14–30 MAY
THE CONSOLER
BEFORE LIFE AND AFTER
ALONE TOGETHER
ECHOES OF FIRE AND WATER
COMPASSION: CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES Various Artists
16 — 26 May Various Locations Various Timings
MESSAGE FROM THE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR The world has changed dramatically in the last year. This is an extraordinary time for artists, where we have been asking ourselves: how can we still bring you great art and recreate the magic of the live experience? This is an enormous challenge, one which requires creativity, boldness and determination. With over 60 productions and over 300 performances, SIFA 2021 has been curated as a direct response to the here and now. It is a response to the care and compassion we need for ourselves, our community and our environment. It features exceptional artistes and companies who have learnt to adapt and present work that can reach audiences around the world, using a variety of technologies. And it will feature a record number of Singaporean commissions and collaborations. Besides shows that will take place in theatres and unique spaces around Singapore, SIFA 2021 will allow you to interact with artists “live” from around the world. There won’t be any shows that you watch passively on a screen. You can also expect the return of festival favourites such as our popular film offering, Singular Screens, as well as Festival House – the epicentre of the festival. It’s been an honour to helm our national festival and see it grow in stature, both at home and internationally, over the past four years. None of this would have been possible without the support of the incredible team at Arts House Ltd who have worked tirelessly to make this happen, and especially their Herculean efforts of mounting a festival of this scale during a pandemic. In a time where most of us can’t travel, SIFA looks forward to bringing the world to you, and Singaporean artists to the world. See you at SIFA 2021.
Gaurav Kripalani Festival Director
THE CONSOLER Take 5 Piano Quintet (Singapore)
19 May Chamber, Festival House Wed, 7.30pm
MESSAGE FROM DIRECTOR As the world begins to move cautiously, but with optimism, towards a resolution of the events of the past eighteen months, the universal artistic themes of overcoming adversity, and healing after strife, feel especially relevant. It is often said that the greatest works of art are borne of the most intense hardship; but for Shostakovich, life was a constant state of unsettledness and unease, as he was continually falling in and out of favour with the Soviet authorities. His idiosyncratic, sardonic style evolved as a defence mechanism against the need for selfcensorship, as well as the unpredictable whims of the powers-that-be. French composer Charles Koechlin had a lifelong fascination with nature and healing, and the two final movements of his piano quintet – written almost exactly 100 years ago, during the time not only of the First World War but also the Spanish flu pandemic – perfectly capture the spirit of the moment today as humanity collectively looks forward to a joyous triumph over the virus.
Lim Yan
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME Taking inspiration from periods of great upheaval – specifically the two World Wars – The Consoler features two remarkable piano quintets written in early part of the 20th century.
PROGRAMME NOTES Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor Op.37 The two works in the programme come from periods of great upheaval - namely the two world wars. Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet was written in 1940 when war had already broken out in Europe. Meanwhile, Shostakovich himself had suffered after his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was criticised by Stalin in 1936; and the beginning the same year of the Great Terror, a political crackdown during which many of his friends and relatives were imprisoned or killed. Yet the Piano Quintet marked the peak of his return to favour with the Soviet authorities, winning the inaugural 100,000-ruble Stalin Prize in 1941. Whilst paying homage to Baroque forms and textures - the opening two movements are a Prelude and Fugue - the music is quintessentially Shostakovich: melancholic with poignant dissonances; a rambunctious Scherzo that threatens to spin out of control; sparse, almost bleak, textures in the Intermezzo. Only the gentle Finale catches Shostakovich in a rare optimistic mood.
Koechlin: Piano Quintet Op.80 Although sketches for the work exist from as early as 1908 and 1911, Charles Koechlin composed the bulk of his Piano Quintet between the years 1917 and 1921; spanning not only the end of World War I in November 1918, but also - pertinently for our times - the outbreak of the Spanish flu pandemic. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, the opening two movements are dark, brooding and sombre; with a certain restlessness and unease in the first (titled ‘The Obscure Wait of What Shall Be...’) escalating to angularity and outright violence in the second (‘The Enemy Attack - the Wound’). Yet this also plays to Koechlin’s lifelong fascination with nature and healing - after the tumultuous dissonances, the third movement (‘Nature the consoler’) is altogether calmer, evoking the collective healing of humanity into happier times (fourth movement - ‘Final: Joy’).
MUSICIAN’S BIOGRAPHIES Foo Say Ming
Foo Say Ming is an active musician in the local music scene. Apart from his work in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as a 1st violinist, he is also heads the String Faculty at the Nanyang Academy Of Fine Arts (NAFA) School Of Music (SOM) which offers Degree Course in Music Performance and Education with it’s Partner University, The Royal College Of Music (RCM) in London UK. Apart from his role as Assistant Conductor of the National University Of Singapore (NUS) Symphony Orchestra, Say Ming also leads and direct a Singaporean chamber orchestra “re: mix”, which endeavours to bring a unique Singaporean voice its take on classical and the contemporary music. With its unique repertoire and its 2 “CD of the Year” accolades from Straits Times, re: mix has since attracted the attention of audiences and festivals from several regional countries. Say Ming is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, was also later conferred the “Virtuosité - Premier Prix avec Félicitations du Jury” at the Conservatoire de Lausanne (Switzerland) where he studied with French violinist Pierre Amoyal, a protégé of Jascha Heifetz.
