12 Dec 2017, Tue
Guest-of-Honour: Ms Tan Choo Leng
A CelebrAtion of Youth orChestrAs
snYo in ConCert to london from AmeriCA Singapore National Youth Orchestra Peter Stark, conductor
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Cuban Overture 10’00
AARON COPLAND
Concerto for Clarinet 18’00 1. Slowly and expressively – cadenza 2. Rather Fast Samuel Chan, clarinet Intermission 20’00
RALPH VAuGHAN WILLIAmS
Symphony No. 2, “A London Symphony” 44’00 1. 2. 3. 4.
Lento – Allegro risoluto Lento Scherzo (Nocturne): Allegro vivace Andante con moto – Maestoso alla marcia – Allegro – Lento – Epilogue
Concert duration: 1hr 50mins Non-flash photography is allowed for this concert only during curtain calls. Use the hashtag #SNYO when you share the photos on your social media!
13 Dec 2017, Wed
A CelebrAtion of Youth orChestrAs
MPYo in ConCert elixir of Youth Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Naohisa Furusawa, conductor Tengku Irfan, conductor
TENGKU IRFAN
What Does It Take to Dance? 9’00 (Singapore Premiere, MPYO Commission)
SAMUEL BARBER
Second Essay for Orchestra, Op. 17 10’00
MAURICE RAVEL
Tzigane 10’00 Low Zi Yang, violin Intermission 20’00
ANTONÍN DVOˇR ÁK
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World” 40’00 1. 2. 3. 4.
Adagio – Allegro Largo Scherzo: Molto vivace Allegro con fuoco
Concert duration: 1hr 45mins Non-flash photography is allowed for this concert only during curtain calls. Use the hashtag #mpyo when you share the photos on your social media!
S ING A P OR E N AT ION A L YOU T H OR C HE S T R A The Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) occupies a special place in Singapore’s music community, having produced a strong alumni contributing significantly to both seeding the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and other community orchestras in Singapore as well as teaching the next generation of budding musicians, thereby boosting Singapore’s music and cultural scene. As a leading orchestra dedicated to the training and development of young orchestral musicians in Singapore, the SNYO is recognised by the Ministry of Education as a National Project of Excellence. Entry into the SNYO is by a rigorous audition process. In April 2015, the SNYO started a new chapter in its musical journey with the transfer of its management and operations from the Ministry of Education to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. The impetus behind this change is to provide high quality leadership and artistic development for local musical talent to excel at the national level by drawing on the knowledge and expertise of Singapore’s premier professional orchestra. Currently led by Principal Conductor Dr Leonard Tan, the SNYO is made up of over 180 talented young musicians representing more than 60 schools across Singapore. The Orchestra boasts a unique music talent development programme where selected members receive individual instrumental tutoring from professional musicians such as those from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. VISION To inspire a lifelong love for music and a dedication to exceptional orchestral performance. MISSION Through the playing of orchestral classical music, we nurture future generations of musicians and build a vibrant music community for Singapore.
P E T E R S TA Rk conductor
Peter Stark’s performances as a conductor are exhilarating, imaginative and inspiring. At the heart of all his work lies a passion and commitment to the study and practice of music to profit humanity. Peter is Professor of Conducting at London’s Royal College of Music and has taught over five hundred private students. His acclaimed courses in conducting have taken him across the world and his reputation as a teacher is renowned. In the last two years he has given masterclasses in conducting at the China Conservatory Beijing, the Shanghai Conservatory, and the State Conservatory in St Petersburg. Whilst having performed with a number of the world’s leading ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, The Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter fosters a hunger to work with any orchestra that plays with spirit and enthusiasm. Peter’s growing media profile includes his appointment as series consultant to the popular BBC television series Maestro and regular screen appearances as a mentor. For this role, Peter was responsible for the training of eight celebrity ‘students’, as orchestral conductors. Peter has since made live ‘Maestro’ webcam commentaries for the BBC Proms and a subsequent TV series. In addition to Peter’s work at the Royal College of Music in London, his career has focused on the training of conductors and youth orchestras, He is Rehearsal Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra, has been Principal Conductor of the Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra since 1994, and in 2017 was appointed Principal Conductor of the
Arabian Youth Orchestra. His work with foreign youth orchestras has included Norway’s Young Philharmonic Orchestra, the New South Wales Public Schools’ Symphony Orchestra and the Toyota City Junior Orchestra in Japan. Peter also holds the post of Principal Conductor of the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra. Between 1985 and 2010 Peter was Conductor-in-Residence to the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Peter is honoured to have had the privilege of assisting many of the world’s finest conductors including Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Lord Menuhin, Sir Roger Norrington and Klaus Tennstedt. His numerous awards include the Tagore Gold Medal from the Royal College of Music and Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of the West of England in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music. The 2017/18 season sees a return visit to conduct the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and trips to many European countries for European Union Youth Orchestra auditions and residencies, and teaching and performing engagements in China, South Korea and Japan. Peter is also researching and drafting the first of two planned books based on his experiences as a conductor and educationalist.
