Keeping Music Alive Apr-Dec 2020
e v i l A c i s u M g Keepin SSOPlayOn! SSO Goes Full-Digital (Apr -Jun 2020) In response to the Circuit Breaker measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Singapore, with the closure of concert halls and stay-home orders in force, the SSO initiated the SSOPlayOn! digital season at short notice in late March 2020. Months of online content were planned and curated to keep music alive and lift the spirits of Singaporeans while they stayed home.
Find these on our YouTube, Facebook and Spotify channels.
S S O L I V E & D I G I TA L PREMIERES
11 APR – 20 JUN 2020
28 MAR – 13 JUN 2020
Saturdays
Saturdays
Alternating with our SSO Live & Digital Premieres on Saturdays, SSO Encore: From the Archives provided another chance to enjoy memorable performances from the orchestra’s archives.
Free performances streamed on SSO’s YouTube page on Saturdays, including Digital Premieres of newly released concert footage. 28 MAR The Spirit of Serenity 4 APR Mahler Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” |
18 APR
25 APR 2 MAY
16 MAY
30 MAY 6 JUN 13 JUN
Lan Shui’s Farewell Baroque Festival: Music for Kings and Queens Baroque Festival: Royal Fireworks Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy; Holst’s The Planets Martha Argerich & Darío Ntaca Play Mozart Louis Schwizgebel | SIPF 2019 Ronan O’Hora | SIPF 2019 Kirill Gerstein and Dénes Várjon | SIPF 2019 & 2018
SSO ENCORE
11 APR
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” 9 MAY Stravinsky Petrushka 16 MAY Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on A Theme by Paganini | Lukas Geniušas 23 MAY Sibelius Finlandia; Nielsen Symphony No. 3 20 JUN Britten War Requiem
VICTORIA CONCERT HALL: F RO M T H E A RC H I V E S
S I N G A P O R E C O M P O S E R S: F RO M T H E A RC H I V E S
15 APR – 24 JUN 2020
8 APR – 17 JUN 2020
Alternate Wednesdays, 7.30pm
Alternate Wednesdays, 7.30pm
Audio recordings of some of our favourite chamber concerts from the Victoria Concert Hall, free to enjoy on the SSO YouTube channel. This series alternated every other Wednesday with Singapore Composers: From the Archives.
The SSO celebrates some of our brilliant local composers with this archive audio series, which was broadcasted on our YouTube channel. This series alternated every other Wednesday with Victoria Concert Hall: From the Archives series.
Performances by the Stradivari Quartet, Borodin Quartet and musicians of the SSO.
Featured works from Leong Yoon Pin, Tan Chan Boon, Kam Kee Yong, Emily Koh, Kelly Tang and Bernard Tan.
CONCERT CL ASSICS ON SYMPHONY 924 3 MAY – 31 MAY 2020 Every Sunday, 12–2pm The SSO teamed up with our official radio station, Symphony 924, to bring you a concert from the SSO archives in the comfort of your own home. This series was aired every Sunday in May, from noon until 2pm.
S S O P L AY L I S T S 26 MAR – ONGOING
C O N V E R S AT I O N S WITH THE ARTIST
Alternate Thursdays
15 MAY – 19 JUN 2020
Head to the SSO Spotify channel to discover handpicked playlists of music performed by orchestras around the world. A new playlist is released every other Thursday.
Every Friday
26 MAR 9 APR 23 APR 7 MAY 21 MAY 4 JUN
18 JUN 16 JUL 30 JUL 13 AUG 27 AUG 17 SEP 1 OCT 15 OCT 29 OCT
Inspired by Fauré The Genius of Baroque Rome Classical Excursions: East to West Curated by Nadia Sirota All About the Viola Curated by Joshua Tan; Curated by Darrell Ang Selections for the Pipe Organ Work From Home Classical Just Strings National Day Classical Workout Calm Classical Heroic Classical Breakfast with Bach Chief Conductor Hans Graf
SSO Principal Percussionist Jon Fox switched his drumsticks for a mic as he hosted this series of engaging video conversations with artists from across the music world. This series was premiered on the SSO Facebook page every Friday in May and June with fascinating insights into the guests’ musical lives. Guests included popular artists such as singers Lea Salonga and Joanna Dong, pianist Makoto Ozone and violinist Benny Tseng. 15 MAY 22 MAY 29 MAY 5 JUN 12 JUN 19 JUN
Joanna Dong Andrew Litton Makoto Ozone Joshua Tan and Darrell Ang Lea Salonga and Gerard Salonga Yu-Chien Benny Tseng
M U S I C A L S OU N D B I T E S 31 MAY – 28 JUN 2020
J A S O N L A I’S C L A S S I C A L M U S I C M E D I TAT I O N
Every Sunday, 3pm
5 APR – 26 APR 2020
Saint-Saëns’s much-loved masterpiece Carnival of the Animals was the focus for our interactive series for children, hosted by conductor Jessica Gethin. This series premiered on the SSO Facebook page every Sunday at 3pm.