Janice Tsai
Born in Taiwan, Janice Tsai began piano and violin lessons at a young age. At sixteen, she was accepted at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with violin professor Peter Zhang ShiXiang, and subsequently won scholarships for the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts on both violin and viola studying with Barry Wilde and Jeremy Williams. Janice was awarded another scholarship to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, obtaining Masters of Music degree under viola pedagogue Winifred Durie. Janice has had the opportunities to work with and participate in masterclasses with renowned musicians: Ruggiero Ricci, Cho-Liang Lin, Nigel Kennedy, William Percell, Sylvia Rosenberg, Malcolm Bilson, James Dunham, Yo-Yo Ma, Andrew Marriner and Lynn Harrell. Janice has performed across Europe, Australia and Asia, with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. In Singapore, she regularly collaborates with re: mix and Singapore Lyric Opera. Currently, she is a full-time violist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and viola lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Lim Shue Churn
Born into a musical family, Lim Shue Churn began her violin lessons under her father, Mr Lim Tiap Guan, a composer and music teacher. Her mother is a well-known soprano, Mdm Ching Guek Chow. Shue Churn was a pioneering member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since its inception in 1979. In 2010, after serving more than 30 years as a first violinist, Shue Churn retired from the orchestra to pursue her hobby in traveling, tennis and chamber music. Shue Churn’s musical exploits with the jazz and classical genres can be traced online at www.rhapsodyinmusic.com
Chan Wei Shing
Chan Wei Shing, born to a musical family, started learning the piano at the age of eight and the cello at ten, with Mrs. H. Ilano. In 1988, Wei-Shing studied at the University of Music in Vienna with Prof. Angelika May for two years, as a result of winning the scholarship from the former Cultural Foundation and the Lee Foundation. Then he went on to the University of Music in Graz to study with Prof. Rudolf Leopold. Here in 1996, he was awarded the Master Degree of Arts major in Cello Performing. Since his return to Singapore, Wei-Shing has been performing regularly after joining the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and has been contributing tremendously to the music scene. He has been involved in many chamber concerts both local and overseas and from 2010, Wei-Shing hold the post of Music Director of The New Opera Singapore till today.
Lim Yan
2006 NAC Young Artist Award recipient Lim Yan was a student of Ms Lim Tshui Ling in Singapore before pursuing further music studies in Manchester, UK, at Chetham’s School of Music; and subsequently graduating from the University of Manchester as well as the Royal Northern College of Music, where his tutor was Ronan O’Hora. Yan has performed extensively in Europe and Asia as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist. Besides a long-standing collaboration with local violinist Lee Shi Mei, he has also performed with violinist Ning Feng, cellist Wang Jian, and most recently, violinist Bomsori Kim during their visits to Singapore. Yan has been an adjunct faculty at the School of the Arts since its inception in 2008, and is a full-time faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music as Senior Lecturer in Collaborative Piano. He is also the current Artistic Director of the Singapore International Piano Festival.
ABOUT
TAKE 5 PIANO QUINTET Take 5 is a piano quintet ensemble initiated in 2007 by five prominent Singapore musicians to showcase masterpieces from the quintet chamber repertoire. Since its debut, the ensemble has featured and premiered over 30 piano quintets by Bax, Bridge, Widor, Messiaen, SaintSaëns, Sibelius, Sinding, Bloch, Amy Beach, Bartok, Respighi, Françaix, Chausson, Brahms, Granados, Turina, Ginastera, Korngold, Fauré, Schumann, Dohnanyi, Dvořák, Kelly Tang, Franck, Elgar, Shostakovich, Taneyev, Tan Chan Boon and Joyce Koh to critical acclaim.
“ Take 5 breathe brilliantly as one... stunning technical supremacy and musical cohesion.
— The Straits Times
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Five independent virtuosos united in one resonating voice.
— The Straits Times
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An astonishing feat of curatorship.
— The Straits Times
BEFORE LIFE AND AFTER Felicia Teo Kaixin, Jonathan Charles Tay & Jonathan Shin (Singapore)
21 May Chamber, Festival House Fri, 7.30pm
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME Conceptualised around the commemoration of loss - of innocence, of friendships, of hope - Before Life and After is a concert that responds to a world irrevocably changed. Traversing from loss to light, it seeks to find a way forward by celebrating memory, and finding joy in the most unsuspecting of places. Spanning almost a half-century of music, this concert features the songs of Francis Poulenc and Maurice Ravel, composed in the wake of the First World War; and Winter Words by Benjamin Britten set to the poems of Thomas Hardy. Each work harkens to a world that came before their time, transfiguring each composer’s nostalgia for an earlier world before the dawn of a new century into songs of yearning. Before Life and After is performed by Soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin, tenor Jonathan Charles Tay and pianist Jonathan Shin.