S A mUE L C H A N clarinet
Samuel is the Principal Clarinettist of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. He graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 2016 with a diploma in Music Performance. During his studies in NAFA, Samuel’s aim to expand his musical repertoire has led him to be an active participant in numerous ensembles, such as the Windstars ensemble, Orchestra of the Music Makers, Project W, Mus’art and numerous student and school projects. Prizes won by Samuel include the Second Prize in the Singapore Woodwind Festival Clarinet Youth Competition in 2014, and second place for the Singapore Clarinet Festival Chamber Competition with the NAFA Clarinet Quartet in 2015. Samuel is currently serving his National Service as a section clarinettist in the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band. He is grateful for the support and recognition by the band in this undertaking.
S C HOOL S , C OL L EG E S A ND IN S T I T U T ION S R E P R E SE N T E D IN SN YO
Admiralty Primary School Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School Anderson Primary School Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Anglican High School Anglo-Chinese Junior College Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Balestier Hill Primary School Bukit Batok Secondary School Catholic High School CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh) CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School (Secondary) Chung Cheng High School (Main) Clementi Town Secondary School Crescent Girls’ School Dunman High School Eunoia Junior College Evergreen Secondary School Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) German European School Singapore Geylang Methodist School (Secondary) Hwa Chong Institution Kong Hwa School Manjusri Secondary School Maris Stella High School Meridian Junior College Methodist Girls’ School (Primary) Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Nanyang Girls’ High School Nanyang Junior College Nanyang Polytechnic Nanyang Primary School
Nanyang Technological University National University of Singapore Ngee Ann Secondary School NUS High School of Mathematics and Science Princess Elizabeth Primary School Raffles Girls’ Primary School Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) Raffles Institution Republic Polytechnic River Valley High School Rosyth School School of the Arts, Singapore Singapore American School Singapore Chinese Girls’ School Singapore Management University Singapore Polytechnic St. Gabriel’s Secondary School St. Hilda’s Primary School St. Joseph’s Institution St. Joseph’s Institution International St. Margaret’s Primary School St. Margaret’s Secondary School St. Stephen’s Secondary School Tanjong Katong Girls’ School Tanjong Katong Secondary School Tao Nan School Temasek Junior College United World College of South East Asia Victoria Junior College Victoria School Whitley Secondary School Woodlands Ring Secondary School Yew Tee Primary School Yishun Primary School Yishun Secondary School Zhonghua Secondary School
SN YO mU SIC I A N S leonArd tAn Principal Conductor lin JuAn Assistant Conductor
first Violin Ashley Hsu Shien Concertmaster Dominique Braam Myra Rena Choo Jia En Foo Say Ming* Alyssa Goh Hui Yi Gwee Kang Ting Andre Hee Shao Jun Juliette Liao Ru Xin Sun Xiaoqing Sarah Wong Ee Min Amanda Yap Wen Chin Nehemiah Yen Ei Shyrn seCond Violin Joelle Chiam Yan Lin Principal Natalie Hee Shao Jing Bryan Herbert Ian Ming-Ren Lai Napin Limcharoen Lim Shue Churn* Shi Fangxin Soh Yi Han Reina Teo Wei En Monica Toh Song Fen Angelina Wong Yin Leng
ViolA Joelle Hsu Min Principal Dorian Christopher Chang Calvin Dai Siyang Linnea Lei Ng Johansson Lin Heshuo Luo Biao* Ng Tze Yang Tan Kwang Qi Cello Chloe Chen Jiaen Joy Chen Jiale Chen Youjia Choon Hong Tzin David Choi Bumjoon Caroline Jung Kim Isaac Tah Shern U Aoden Teo Masa Toshi Tobias Teo Jun Wei double bAss Chong Yee Ching Margaret Louise Devadason Javier Heng Hong Jingmin Mary Claire John Mark Lee Zhi Ying Wang Xu* flute Clement Chan Natasha Lee Yu Xian Julien Quek Jun Hao PiCColo Natasha Lee Yu Xian Julien Quek Jun Hao
oboe Jasper Goh Jing Zhong Joy Liu Tongrui
troMbone Li Guanlin* Toh Chang Hui
Cor AnGlAis Zhou Xinru
bAss troMbone Zhou Shuaiming
ClArinet Victoria Ang Li Min Lisa Wegmann
tubA Sim Kai Jun
bAss ClArinet Benny Lim Wei Cheah+ Tian Mengxi bAssoon Naif Syahiran Bin Noreffendy Shi Jiaao ContrAbAssoon Jove Fong Yi Liang Rachel Ng Wei Ting horn Luke Chong Khi Sian Siti Nur Ariani Bte Norman Muhammad Aidil Syukri Roslan Jaben Sim Yun Heng Linnet Sim Yun Juan truMPet Himari Ang Lixin Foong Jun Yu Amir Hasif Bin Rosli Abner Wong Ho Khuen
* Guest Musician + SNYO Alumni
tiMPAni Amos Choo Xu Ze Lim Xing Hong+ PerCussion Amos Choo Xu Ze Lim Xing Hong+ Chloe Lim Miranda Irza Ahsan Pramana Clive Tan Jing Jie Esther Tan An Tan Jun Yi hArP Sapphire Melody Ho Wei Shao Principal PiAno Victoria Ang Li Min