Every Sunday, 3pm Our former SSO Associate Conductor Jason Lai led a four-part meditation series, aided by beautiful music performed by the SSO. Available on the SSO YouTube channel.
31 MAY 7 JUN 14 JUN
5 APR 12 APR 19 APR
Royal March of the Lion, Hens & Cocks Wild Asses, Tortoises, Elephant Kangaroos, Aquarium, Persons with Long Ears 21 JUN The Cuckoo, The Aviary & Pianists 28 JUN Fossils, The Swan & Finale
26 APR
Elgar’s Nimrod Mahler’s Adagietto By the Brook from Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers
ew Era ASSO N 20/21 SEASON (Since Jul 2020)
The SSO announced our 20/21 Season in March, but as we approached July, almost every concert became impossible to stage. Undeterred, we continued working on a hectic month-by-month basis to produce concerts in every way possible. Concerts were pre-recorded without audience, programmes were changed, scores were reduced, marketing and presentation were re-wired for audiences at home – the SSO continues to present one digital concert every fortnight since July.
S S O S E A S O N O P E N I N G C O N C E R T (Online) Dedicated to the people of Singapore, with opening speeches by then Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Grace Fu, and SSO Chief Conductor Hans Graf, the SSO’s 20/21 Season Opening Concert marked the beginning of our digital concert series featuring newly recorded performances. This was a turning point after three months of free SSOPlayOn! digital season content, presented during the COVID-19 circuit breaker phase. The concert included a moving performance of the heavenly Largo from Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, recorded from home by the SSO with Singapore’s Chloe Chua and guest violinist Karen Gomyo. TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” J.S.BACH Largo from Concerto for Two Violins, BWV 1043 Singapore Symphony Orchestra Hans Graf Chief Conductor | Karen Gomyo violin | Chloe Chua violin Premiered on SISTIC Live, 11 Jul 2020
S S O N AT I O N A L D AY C O N C E R T (Online) Now an annual affair, the SSO National Day Concert is our showcase of Singapore’s musical creativity. A nation’s tunes are the unifying music of its people, and an essential ingredient of national identity. Our role giving life to new Singapore music has never been more important. Singapore’s composers Sandra Lim, Tan Yuting, Jonathan Shin and John Sharpley rewrote their music at short notice to fit reduced orchestra sizes, revitalising Singaporeans through such titles as New Beginnings and City Arising. The SSO further surprised the nation with a brand new take on one of our most beloved national songs, Count On Me, Singapore, in a rendition with vocalist Benjamin Kheng.
La Voix Humaine (Online) Premiered 18 Jul 2020
Debussy & Dvořák: Serenade and Dance (Online)
New Beginnings, by Sandra Lim (World Premiere) Metro, by Tan Yuting (Asian Premiere) City Arising, by Jonathan Shin (World Premiere) Brahman: Kannagi’s Realization, by John Sharpley (World Premiere) Home, by Dick Lee (arr. Kelly Tang) Count On Me, Singapore, by Hugh Harrison (arr. Stan Kružík) Majulah Singapura, by Zubir Said (reorchestrated by Kelly Tang, 2020 - World Premiere)
Mozart & Stravinsky: Music on the Air (Online)
Singapore Symphony Orchestra Darrell Ang conductor Benjamin Kheng artist Kshirja Govind Bharatanatyam dancer Khairudin Saharom master of ceremonies Janis Wong sign language interpreter
Premiered 29 Aug 2020
Premiered on SISTIC Live, 15 Aug 2020
Premiered 1 Aug 2020
乐享时光: Zhang Si Jing
and Friends (Online)
Premiered 12 Sep 2020 Supported by 联合早报
Kahchun Wong Conducts Debussy, Wagner and Shostakovich (Online) Premiered 26 Sep 2020
President’s Young Performers Concert (Online) Premiered 10 Oct 2020
Music For All Time – Celebrating Bach I (Online) Premiered 24 Oct 2020
CAL AMIT Y AND CALM: THE MUSIC OF HOPE The VCHpresents Organ Series is a regular staple of our home brand. Calamity and Calm: The Music of Hope is a 3-part organ recital series, broadcast free on our social media channels, featuring Singapore organists Evelyn Lim, Phoon Yu, Anne Maria Lim and Isaac Lee, supported by the Singapore Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Premiering 28 Oct, 11 Nov and 25 Nov 2020
WELCOME BACK Our first live audience since March 2020
H AY D N ’S E M P E RO R A N D T C H A I KO V S K Y ’S F L O R E N C E On 8 Oct 2020, we welcomed our first live audience since March, as part of the National Arts Council’s live audience pilot initiative. 50 music lovers brought warmth and life back to the Victoria Concert Hall to enjoy a recital of chamber music by Haydn and Tchaikovsky, performed by SSO musicians. Live audience pilot at Victoria Concert Hall, 8 Oct 2020
Upcoming concerts M E TA M O R P H O S E N A N D MOZ ART WITH HANS GR AF (Online) 6 NOV 2020 Fri 8pm | SISTIC Live Viewable until 20 Nov 2020 Singapore Symphony Orchestra Hans Graf Chief Conductor “The most perfect melodic shapes are found in Mozart”, said Richard Strauss of his famous 18th century predecessor. Strauss’s Metamorphosen, “A Study for 23 Solo Strings” is a monument of beautiful, evolving sorrow, written near the end of the Second World War. Believed to be his personal elegy to the devastation of culture during the war, it is perhaps also a subtle reminder of the transformative power of art in a time of adversity. R. STRAUSS Metamorphosen for 23 strings MOZART Serenade No. 10, K.361 “Gran Partita”
D I V E R T I S S E M E N T: AN E VENING OF FRENCH MUSIC (Online) 20 NOV 2020 Fri 8pm | SISTIC Live Viewable until 4 Dec 2020 Singapore Symphony Orchestra Darrell Ang conductor Immerse yourself in an evening of French music, some of the most remarkable and delicate gems in the classical repertoire. Ibert’s sparkling Divertissement plays alongside Ravel’s exquisite miniatures from Mother Goose, under the gossamer twilight of Debussy’s unforgettable Clair de lune. As part of vOilah! France Singapore Festival 2020