PROGRAMME Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) 2 Mélodies hébraïques, M.22 i. Kaddish Le Tombeau de Couperin, M.68 ii. Fugue Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Winter Words, Op. 52 i. At Day-Close in November ii. Midnight on the Great Western Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) Le Disparu, FP 134 Poulenc Bleuet, FP 102
Britten Winter Words, Op.52 iii. Wagtail and Baby (A Satire) iv. The Little Old Table v. The Choirmaster’s Burial (or, The Tenor Man’s Story) Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin, M.68 iii. Forlane Poulenc Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP 122 i. C ii. Fêtes Galantes Britten Winter Words, Op.52 vi. Proud Songsters (Thrushes, Finches and Nightingales) vii. At the railway station, upway (or, The Convict and Boy with the Violin) Poulenc Les Chemins de l’amour, FP 106 Britten Winter Words, Op.52 viii. Before Life and After Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin, M.68 v. Menuet
PROGRAMME NOTES Spanning almost a half century of music, this programme features the songs and piano music of three of the 20th century’s greatest composers, Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc and Benjamin Britten. Almost all of the works featured in this programme were written in response to or were born out of the crises of the First and Second World Wars and share in communal grief, loss and transcendence. The thread that connects the diverse works on this programme are Maurice Ravel’s Kaddish from his Deux Mélodies hébraïques (Two Hebrew Songs) and selections from his piano suite Le Tombeau de Couperin. Both pieces were written during the First World War, which Ravel spent as a truck driver stationed on the frontlines at Verdun. Le Tombeau de Couperin serves first as a tribute to the great French baroque composer François Couperin, and as a memorial to friends Ravel lost fighting in the war.
Like Ravel, Francis Poulenc served briefly as a soldier three decades later during the Second World War. An undoubted master of the art song, Poulenc’s vocal music from this period were small gestures of defiance against the occupying Germans. As a known homosexual, he was in a particularly vulnerable position with the Nazis. The centrepiece of the Poulenc selections in this programme comes from poet Louis Aragon. The two songs in this set could not be more different, with the deeply poignant C set against the manic Fêtes Galantes, both contrasting observations on the ravages of war and the banality of everyday life. An unrelenting angst pervades Le Disparu which describes the forced removal of the narrator’s friend. Bleuet (referring to the blue of a French soldier’s uniform), is an ambiguously homoerotic work; the piece is a war requiem in miniature, where determination and machismo are contrasted with sweetness and resignation. The final Poulenc song in this programme, Les Chemins de l’amour, is arguably his most famous song. On the surface it seems banal and all bubbly champagne with an instantly memorable tune but beneath lies a nostalgic yearning for carefree days, forever lost by the outbreak of war.
The years following the Second World War marked a turning point for Benjamin Britten. While he remained a prolific composer, he turned increasingly inward. The loss of innocence, so irrevocably felt in the postwar years, pervades many of his works from this period, including the first of his chamber opera, The Rape of Lucretia; the chamber opera, The Turn of The Screw, one of the great operatic masterpieces of the 20th century; and the work performed today, Winter Words. Winter Words was composed in September 1953. Britten turned to a collection of ballads and lyrics by English writer Thomas Hardy, whose words also provided the title of the work. The poems date from the later years of Hardy’s life and convey a note of stoic regret and reluctant nostalgia, and Britten’s setting of the songs convey these sensibilities filtered through the lens of the twentieth century.
The last lines of the opening poem, At day-close in November, set the scene for the rest of the cycle in which the passing of time and the fading of memory are clear. The final song from Winter Words, from which this entire concert gets its title, is a bitter song of longing for the state of the world before ‘sickness, love or loss’. The relentless triads in the piano conjuring the forward march of time from which the vocal line is constantly trying to free itself from,
TRANSLATIONS KADDISH May his great name be exalted and sanctified in the world which He created according to His will may He establish his kingdom, during your days and during the lifetimes of all the House of Israel speedily and very soon, And say, So be it. Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded, be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, above and beyond all the blessings, hymns, praises, and consolations that are uttered in the world. We say, So be it.
LE DISPARU (HE HAS DISAPPEARED) I don’t like the Rue Saint-Martin any more, not since André Platard left it. I don’t like the Rue Saint-Martin any more. There’s nothing I like, not even wine. I don’t like the Rue Saint-Martin any more, not since André Platard left it. He’s my friend, he’s my buddy. We shared a room, we shared our food. I don’t like the Rue Saint-Martin any more. He’s my friend, he’s my buddy. One morning he disappeared. They took him away, and we’ve heard nothing since. He’s not been seen again in the Rue Saint-Martin. It’s not worth praying to the saints Saint Merri or Saint Jacques, Saint Gervais or Martin, or even Valérien who hides up on the hill. Time passes. We know nothing. André Platard has left the Rue Saint-Martin.
BLEUET (THE YOUNG MAN IN BLUE) Young man Of twenty, You who have seen such horrible things, What do you think of the men from your childhood? You know what bravery is and cunning You have faced death more than a hundred times You do not know what life is Hand down your fearlessness To those who shall come After you Young man You are joyous your memory is steeped in blood Your soul is red also With joy You have absorbed the life of those who died beside you You are resolute It is 1700 hrs and you would know How to die If not better than your elders At least with greater piety For you are better acquainted with death than life Oh sweetness of bygone days Slow-moving beyond all memory
C I have crossed the bridges of Cé It is there that everything began A song of bygone days Tells of a knight who injured lay Of a rose upon the carriage-way And a bodice with an unlaced stay And the castle of an insane duke And swans in castle moats And of the meadow where An eternal fiancée comes to dance And I have drunk the long lay Of false glories like icy milk The Loire bears my thoughts away With the overturned jeeps And the unprimed arms And the ill-dried tears O my France O my forsaken one I have crossed the bridges of Cé
FÊTES GALANTES You see fops on cycles You see pimps in kilts You see whipper-snappers with veils You see firemen burning their pompoms You see words hurled on the garbage heap You see words praised to the skies You see the feet of orphan children You see the backs of cabaret singers You see cars run on gazogene You see handcarts too You see sly fellows hindered by long noses You see unmitigated idiots You see here what you see everywhere You see girls who are led astray You see guttersnipes you see Peeping Toms You see drowned corpses float beneath bridges You see out-of-work shoemakers You see egg-candlers bored to death You see securities tumble And life rushing pell-mell by.