G EOR G E G E R SH W IN (1898–1937 ) Cuban Overture 10’00 In February 1932, George Gershwin headed to Cuba for a vacation after his latest musical Of Thee I Sing had opened on Broadway in December 1931. This vacation was not a restful one, being what Gershwin described as “two hysterical weeks in Havana, where no sleep was to be had, but the quality and quantity of fun made up for that.” Along the way, he managed to listen to some local music that “was most interesting … especially [the] small dance orchestras, who play [the] most intricate rhythms most naturally.” Assimilating these experiences, Gershwin returned to New York with a battery of Cuban percussion instruments and wrote a concert overture titled Rumba. It was premiered in August 1932 by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at New York’s Lewisohn Stadium to a crowd of 17,845, with 5,000 people reportedly having to be turned away. Gershwin recalled that night as “the most exciting I have ever had.” He later renamed the work Cuban Overture to provide a “more just idea of the character and intent of the music.” Gershwin wrote of the Overture: “In my composition I have endeavoured to combine the Cuban rhythms and my own thematic material. The result is a symphonic overture which embodies the essence of the Cuban dance. The first part is preceded by a (forte) introduction featuring some of the thematic material. Then comes a three-part contrapuntal episode leading to a second theme. The first part finishes with a recurrence of the first theme combined with fragments of the second. A solo clarinet cadenza leads to a middle part, which is in a plaintive mood… this part concludes with a climax based on an ostinato of the theme in the canon… a sudden change in tempo brings us back to the rumba dance rhythms. The finale is a development of the preceding material in a stretto-like manner… leading us back to the main theme. The conclusion of the work [features] the Cuban percussion instruments.”
A A R ON C OP L A ND (1900–1990) Concerto for Clarinet 18’00 Farther south in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Aaron Copland was beginning work on his Clarinet Concerto. The concerto had been commissioned by the legendary clarinettist, Benny Goodman, in 1947. Copland had recently completed one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century – his Third – and was regarded as the leading American composer of his time. Goodman recalled, “I made no demands on what Copland should write. He had completely free rein, except that I should have a two-year exclusivity on playing the work. I paid two thousand dollars and that’s real money.” Copland completed the concerto in 1948, but Goodman was worried about the difficulty of some portions of the cadenza and second movement. While Copland was personally unconvinced by Goodman’s concerns, he agreed to simplify some sections of the concerto. However, it still took Goodman close to the end of his two-year exclusivity period for the concerto to be performed on an NBC “Symphony of the Air” radio broadcast in November 1950, conducted by Fritz Reiner. In addition to numerous subsequent performances, the concerto was used in the following year by the famed choreographer Jerome Robbins in his ballet, The Pied Piper, ensuring its increasing popularity and affirming its place in the repertory. Despite his initial misgivings, Goodman grew to enjoy the concerto, and said in an interview, “I always felt good about that commission and about playing the Concerto with Aaron conducting.” Both of them went on to record the concerto, which Copland later regarded as his “best recording”. Copland wrote the concerto for clarinet, strings, harp and piano, incorporating jazz and Latin American influences into the fast movement. He wrote about this, saying, “I did not have a large battery of percussion to achieve jazzy effects, so I used slapping basses and whacking harp sounds to simulate them.”
The first movement is marked “slowly and expressively”, focusing on the clarinet’s ability to sing long lyrical lines. Copland’s classic [American] sound dominates this movement, with widely spaced chords and gently rocking rhythms underpinning the clarinet’s melancholic and expansive song. A cadenza links the two movements with a virtuosic showcase of the instrument’s capabilities while ratcheting up the tempo. A “rather fast” second movement brings the clarinet from its lowest to highest registers, before the strings, harp and piano spring into action, steadily building energy with spiky syncopations and quirky rhythms, which Copland said was “an unconscious fusion of elements obviously related to North and South American popular music: Charleston rhythm, boogie woogie and Brazilian folk tunes.” The slapping basses he talked about soon take over in a more laid back, jazzy interlude. Rhythmic drive soon returns, before a quick and highly virtuosic coda featuring the clarinet’s highest register brings the concerto to a close with a long glissando (like in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue) to the top.