Supported by
DEBUSSY Clair de lune (arr. Caplet) RAVEL Ma mère l’Oye (“Mother Goose”) IBERT Divertissement
SSO digital concerts on SISTIC Live are on a pay-as-you-wish basis, and viewable for a 2-week period (3 weeks for Christmas Concert)
A LIT TLE MOZ ART W I T H C H L O E C H UA (Online) 4 DEC 2020 Fri 8pm | SISTIC Live Viewable until 18 Dec 2020 Singapore Symphony Orchestra Hans Graf Chief Conductor Chloe Chua violin Singapore’s winsome darling of the violin, Chloe Chua, stars in Mozart’s lyrical Violin Concerto No. 2, accompanied by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra with Chief Conductor Hans Graf. The second half of the programme features music of fiery impulse and all-consuming zeal: Beethoven’s unstoppable Seventh Symphony.
SSO CHRISTMAS CONCERT (Online)
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 2 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
18 DEC 2020 Fri 8pm | SISTIC Live Viewable until 8 Jan 2021
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Singapore Symphony Orchestra Joshua Tan Associate Conductor Kong Zhao Hui violin Singapore Symphony Choruses Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster Eric Wong Director Merry Christmas! 2020 has been a year of many unusual memories, but the SSO won’t let it pass without our annual musical gathering of yuletide cheer. Join us and the Singapore Symphony Choruses in our special year-end celebration, featuring Baroque classics by Bach, Handel and Vivaldi as well as contemporary Christmas carols by popular choral music composer John Rutter. The show is directed by our “Count On Me, Singapore” director, Eric Wong. We wish you musical joy, harmony and peace on Earth! Programme includes works by Handel, Bach, Rutter, Vaughan Williams and Vivaldi.
Hans Graf Chief Conductor
The Austrian conductor Hans Graf is the Chief Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra from the 2020/21 concert season. He held the role of Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra 2001–2013, making him the longest-serving Music Director in the orchestra’s 100 year history. Prior to this, he was Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic and of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. He has also held the post of Music Director at the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg and the Basque National Orchestra. Hans Graf is a frequent guest with major orchestras around the world including with the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Seoul, Hong Kong and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras. Hans Graf’s discography includes all symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, the complete orchestral works by Henri Dutilleux and the world premiere recording of Zemlinsky’s opera Es war einmal. His recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony won the ECHO Klassik 2017 award and the Grammy 2018 for Best Opera Recording. Hans Graf has been made Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Government (2002) and was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Republic of Austria (2007). He is also Professor Emeritus for Orchestral Conducting at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is well-loved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings. The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800seat state-of-the-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works, as well as outreach and community performances take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the home of the SSO. The orchestra performs over 60 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans all-time favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres.
Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season. This has been a core of the SSO’s programming philosophy from the very beginning under Choo Hoey, who was Music Director from 1979 to 1996. Under the Music Directorship of Lan Shui from 1997 to 2019, the SSO has performed in Europe, Asia and the United States. In May 2016 the SSO was invited to perform at the Dresden Music Festival and the Prague Spring International Music Festival. This successful five-city tour of Germany and Prague also included the SSO’s return to the Berlin Philharmonie after six years. In 2014 the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received critical acclaim in the major UK newspapers The Guardian and The Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions. In the 2020/21 concert season, the SSO welcomes renowned maestro Hans Graf as its Chief Conductor.
Notable SSO releases on the BIS label include a Rachmaninoff series, a “Seascapes” album, three Debussy discs “La Mer”, “Jeux” and “Nocturnes”, and the first-ever cycle of Tcherepnin’s piano concertos and symphonies. The SSO has also collaborated with such great artists as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Neeme Järvi, Gustavo Dudamel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Diana Damrau, Martha Argerich, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham. The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. The mission of the Group is to create memorable shared experiences with music. Through the SSO and its affiliated performing groups, we spread the love for music, nurture talent and enrich our diverse communities.
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