital of all six Ysaye Unaccompanied Sonatas at the Conservatory tonight (Wednesday, 31 January 2018) at 7.30 pm. Not to be missed!

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Photographs from SHAUN CHOO'S Lecture-Recital at NAFA

January 30, 2018, 8:41 pm
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One of Singapore's finest young pianists, Shaun Choo, returned to give a lecture-recital at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts on Tuesday 30 January 2018. He is a student of the Salzburg Mozarteum where he had been schooling since the age of 14. Upon completing his national service some years ago, he resumed his studies and pursued a worldwide concert career. He was last here as a jury member of the 1st Nanyang International Music Competition in July 2017.  


He now performs with a maturity and staggering confidence when previously, his audiences were impressed by his youth and poise. In a recital that included the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, Schubert's Impromptu in G flat major, Chopin's Fourth Ballade and Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse, he made everything sound so simple, and so natural, with the ease that comes with breathing. 

Also unafraid to flex his virtuoso musculature, he completed his recital with Kapustin's Toccatina (from Etudes Op.40) and added as an encore, an original ragtime composition of his own. It was simply a jaw-dropping display of outsized musicianship. Attended by many students, there is much they can learn from this brightest of rising piano stars. 

Working his way to a dramatic finish.
Shaun's short lecture was on the subject of
Competancy vs Competition.
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CD Review (The Straits Times, February 2018)

January 31, 2018, 3:30 pm
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BACK TO BACH
KENNETH HAMILTON, Piano
Prima Facie  CD061 / *****

When pianophiles talk about hyphenated Bach, they are referring to Johann Sebastian Bach's music in arrangements or transcriptions specifically for the piano by later composers. Thus Bach-Busoni is not a person, but describes the authorship of Bach's music as transcribed by the Italian piano virtuoso and scholar Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924).

This excellent album of “Tributes and Transcriptions” celebrates the cult of Bach, the most famous transcription being Busoni's take on the Chaconne in D minor, an elaborately dressed-up gothic edifice which has occasionally overshadowed the original for solo violin. Rachmaninov's transcription of three movements – Prelude, Gavotte and Gigue– from ViolinPartitaNo.3is so romanticised that the original sounds strangely quaint.

The four letters that make up the surname Bach (B flat-A-C-B natural) has a life of its own in the  FantasiaAndFugueOnB-A-C-H by Franz Liszt, a show of imperious pianism which is mirrored in even more monumental VariationsOnWeinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, also by Liszt. 

In between are Busoni's lovely chorale prelude transcriptions, miniatures by comparison. Scottish pianist Kenneth Hamilton's authoritative but persuasive playing is accompanied by his own insightful and witty programme notes which make this a complete package one would regularly return to.   
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SOLO VIOLIN RECITAL / SHLOMO MINTZ / Review

February 1, 2018, 3:30 pm
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SOLO VIOLIN RECITAL
Shlomo Mintz (Violin)
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Wednesday (31 January 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 February 2017 with the title "The luxury of Ysaÿe's six Sonatas at one sitting".

For violinists and violin fanciers, there are three pinnacles of the solo repertoire. J.S.Bach's six unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas, and Paganini's 24 Caprices are well-loved and established monuments. The six Sonatas (Op.27) of Belgian violinist-composer Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), dedicated to eminent violin virtuosos of his time, have gained a strong foothold helped by excellent complete recordings by the likes of Leonidas Kavakos, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Alina Ibragimova and Yang Tianwa.


Live performances of Ysaÿe (above) are often limited to single sonatas, or shorter single-movement sonatas (notably Sonata Nos.3 and 6) as encores. However to hear all six sonatas in a single sitting was a rare and unusual luxury, so amply illustrated by Russia-born Israeli violinist Shlomo Mintz. Mintz is presently the Artist-in-Residence of the Singapore International Violin Competition 2018 and Ong Teng Cheong Professor of Music.


Those who remember his Deutsche Grammophon recordings of solo Bach and Paganini will be pleased that he has lost none of the phenomenal technique, tonal lustre and impeccable musicianship that distinguished those albums. Without pomp or ceremony, Mintz emerged from the wings and played as if his entire existence depended on it.

Dedicatees of Ysaÿe's sonatas were an illustrious bunch.
Top: Szigeti, Thibaud & Enesco
Bottom: Kreisler, Crickboom & Quiroga

J.S.Bach was the inspiration for the first two Sonatas, both in four movements. Sonata No.1 in G minor was dedicated to the Hungarian Joseph Szigeti after hearing him play Bach's Sonata No.1, also in the same key. Sonata No.2was written for Frenchman Jacques Thibaud, filled with in-jokes of the fiddlers' trade.

The 1st movement, entitled Obession, began with the unmistakable opening of the Preludio from Bach's Partita No.3 before morphing into brutal slashing as indicated in the score. The medieval chant Dies Irae(portending the Day of Judgement) was quoted in all movements, sounding more frenzied with each turn. The fugal movements were very well voiced, contrasting with the diabolical hairpin turns and twists of the fast movements. The furious finale, called Les Furies, seemed to say it all.


Even after the exhausting encore-like Sonata No.3 “Ballade” written for the Romanian Georges Enesco, there was no recourse for an intermission. Mintz just carried on, harnessing a second wind for Sonata No.4, a pastiche of Baroque traditions. Specially gifted to that notorious fabricator of old Viennese waltzes, Fritz Kreisler, he amply demonstrated that the violin could really dance.

Of a more earthy variety was the Danse Rustique that concluded Sonata No.5, a work for fellow compatriot Mathieu Crickboom that luxuriated in long-held drones, produced by skillful multiple stopping. Time seemed to pass so quickly that before long, Sonata No.6, crafted for Spaniard Manuel Quiroga, heralded the end of Mintz's 70-minute test of musical, physical and spiritual endurance.

There was a false start, but he shrugged it off, beginning over without mincing or missing a note till its a glorious end. His encore was most apt, Bach's Preludiofrom Partita No.3 now heard in its entirety. Needless to say, that was glorious too.  


Shlomo Mintz will hold violin, viola and chamber music masterclasses on 3 & 7 February at the Conservatory Orchestral Hall, and conduct the Finals (Mozart concertos) of the Singapore International Violin Competition with the Conservatory Orchestra on 5 & 6 February at Victoria Concert Hall. 


Post concert: Shlomo Mintz meets with
members of the SIVC jury:
(From L) Kam Ning, Viktor Tretyakov, Mintz,
Silvia Marcovici, Qian Zhou and Boris Kuschnir.

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GRAND FINALISTS OF SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION 2018 NAMED

February 6, 2018, 7:37 pm
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The three Grand Finalists of the 2nd International Violin Competition 2018 have been named. After three gruelling rounds of competition, including solo, recital programmes and Mozart violin concertos, the Grand Finalists are:

CHISA KITAGAWA (Japan)
SERGEI DOGADIN (Russia)
OLEKSANDR KORNIEV (Ukraine)



They will each perform a violin concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Joshua Tan on Thursday 8 February at Esplanade Concert Hall.

The concertos will be performed in this sequence:

SIBELIUS Violin Concerto (Kitagawa)
TCHAIKOVSKYViolin Concerto (Dogadin)
SIBELIUSViolin Concerto (Korniev)

Tickets for the Grand Finals can be bought here:
https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cviolin0218

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