R A L P H VA U G H A N W IL L I A m S (187 2 – 1 9 5 8 ) Symphony No. 2, “A London Symphony” 44’00 A great-nephew of Charles Darwin and relative of Virginia Woolf, Ralph Vaughan Williams studied at the Royal College of Music (London) with English composers Parry and Stanford, before heading to Paris to study with Ravel, with the aim of acquiring “a little French polish”. Vaughan Williams recalled a conversation with fellow composer George Butterworth, who remarked, “‘You know, you ought to write a symphony’. I answered that I’d never written a symphony and never intended to… I suppose Butterworth’s words stung me… I looked out some sketches for a symphonic poem about London and decided to put it into symphonic form.” This planted the seed which germinated over 1912 and 1913, growing into A London Symphony, which captured the sounds and spirit of London. A London Symphony was premiered in March 1914, and the score was sent to conductor Fritz Busch in Germany. This proved to be rather disastrous, as it was lost in the tumult of World War I. Vaughan Williams had to reconstruct the score from its orchestral parts, taking the opportunity to revise the Symphony. He later revised it again in 1933. The first movement awakens pre-dawn, into grey fog, before the Westminster Chimes (from Big Ben) are heard on harps. The great city springs to life with a crashing chromatic fanfare introducing the bustling main section of the movement before a second theme is introduced. Vaughan Williams wrote that this theme evoked “Hampstead Heath (a large park) on an August bank holiday”.
The second movement depicts “Bloomsbury Square (near the present day Holborn station), on a November afternoon”. This is a simple set of variations on three themes: a sad song sung by the English horn, a lonely horn call with gently throbbing strings, and a solo viola, singing “Sweet lavender, who will buy sweet lavender?” These themes bring the music to an impassioned climax, before dying away, leaving the viola to sing alone. “Imagine standing on Westminster Embankment at night, surrounded by the distant sounds of The Strand, with its great hotels on one side and the ‘New Cut’ (between Waterloo and Blackfriars Road) on the other, with its crowded streets and flaring lights, it may serve as a mood in which to listen to [the third movement].” The Scherzo merrily scampers around, bumps into a street party in the Trio, and then fades away. A forbidding yet stately march opens the fourth movement, which Vaughan Williams described as “the March of the Down-and-Outers”, with its steady tread giving way to a more boisterous section. The return of the march builds to a strong climax over crashing tam-tams, before the Westminster Chimes are heard again. The Symphony winds down to a rippling Epilogue, which Vaughan Williams described with a quote from H.G. Wells’ novel, Tono-Bungay: “Light after light goes down. England and the Kingdom, Britain and the Empire, the old prides and the old devotions, glide abeam, astern, sink down upon the horizon, pass – pass. The river passes – London passes, England passes....”
Programme notes by Christopher Cheong
AC K NOW L E DG E ME N T S SNYO COMMITTEE Ms Liew Wei Li (Chairlady) Mr Ang Chek Meng Ms Vivien Goh Dr Kee Kirk Chin Mrs Valarie Wilson With support from Ministry of Education, Arts Education Branch Mrs Valarie Wilson Director, Arts Education Mr Hoo Cher Liek Senior Specialist, Music The Singapore National Youth Orchestra wishes to thank Ms Tan Choo Leng for gracing the SNYO concert as Guest-of-Honour Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra National Arts Council Temasek Foundation Nurtures Tan Chin Tuan Foundation Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Tutors of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra Parents of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra members Principals of the participating schools
M A N AG E ME N T CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mr Chng Hak-Peng CEO OFFICE Mr Lim Yeow Siang Mr Edward Loh Mr Chris Yong SNYO OFFICE Ms Pang Siu Yuin (Head) Ms Shirin Foo Mr Tan Yong Qing Ms Tang Ya Yun DEVELOPMENT & PARTNERSHIPS Ms Peggy Kek (Head) Corporate Communications Ms Leong Wenshan Development & Sponsorship Mr Anthony Chng Ms Nikki Chuang Mr Chris Yong MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS & CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Ms Cindy Lim (Head) Mr Chia Han-Leon Ms Myrtle Lee Ms Jana Loh Ms Hong Shu Hui Ms Melissa Tan Ms Cheryl Pek Ms Khairani Basman Ms Dacia Cheang Ms Nur Shafiqah Bte Othman CORPORATE SERVICES Mr Rick Ong (Head) Mr Alan Ong (Finance) Ms Goh Hoey Fen (Finance) Mr Mohamed Zailani bin Mohd Said
HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION Mr Desmen Low Ms Shanti Govindasamy Ms Melissa Lee ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT Mr Ernest Khoo (Head) Mr Chia Jit Min Ms Tan Wei Tian Stage Management Ms Kimberly Kwa (Stage Manager) Ms Chin Rosherna Mr Ramayah Elango Mr Abdul Wahab bin Sakir Mr Muhammad Fariz bin Samsuri Mr Radin Sulaiman bin Ali LIBRARY Mr Lim Lip Hua Ms Priscilla Neo PROGRAMMES (SSO) Ms Kua Li Leng (Head) Ms Teo Chew Yen Ms Jolene Yeo Community Outreach Ms Kathleen Tan Ms Vanessa Lee Choral Programmes Ms Regina Lee Ms Whitney Tan PROGRAMMES (VCH) Ms Michelle Yeo (Head) Ms Erin Tan ABRSM Ms Hay Su-San (Head) Ms Patricia Yee Ms Lai Li-Yng Mr Joong Siow Chong
A Celebration Of Youth Orchestras
MPYO In Concert Elixir Of Youth
13 DECEMber 2017 ESPLANADE Concert Hall
Malaysian P hilharmonic Youth Orchestra The initial steps towards realising the longcherished dream of the late PETRONAS Chairman, Tun Azizan Zainul Abidin, to create a youth orchestra as a ‘stage for young talent’, alongside the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), were taken on 13 January 2006. Some 500 aspiring instrumentalists from across Malaysia auditioned and 110 – with an average age of 18 – were selected to form the new Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO).
After a period of intensive training under its founding conductor, Kevin Field, and mentors drawn from the ranks of the MPO, the MPYO gave its first public concert in Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS on 25 August 2007. It has since established a pattern of music camps held three to four times a year, culminating in performances in Kuala Lumpur and beyond. It has toured Peninsula Malaysia (2007 and 2010), Sabah and Sarawak (2008), as well as at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore (2009) and in Brisbane, Australia, as part of an exchange programme with the Queensland Youth Orchestra (2012). In 2008, a second nationwide round of auditions was held to ensure the MPYO
continues to fulfil its aim of encouraging young musicians to appreciate orchestral music and build a pool of well-trained Malaysian instrumentalists, community and professional performers, teachers and inspired amateurs. Its repertoire ranges from the core symphonic repertoire to specially-commissioned works by Malaysian composers. In an innovative project, ‘Jazzaar’, in 2010, the orchestra collaborated with six leading jazz musicians from the USA, led by Fritz Renold (who wrote his Suite Nusantara specially for the project) to enrich and widen their musical experience. In 2013, the orchestra performed in Kedah with renowned local singers Datin Paduka Julie
Sudiro and Datuk Yusni Hamid in a keroncong concert attended by the late HRH Agong of Malaysia. In 2014, the ensemble collaborated with Yayasan Warisan Johor and Orkestra Tradisional Malaysia in Johor Bahru. In 2015, the MPYO was given the honour to perform at the opening of the 128th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Kuala Lumpur. In 2017, the MPYO was invited to perform at Majlis Santapan Malam Memuliakan Mesyuarat Majlis Raja-Raja ke-247 at Istana Negara, and Majlis Jamuan Teh Sempena Sambutan Ulang Tahun Hari Keputeraan Rasmi DYMM Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, Sultan Johor.
N AOHIS A F UR U S AWA conductor
Naohisa Furusawa has been a member of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) double bass section since 2003. Born in Tokyo in 1973, he started to play the violin when he was four years old and later joined his junior high school orchestra as a double bass player at age 12; his first conducting experiences were with this orchestra. Later, he studied double bass with Nobuo Shiga, and piano and conducting with Kazue Kamiya at Tokyo’s Toho Gakuen School of Music. Furusawa has performed as a double bass player with the NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and several other orchestras, under the direction of many conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Lorin Maazel, Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez and Valery Gergiev. In 1998, Furusawa was awarded a scholarship from the Cultural Affairs Agency of Japan to study double bass at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. He has conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony five times with Tokyo’s MAX Philharmonic Orchestra. He also conducted Mahler’s Second Symphony with the MAX Philharmonic to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. He has conducted many young musician ensembles including MPO’s Encounter Training Ensemble and the Miri Tutti Project in East Malaysia as part of MPO’s Education and Outreach Programme.