LES CHEMINS DE L’AMOUR The paths that lead to the sea Have retained from our passing The flowers that shed their petals And the echo beneath their trees Of our clear laughter. Alas! no trace of those happy days, Those radiant joys now flown, Can I find again In my heart. Paths of my love, I search for you ceaselessly, Lost paths, you are no more And your echoes are muted. Paths of despair, Paths of memory, Paths of our first day, Divine paths of love. If one day I must forget, Since life obliterates everything, I wish for my heart to remember one thing, More vivid than the other love, To remember the path Where trembling and quite distracted, I one day felt on me your passionate hands.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Felicia Teo Kaixin - Soprano
A distinguished artist with a voice of distinct colour, Soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin’s 2020 engagements included role debuts as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio and Idamante in Idomeneo Refracted, a film version of Mozart’s Idomeneo created by The Opera People. Other performances included digital concerts with Lianhe Zhaobao, Esplanade’s Beautiful Sunday and The Opera People’s Kopi & Song. Other recent roles include Clara in Dwarf: Alexander Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, Lady in Chen Zhangyi’s Window Shopping as part of A Singapore Trilogy, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (2017), Euridice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and the title role in Donizetti’s Rita. Felicia received her Master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music and her Bachelor’s degree in Music from University of Wales (Singapore). She is a recipient of the 2018 Richard Wagner Stiependien.
Jonathan Charles Tay - Tenor
Singaporean Tenor Jonathan Charles Tay’s 2020 season included role debuts as Jaquino in Fidelio and the title character in Idomeneo Refracted, a film version of Mozart’s Idomeneo created by The Opera People, a company that he is also cofounder of. Other 2020 performances include Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Orchetsra of the Music Makers as part of Esplanade’s Voices – A Festival of Song. Other roles in recent years include the title character in Dwarf: Alexander Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, Don Jose in Carmen, Ah Niu in Liu San Jie, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer and Orpheus in Orpheus in the Underworld. His performance as Re Gonzaga and L’araldo in Franco Faccio’s Amleto with Opera Southwest was listed in Opera News best of 2016 recordings. Jonathan attained his Bachelor of Music at the Manhattan School of Music and his Masters of Music at Northwestern University. He was recently awarded a scholarship to the 2017 Richard Wagner Stipendienstiftung in Bayreuth, Germany.
Jonathan Shin
Jonathan Shin performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, and composes across multiple genres. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Composition at the Peabody Conservatory. He earned his Master of Music Degree in Composition (Classical) at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. He is a graduate (Bachelor with Honors) of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Prof Thomas Hecht and Prof Ho Chee Kong. A prizewinner of Singaporean and international piano competitions, Shin was awarded top prizes in all four age categories of the National Piano and Violin Competition. In 2008 he clinched 3rd prize in the Young Pianists Division of the 18th Ibiza International Piano Competition (Spain). At the age of 18, Shin was the youngest winner to be awarded 1st prize in the Conservatory’s 2010 Piano Concerto Competition. Shin is a founding member of the Lorong Boys, a Singaporean multi-genre quintet.
ALONE TOGETHER
Churen Li, Yang Shuxiang and Leslie Tan (Singapore)
22 May Chamber, Festival House Sat, 7.30pm
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME Lockdowns around the world have left many feeling isolated – the desire for human connection has become a greater need than ever. Through the permutations of three — a solo, duo, and a trio — along with three musicians Yang Shuxiang, Leslie Tan, and Churen Li, this concert explores how classical composers, such as Penderecki, Chopin, Poulenc, Wieniawski, and Panufnik, triumphed over adversity through their musical compositions. By playing together and giving voice to the music of composers’ past, Alone Together connects us with those who have gone before us, expressing the zeitgeist of a different time and place.
INTERVIEW WITH
THE ARTIST Churen Li (CL), the pianist involved in Alone Together shares:
How do you feel about being part of SIFA 2021? CL: I am honoured to be part of Singapore’s premier arts festival, creating a chamber music concert that is powerfully relevant and speaks to the challenges in our current time.
What can audiences look forward to for your programme? CL: An expansion of the aural experience, as we progress from solos, to duos, to trios.
What was the inspiration behind the work that will be presented as part of SIFA 2021? CL: One thing that I’ve missed the most as a result of the pandemic situation is making music with friends. It’s so precious to be able to communicate on a deeper level through music with each other, and with the audience — beyond words, beyond language. The act of playing, listening and experiencing music communally is a special form of human connection that cannot be replicated by digital means. In this programme, we want to explore how different permutations of the trio onstage — as solo, duos and trio — can alter our (and the audience’s) experience of the music and physical space.