T E NG k U IR FA N conductor
Tengku Irfan, 19, began piano lessons at 7 and made his debut at 11, performing with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed as soloist with orchestras worldwide under Neeme Järvi, Kristjan Järvi, Robert Spano, George Stelluto, Nikolai Alexeev, Larry Rachleff, Sydney Hodkinson, Jeffrey Milarsky, Evan Rogister, Donald Crockett, Timothy Weiss, Stephen Burns, Darrell Ang, Claudio Cruz, Nicolae Moldoveanu and Dariusz Mikulski, among others. The New York Times described his playing as “eminently cultured” and possessing “sheer incisiveness and power”. Irfan has performed with the Juilliard Orchestra, AXIOM, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo State Youth Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Peoria Symphony Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester and Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He won the 2013 Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition playing Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2, followed by performances of this concerto worldwide. He served his fourth consecutive year as resident pianist for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in 2017. Irfan’s composition String Quartet won the 2012 ASCAP Charlotte Bergen Award and the 2012 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and his Sahibul Hikayat Fantasy Overture won a second ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2014. His orchestral piece Keraian was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic. Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuoso Singers premiered Irfan’s choral piece Tragedi Dewi Suria. Kristjan Järvi and MDR Sinfonieorchester commissioned Vivacity which had its world premiere at the Leipzig Gewandhaus for the Leipzig Bachfest 2016. The piece won a third ASCAP Morton Gould Award in 2017.
He made his conducting debut with the MusicaNova Orchestra in 2015 with the premiere of his string orchestral piece Nocturne. He also conducted the premiere of his piece Pengembaraan Minda dan Kenyataan at Lincoln Center, New York. Irfan is a double major in piano and composition under Yoheved Kaplinsky and Robert Beaser respectively at Juilliard, and studies conducting with George Stelluto and Jeffrey Milarsky. He also studied composition with Ira Taxin in Juilliard’s Pre-College program. Irfan served as a Teaching Artist Intern in the New York Philharmonic Composer’s Bridge Program, and is a recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at Juilliard.
L OW ZI YA NG violin
Thirteen-year-old Low Zi Yang began playing the violin at the age of 4. Formerly tutored by Margorzata Potocka, he is currently studying under Ming Goh, Principal Violin of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). In 2015, Zi Yang passed with distinction and received his Licentiate of Trinity College London (LTCL) Performance Diploma. He is a member of the Selangor Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012, and Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO) since 2015 where he also served as concertmaster on several occasions this year. He was a member of Permata Seni Muzik from 2013 to 2015. Low has won First Prizes at national and international competitions including Ipoh Music Festival, Brilliant Talent Discovery Awards International Music Competition, Malaysian Youth Music Festival Competition, EuroAsia Violin Competition and the 2nd Singapore Raffles International Music Festival. In August this year, he was awarded Artistic Bow Award for Strings Solo Competition (Artistic Category) at the 4th Singapore Raffles International Music Festival. He has given solo recitals in Malaysia and Singapore. Low performs on a violin by Andreas Postacchini, Fermo, c1860, graciously on loan to him from Tong Ming Xi Pte. Ltd. (Singapore). He uses a bow from the Singapore Raffles International Music Festival 2017’s Artistic Bow Award generously sponsored by Paul SJ Goh, a bowmaker from Singapore.
MP YO MU SIC I A N S FIRST VIOLIN Andrea Sim Yi Xian Cheong Keat Zhen Elle Chang Su-Ting Izzywan Musib Joanna Delight Ho May Sum Katherine Anne Lau Enqi*** Khaw Hui Yang Catherine Kyvie Tan Lee Yan Xing Lim Gen Wen Loo Mei Hui Ng Chia Wen Stephanie Wong Hui Ern Tan Kwan Wynn Timothy Song SECOND VIOLIN Azhad Sulaiman@Zakaria Chan Yi Hung Dania Munira Che Salman Debbie Johanna Ho Yan Yan Emma Lee Mei Chie Hoi Khai-Weing Jalen Ng*** Jarrett Chin Qi Ren Joey Young Kylie Tan Lee Jin Yen Lim Zhi Hsuan Ngoh Ea Son Nicole Leong Ka Yeng Tan Khai Li Tan PinQi Sophia
VIOLA Benjamin Phoon Zu Ying Evelyn Chow Loe Jing Yi Loo Pei Zheng Ng Zhan Shen Tan Jiunn Shaw CELLO Charissa Tan Tian Ai How Wei Tao Stanley Isabel Lau Kai Zi Joel Chew Yee Song Joshua Sim Te Sheng Lee Pu-Yen DOUBLE BASS Khee Yu Hang Lee Kar Yan Siti Aishah Hassan Thoong Kit Yee** Wong Zheng Dao Yong Yoon May FLUTE Bonnie Kong Tien Li Japheth Law Sze Cheng Tan Wei Harn Wooi Wei Kane Janelle Yuen Feng Min*** OBOE Aisha Iwasaki Mohd Izzat Bukhori Awang Tunku Amanina Tunku Ibrahim Wang Si Zhe***
ClArinet Emily Tiow Yu Xian Eugene Chee Jia Jiunn Julian Ong Chang Yong Lee Shi Min Ling Ji Xu Tan Yi Xin bAssoon Stephen Mak Wai Soon Chong Chun Weng frenCh horn Chai Kee Hong** Chai Pei San Chloe Chai Mei Qin Eric Tiow Xian Liang Mohd Adznan Mokhtar
tiMPAni / PerCussion Ng Lip Sheng Nicholas Chang Zhe Yi Norman Cheen Xin Tao Ong Jia Yong Tan Han Ming, Kevin*** PiAno Choong See May Tengku Mohd Hadif hArP Madelaine Chong Zhia Chee
truMPet Kenny Ooi Chia Fu Lau Hui Ping Mohamad Firdaus Zainal* troMbone Kelvin Tan Kai Ing Low Kim Ven Teh Yoong Wei tubA Tan Shun Zhong
* MPYO Alumni ** Guest Musician *** SNYO Musician Musicians are listed alphabetically and rotate within their sections.
Today’s programme brings together music of four countries on three continents. The concert opens with a world premiere by Malaysia’s Wunderkind, Tengku Irfan. We then go halfway around the world for American composer Samuel Barber’s Second Essay, a musical genre he pretty much put on the map himself. Crossing the Atlantic, we encounter music by Frenchman Maurice Ravel inspired by Hungarian gypsies and by Czech Antonín Dvoˇrák living in America.
T E NG k U IR FA N (b.1998) What Does It Take to Dance? 9’00 (Singapore Premiere, MPYO Commission)
Tengku Irfan, still just nineteen, follows in the footsteps of distinguished musicians such as André Previn and Leonard Bernstein for his threefold career pursuits as pianist, conductor and composer. His Meditation, premiered in New York in 2015, received its Malaysian premiere just three weeks ago by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Tonight, the MPYO presents Irfan’s latest work, What Does It Take to Dance?, which the composer describes as follows: “Dance has been part of the cultural fabric for centuries. Whether as a vehicle for communication, an element of rituals, or just for pure pleasure, dance constitutes a vital part of our lives in myriad ways. It can be chronicled across cultures and history as the waltz, Ländler, square dance, zapin, twist, among many others. In What Does It Take to Dance?, dance impulses are incorporated in a variety of moods, namely mysterious, seductive, joyful and nostalgic. The work begins with a feeling of apprehension and uncertainty; the dancelike elements here are tentative, fragmented. As the music unfolds, these elements begin to take shape and become more rhythmically defined. The spirit of the dance is pervasive as the work incessantly grows and evolves; even at the end, when the music appears to have exhausted its means, rhythmic vitality remains”.
S A mUE L B A R B E R (1910–1981) Second Essay for Orchestra, Op. 17 10’00 Samuel Barber occupied a central position in the history of American music. He found his calling early in life, and at 14, entered the newly opened Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study composition with Rosario Scalero. Though Barber lived through the ages of dodecaphonic music, total serialism, musique concrète, electronic music, aleatoric music, microtonal music, spatial music, collage and even the early stages of minimalism, he followed none of these fashionable movements and ‘isms’, remaining true to a romantic persuasion all his life and satisfied to work well within conservative idioms. His music breathes lyricism, heartfelt emotions, nostalgia, and, in some cases, highly dramatic gestures. Barber declared that his primary purpose in writing each of his three Essays was “to create a unity”. In fact, the opening subject of the Second Essay, heard progressively in the solo flute, bass clarinet, English horn and other instruments, provides the material for nearly everything that follows, either melodically or rhythmically. This includes accompanimental patterns, the timpani motif, the fugue (initiated by the solo clarinet after a “shout” from the full orchestra) and the noble hymn that closes the work. A sweeping theme heard first by the violas provides the principal element of contrast, equivalent to a second subject in a sonata-form movement. The first performance was given by Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall on 16 April 1942.
m A UR IC E R AV E L (1875–1937) Tzigane 10’00 While on a visit to London in 1922, Ravel met the young Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi. Through d’Aranyi, Ravel became acquainted with gypsy music which he found so fascinating that he determined to write a piece in this style for her. Two years later, he produced the Tzigane (French for gypsy and related to the German Zigeuner), modeled after the freely structured Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano by Liszt. D’Aranyi and Ravel gave the first performance in London on 26 April 1924. The work opens with a long, unaccompanied presentation of the melodic material by the solo violin. In the course of a freely rhapsodic succession of ideas employing the so-called gypsy scale, the instrument indulges in all manner of virtuosic effects including harmonics and double, triple and even quadruple stops (four notes together). Eventually the orchestra enters, and the two engage in a tour de force of ever-increasing tension, emotional intensity and a headlong rush to the end.