How has the pandemic influenced your process in creating this work? CL: The pandemic was a season of deepening my engagement with my instrument. A direct result was a focusing of my individual practice during the lockdown. In fact, playing in groups seems like a luxury nowadays; and I wanted our programme to reflect something of this renewed solitude (and community) that has come about as a result of the pandemic, hence the programming of music as ones, twos and threes.
PROGRAMME NOTES Lockdowns around the world have left many feeling isolated – the desire for human connection has become greater than ever. As we ease into the “new normal”, music presents a special opportunity for us to find meaningful connections. For musicians, playing chamber music necessitates a special attunement to the nuances of one’s collaborators as well as a focused kind of empathy and communication. In contrasting arrangements — solos, duos and a trio — Shuxiang Yang, Leslie Tan, and Churen Li explore how Western classical composers such as Penderecki, Chopin, Poulenc, Wieniawski, and Panufnik, triumphed through adversity through their musical compositions. The programme opens with two movements from Krzysztof Penderecki’s Suite for Solo Cello. Penderecki utilises an earlier form — the baroque dance suite — and infuses it with a contemporary compositional language that is uniquely his own. The haunting and desolate quality of this otherworldly “Aria” is heightened by its unaccompanied texture, while the “Scherzo” juxtaposes different playing techniques to create schizophrenic contrasts of mood and texture.
Penderecki’s solo is contrasted with a different kind of solitariness in the Andante Spianato, which was initially written as a solo piano “prelude” to the Grande Polonaise Brillante, itself written for solo piano and orchestra. Amidst the hurrah of blazing octaves and finger pyrotechnics, we can hear how Chopin transformed and expressed his nostalgia for his homeland of Poland, which he left in 1831 and never returned to. This is most noticeable in his use of the traditional dance form of Polonaise. One can almost hear Henryk Wieniawski’s heartfelt anguish translated into musical beauty in his Legende, op. 17. This particular composition allegedly won him his wife; her family initially did not approve of their daughter marrying a travelling musician. When his wife’s family finally heard the piece, they were so impressed that they granted him the hand of their daughter in marriage. This virtuosic showpiece was originally written for orchestra and violin, but today we are performing the arrangement for violin and piano.
The last two pieces in the programme were shaped by tragedies of war. Francis Poulenc’s Sonate pour violon et piano, FP. 119 was written in France during WWII and dedicated to the memory of poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who was assassinated in the Spanish Civil War. The second movement bears as an epigraph an evocative line from Lorca’s poetry: “the guitar makes dreams weep.” Textures in this movement are reminiscent of a Spanish song brimming with sensuality and mysticism, accompanied by guitar-like strumming and plucking. The resultant harmonies are evocatively modal. As the movement nears its end, Poulenc quotes a theme from the third movement by way of a coda—perhaps an elegy to lost dreams, or as a foreshadowing of the musical events that are to follow.
Andrzej Panufnik fled Warsaw with his ailing mother right before the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, leaving all his scores behind in his apartment. When he returned after the war, he found the apartment intact, but the scores had been discarded in a bonfire by a stranger who took over his rooms. The version of his Piano Trio, op. 1 you hear tonight is the reconstructed version. Written in a conventional trio form, it brims with a sincere romanticism and a varied emotional scale. Yet, the 20-year-old Panufnik’s youthful spirit rings clear in this piece. By playing music with one another and giving voice to the music of composers past, we seek to actively connect with a nd re-live the realities of others who have gone before us, expressing the zeitgeist of different time periods and geographies. Communal music-making enhances our capacity for emotional empathy, which draws us near to the core of what it means to be human.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Shuxiang Yang - Violin
Following his performance at the 2012 President’s Young Performer’s concert, Singaporean violinist Shuxiang Yang was praised for giving “arguably the finest solo performance in the history of the President’s concert series. ... Seldom has there been a performance of such intensity, ... one that grabbed the listener by the lapels and never let go” (Straits Times). Yang has concertised in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australasia— at venues ranging from Singapore’s Esplanade and Victoria Concert Hall to Boston’s Jordan Hall to the iconic Museo del Violino in Cremona. Solo appearances include concerti with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, NUS Chinese Orchestra, and The Chamber Players. He has also performed at festivals such as the Perlman Music Program and Macao Arts Festival. Yang currently teaches violin and chamber music at the School of the Arts. He has previously served as teaching assistant to Prof. Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory.
Churen Li - Piano
Artist Fellow at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and part-time academic faculty at Yale-NUS, internationally acclaimed Singaporean pianist, Churen Li, has won top prizes at international and national piano competitions. She will be giving her debut recital at the Singapore International Piano Festival in June 2021. She has been invited to perform recitals and chamber music at international festivals such as the Norfolk Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival and the International Summer Academy Music Festival. Concerto engagements include performances with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Klassische Budapest Philharmonic, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra Singapore, Mikhail Jora Philharmonic of Bacau and National University of Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Churen is passionate about new music, having experimented increasingly with combining musical genres, as well as reconsidering performance practices in the programming of her concerts, and was listed in 2018 on Singapore Tatler’s Generation-T List. She holds degrees from Yale University, Cambridge University and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National University of Singapore).