A N TONÍN DVOˇR Á k (1841–1904) Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World”
40’00
Dvoˇrák’s Symphony No. 9, the “New World Symphony” to most listeners, received its world premiere in New York’s Carnegie Hall on 16 December 1893. Although the “New World Symphony” was written in the New World, it is not specifically about the New World. True, there are themes that could be construed as being “authentic” songs of the American Indians or African-Americans, but in fact, as in Dvoˇrák’s Slavonic works, he did not actually quote directly from folksong but rather composed his own based on study of the source material. Of Dvoˇrák’s nine symphonies, From the New World alone opens with a slow introduction. Within the space of just 23 measures, the composer incorporates moods of melancholic dreaming and tense foreboding, startling eruptions and a surging melodic line. The main Allegro section is launched by horns in an arpeggiated fanfare motif in E minor, a motif that will reappear in all remaining movements as well. Several additional themes follow. The Largo contains one of the most famous themes in all classical music. Many listeners know it as the song “Goin’ Home” but Dvoˇrák did not borrow the theme from a spiritual; it is his own, and the words were superimposed after the symphony was written by one of his students, William Arms Fisher. Although Dvoˇrák himself claimed the movement was inspired by a passage from Longfellow’s poem, Otakar ˇSourek (a Czech himself) believes the listener is equally entitled to imagine instead Dvoˇrák longing for his homeland: “the melancholy, wide expanses of the South Bohemian countryside, of his garden at Vysoka, of the deep solemn sighing of the pine forests, and the broad, fragrant fields”.
The Scherzo is one of the most energetic and exhilarating movements Dvoˇråk ever wrote, and borders on the virtuosic as well for the dazzling orchestral display it entails. The contrasting Trio section is a charming rustic dance introduced by the woodwind choir and set to the lilting longshort-long rhythm of which Schubert was so fond. The finale too contains its share of melodic fecundity and inventiveness. The development section develops not only material from this movement but from the three previous ones as well, especially the main theme of the Largo, which is fragmented and tossed about with almost reckless abandon. The grand climax of the long coda brings back the chordal sequence that opened the Largo, but now painted in broad, majestic strokes in the full brass and woodwind sections. The final chord is a surprise — not a predictably stentorian chord played fortissimo by the full orchestra but a lovely, warm sonority for winds alone.
Programme notes by Robert Markow
M A N AG E ME N T DE WA N F IL H A R M O NIK PE TRONAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Nor Raina Yeong Abdullah BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Wan Yuzaini Wan Yahya At Ziafrizani Chek Pa Nurartikah Ilyas Kartini Ratna Sari Ahmat Adam Aishah Sarah Ismail Affendee MARKETING Yazmin Lim Abdullah Hisham Abdul Jalil Munshi Ariff Abu Hassan Farah Diyana Ismail Noor Sarul Intan Salim Muhammad Shahrir Aizat Ahmad Kusolehin Adha Kamaruddin CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT Asmahan Abdullah Jalwati Mohd Noor MUSIC TALENT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT Soraya Mansor PLANNING, FINANCE & IT Mohd Hakimi Mohd Rosli Norhisham Abd Rahman Siti Nur Ilyani Ahmad Fadzillah Nurfharah Farhana Hashimi PROCUREMENT & CONTRACT Logiswary Raman Norhaszilawati Zainudin
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION Sharhida Saad Muknoazlida Mukhadzim Zatil Ismah Azmi Nor Afidah Nordin Nik Nurul Nadia Nik Abdullah TECHNICAL OPERATIONS Firoz Khan Mohd Zamir Mohd Isa Yasheera Ishak Shahrul Rizal Mohd Ali Dayan Erwan Maharal Zolkarnain Sarman
M A L AY S I A N P HIL H A R M O NI C O R C HE S T R A CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Nor Raina Yeong Abdullah GENERAL MANAGER Timothy Tsukamoto GM’S OFFICE Timmy Ong ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT Amy Yu Mei Ling ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION Khor Chin Yang Sharon Francis Lihan MUSIC LIBRARY Ong Li-Huey Wong Seong Seong EDUCATION & OUTREACH Shafrin Sabri Shireen Jasin Mokhtar MALAYSIAN PHILHARMONIC YOUTH ORCHESTRA Ahmad Muriz Che Rose Fadilah Kamal Francis
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