Leslie Tan - Cello
Leslie Tan, a founding member of the T’ang Quartet; and cellist of Red Dot Baroque, has performed to critical acclaim in major venues and festivals worldwide. These include the Tanglewood and Aspen Festivals in the USA; the Melbourne and Port Fairy Festivals in Australia; the New Zealand Festival; the Hong Kong Arts Festival; and the Prague-Vienna-Budapest Sommerakademie and the Edinburgh Festival in Europe. In a career that has spanned 35 years, ranging from orchestral to chamber and solo concerts; from contemporary and crossdisciplinary works to historically informed performances, Leslie is sought after both as a pedagogue and concert artiste. Leslie is a champion of outreach activities, and musical and transformative education in the ASEAN region, teaching in different festivals and projects in Thailand; and in Myanmar, codirecting the Music Society of Myanmar. In Indonesia, where he works frequently with young musicians from Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya, Leslie is the artistic director and co-founder of the Bach-in-Bali Festival. He has also just started a program with the Singapore International Foundation to work with Afghan refugees. Through his latest initiative, ProjectArtitude, he hopes to enrich the lives of the underprivileged and the disenfranchised across Asia.
ECHOES OF FIRE AND WATER Ensemble Æquilibrium (Singapore)
23 May Chamber, Festival House Sun, 3pm & 6pm
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME In this contemporary concert, Echoes of Fire and Water explores our tenuous relationship with nature, the eternal cycle of destruction and renewal and our ultimate responsibility to sustain the planet for future generations. The concert’s centrepiece features George Crumb’s haunting Eleven Echoes of Autumn, conjuring up a fragmented schism in the order of the world. Reflecting the themes of dissolution and regeneration, the programme also features works by Kaija Saariaho, Toru Takemitsu and Chen Zhangyi. Ensemble Æquilibrium is a new music ensemble made up of the top contemporary performers in Singapore. Founded in 2020, Ensemble Æquilibrium is committed in delivering quality performances of the finest 20th & 21st century masterworks, championing and commissioning works by Asian composers, cultivating new music audiences within the region, and seeking meaningful collaborations across disciplines and genres in pursuit of new artistic grounds. The ensemble currently consists of members from Singapore, Switzerland and Italy.
MESSAGE FROM ENSEMBLE ÆQUILIBRIUM Ensemble Æquilibrium is committed to championing outstanding Asian and international composers of our time, through commissions, premieres and performances. We advocate for fresh new voices in our region and aim to introduce new music repertoire to Singaporean audiences. This core concept, as well as the desire to shine a spotlight on one of the most pressing challenges that we all face – the climate crisis – led to the realisation of Echoes of Wind and Fire. This programme features works by composers both old and new, from the region and beyond, inspired by nature. The works of Chen and Takemitsu are centred on the seeming duality of water, its stillness and fluidity. Cendres, by Saariaho, means ‘Ashes’ in French - a stark reminder of what might be humanitiy’s only legacy on this planet, barring a rapid and global change of course. Crumb’s Eleven Echoes of Autumn conjures images of broken arches, in an eerie lament that reminds us of the fragility that afflicts all beings and us alike. Beyond these intuitive sensory evocations, the works included in this programme also offer a deep exploration of the instruments’ timbres and characters, at once portraying their closeness and disparity, their unity and uniquity. The metaphor is clear: though different in many ways, we are one; we impact each other, and the planet as a whole, through our personal and collective actions. This idea is beautifully embodied in P7:1SMA’s danceiteration of Crumb’s Eleven Echoes of Autumn, which you can catch as part of an installation for SIFA 2021 called neveleven.
PROGRAMME Toru Takemitsu 1930-1996 Rain Spell (1982) for flute, clarinet, harp, piano, percussion 8’
Kaija Saariaho *1952 Cendres (1998) for alto flute, cello and piano 10’
Carolin Ralser, Flute Daniel Yiau, Clarinet Fontane Liang, Harp Bertram Wee, Piano Derek Koh (Guest), Percussion
Carolin Ralser, Alto Flute Martin Jaggi, Cello Bertram Wee, Piano
Chen Zhangyi *1984 Walks on Water (2014/2021) for piano and ensemble 9’ Carolin Ralser, Flute/Alto Flute Daniel Yiau, Clarinet Christoven Tan, Violin Martin Jaggi, Cello Bertram Wee, Piano Derek Koh (Guest), Percussion Boon Hua Lien, Conductor
George Crumb *1929 Eleven Echoes of Autumn (1965) for alto flute, clarinet, violin and piano 20’ Carolin Ralser, Alto Flute Daniel Yiau, Clarinet Christoven Tan, Violin Bertram Wee, Piano
MUSICIAN LIST Carolin Ralser, Flute/Alto Flute Daniel Yiau, Clarinet Christoven Tan, Viola Martin Jaggi, Cello Fontane Liang, Harp Bertram Wee, Piano Derek Koh (Guest), Percussion Boon Hua Lien, Conductor
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Daniel Yiau
Daniel Yiau studied Wind/Brass Band conducting in the Netherlands at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and in Finland at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki under the tutelage of Jan Schut and Petri Komulainen. His passion for bass clarinet was fostered by studies in bass clarinet with Erik van Deuren and Heikki Nikula. Daniel collaborated with many composers and musicians in the field of contemporary music and premiered numerous new works, championing music written for bass and auxiliary clarinets in major venues across the continents. Daniel is cofounder and clarinetist of the music ensemble K口U, a mixed instrumental quartet. In collaboration with saxophonist Michellina Chan he founded dBm, a Clarinet-Saxophone duo, premiering among others Bertram Wee’s piece [retch] in 2021. Besides that, Daniel is very active in promoting wind band and contemporary music to a larger audience and is a very dedicated conductor, arranger, composer and educator.
Carolin Ralser
Carolin studied flute performance, contemporary music, chamber music and music education at the Universities of Music and Performing Arts Graz and Vienna, Freiburg and Frankfurt am Main and graduated with distinction. Carolin was awarded various grants and scholarships, e.g. from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern and was a member of the prestigious Int. Ensemble Modern Academy. Carolin was awarded 1st prize at the International Flute Competition Friedrich Kuhlau and was principal flute of Guiyang Symphony Orchestra. As a dedicated performer of contemporary and classical music, she collaborated with numerous composers and ensembles and performed at festivals such as Salzburger Festspiele, Transart Festival, Klangspuren, Manifeste IRCAM Paris, Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Festival Royaumont, Distat Terra Festival Argentina. Former teaching engagements at the University of Mozarteum Salzburg and the Conservatory of Bolzano. Carolin is faculty member of School of the Arts Singapore and teaches flute and chamber music at NUS Centre for the Arts.
Christoven Tan
Christoven Tan is a contemporary violist with a passion for constant redefinition of viola performance and himself as an artist. Christove has served as Artist in Residence at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts(AU), Raw Dance Company(SG), ArtsIceland, and Kunstnarhuset Messen(NO). He has commissioned and premiered works by composers Siting Jiang, Bertram Wee, Emily Koh, Goh Toh Chai, Alicia Joyce de Silva and Kelly Tang. Christoven can be heard on BBC radio 3 in the recording of Hymnen II by Stockhousen with the London Sinfonietta. He also released George Benjamin’s masterwork Viola Viola on Spotify. Christoven’s artistic practice strives to make new works for viola accessible to a larger audience. Christoven is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Martin Jaggi
Martin Jaggi studied cello and composition in Basel, Zurich and Hamburg with Reinhard Latzko and Walter Grimmer (cello) and Rudolf Kelterborn, Detlev Müller-Siemens and Manfred Stahnke (composition) as well as chamber music with the Trio del Trieste in Duino (Italy). Martin is cofounder of the award winning piano quartet Mondrian Ensemble with whom he played from 20002013. He is a member of Ensemble Phoenix Basel and a principal cellist of the Basel Sinfonietta. As a chamber musician and soloist he has performed in over 30 countries. As a composer Martin has received commissions from the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Collegium Novum Zurich, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Austrian Ensemble for New Music, the Festival Archipel Geneva and the Donaueschinger Musiktage, just to name a few, and his works have been performed worldwide. Since 2014 Martin lives with his family in Singapore and lectures on contemporary music and composition at YST conservatory.
Bertram Wee
Bertram Wee is a composer-pianist whose work explores the limits of physicality and the notion of information overload in creating sonic experiences that prioritize visceral intensity and immediacy. His music has been performed internationally at events and festivals such as the BBC Proms, Ultraschall Berlin, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, inTRANSIT Festival, Bloomsbury Festival, Asian Composers League Festival and Conference, WMC Kerkrade Festival and Thailand International Composers Festival (TICF), among others. As a pianist he performs in various new-music projects, most notably with the B-L Duo: in 2017 they were winners of the prestigious Royal Over-Seas League Competition. Described as “two truly virtuoso players performing death-defying pianistic feats in tandem and with such apparent ease” (The Straits Times), the B-L Duo has worked with prominent composers such as David Lang and Michael Finnissy, and over the years have been privileged to premiere several new works written for them by their colleagues.
Fontane Liang
A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London (UK), Fontane is currently Harpist of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO). As an active chamber musician, she performs regularly with the highly acclaimed contemporary music groups Riot Ensemble and Octandre Ensemble (UK). As an avid orchestra player, Fontane has trialled for Principal Harpist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and performed with the London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble MusikFabrik, Germany. Fontane was a member of the London Sinfonietta Academy, participated at Pacific Music Festival and the Franz Josef Reinl Competition and was awarded the Sir Barbirolli Memorial Foundation Award. International performances have taken her from Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, to London’s Royal Albert Hall and Royal Opera House and Hanoi Opera House. Fontane also obtained a Master’s degree in Music Therapy and held a Fellowship at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 2011-2012.
Lien Boon Hua
Lien Boon Hua Lien received his doctorate in orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music where his mentors include Neil Varon, Brad Lubman, and Mark Scatterday. He holds conducting and performance degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, with additional studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Boon Hua is a prize winner of numerous international conducting competitions. From 2016 to 2018 he was assistant conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, in 2019/20 he was featured on the 2019/20 Peter Eötvös Foundation Mentoring Program. Boon Hua has participated in masterclasses at prominent festivals with distinguished conductors, such as Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi and Marin Alsop. As Artist Fellow at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory he leads OpusNovus, the conservatory’s contemporary music ensemble. In 2020, he launched “Unboxing New Music”, a live online interview series with regional composers and musicians aimed to promote contemporary music.
Derek Koh - Guest
Touted as “One of the most promising musicians of his generation” (The Straits Times), Derek Koh’s sensitive musical voice and dynamism has led him to work with art forms of all genres and mediums, from western and Chinese classical music to theatre and dance. Highly flexible and collaborative, Derek has premiered over fifty solo and chamber works and most recently recorded percussion for the Disney live-action movie Mulan and two music media albums produced by West One Music Group. He will be premiering music from local composers Emily Koh and Bertram Wee in an upcoming EP. Co-founder and Creative Director at Morse Percussion, he is also part of award-winning Chinese chamber group Ding Yi Music Company, a regular at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra and served as fellow at the Grammy-award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Derek is a graduate of the Mannes School of Music, Royal College of Music and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
ABOUT
ENSEMBLE ÆQUILIBRIUM Ensemble Æquilibrium is a new music ensemble made up of the top contemporary performers in Singapore. Founded in 2020, Ensemble Æquilibrium is committed in delivering quality performances of the finest 20th & 21st century masterworks, championing and commissioning works by Asian composers, cultivating new music audiences within the region, and seeking meaningful collaborations across disciplines and genres in pursuit of new artistic grounds. The ensemble currently consists of members from Singapore, Switzerland and Italy.
VISITOR SAFETY INFORMATION Arts House Limited (AHL) places the utmost importance on the safety and well-being of all patrons, staff and artists visiting our venues. Please be assured all our venues are SG Clean certified and that Safe Management Measures (SMMs) have been implemented across all venues. For your health and safety, please observe the following when visiting any of our venues, including:
TraceTogether check-in and check-out required
Mandatory temperature- taking upon arrival
Face masks to be worn at all times
Ensure safe distancing of one metre at anytime
Sanitize hands before and after the session
As the COVID-19 situation in Singapore evolves, these measures will be updated in accordance to the latest advisories issued by the Singapore Government. For the latest advisories, please visit sifa.sg All information is correct at the time of print. Every reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of information within, hence, Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) cannot accept responsibility for errors and/or omissions however caused. Every effort has been made to identify copyright holders. We deeply regret that if, despite our concerted efforts, any copyright holders have been overlooked or omitted. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or the official policy and position of SIFA and their related corporations. Any reproduction, retransmission, republication, or other use of all or part of this publication is expressly prohibited, unless prior written permission has been granted by SIFA or the appropriate copyright owner. SIFA reserves the right to make changes and modifications to the programme without prior notice. For updates, please visit our website at sifa.sg
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ART HOUSE LIMITED BOARD
Chairperson Wilson Tan Members Georgina Phua Joseph Ong Kelvin Ang Kenneth Kwok Lynette Pang Madeleine Lee Maniza Jumabhoy Ong Chao Choon
ABOUT ARTS HOUSE LIMITED
Arts House Limited (AHL) is a not-for-profit organisation committed to enriching lives through the arts. AHL manages two key landmarks located in the heart of Singapore’s Civic District – The Arts House, a multi-disciplinary arts centre with a focus on literary programming, and the Victoria Theatre & Victoria Concert Hall, a heritage building that is home to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It also runs the Goodman Arts Centre and Aliwal Arts Centre, two creative enclaves for artists, arts groups and creative businesses, and performing arts space Drama Centre. AHL presents the Singapore International Festival of Arts, the annual pinnacle celebration of performance and interdisciplinary arts in Singapore commissioned by the National Arts Council. AHL was set up in 11 December 2002 as a company limited by guarantee (CLG) under the National Arts Council and was formerly known as The Old Parliament House Limited. It was officially renamed Arts House Limited on 19 March 2014. In 2020, AHL was appointed cultural place manager of the Civic District.
ABOUT SIFA
As Singapore’s annual pinnacle performing arts festival, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) presents captivating and diverse works across theatre, music, dance, film and visual arts. First launched as the Singapore Festival of Arts in 1977, the festival has gone through several evolutions and inspired generations of arts lovers and practitioners. Today, the highly anticipated festival is a high point on Singapore’s arts and cultural calendar. SIFA continues its festival mission to champion the creation and presentation of Singaporean and international works.
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DON’T MISS THESE OTHER SHOWS IN COMPASSION: CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES THE CONSOLER
GHOSTS OF YESTERYEAR
Take 5 Piano Quintet
20 May Thu, 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall
19 May Wed, 7.30pm Chamber, Festival House
BEFORE LIFE AND AFTER
Felicia Teo Kaixin, Jonathan Charles Tay and Jonathan Shin
ALONE TOGETHER
BE COMFORTED NOW: BACH CANTATAS
Ensemble Æquilibrium
Red Dot Baroque featuring Joyce Lee Tung and John Lee (Singapore)
16 May Sun, 5pm Victoria Concert Hall
SIFA On Demand 5 — 12 June
HEALING RHAPSODY 回疫录
Churen Li, Yang Shuxiang and Leslie Tan
22 May Sat, 7.30pm Chamber, Festival House
SIFA On Demand 5 — 12 June
ECHOES OF FIRE AND WATER
Morse Percussion
Ding Yi Music Company 鼎艺团
SIFA On Demand 5 — 12 June
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