SSO Pops: Classics at the Movies by Singapore Symphony

DEDICATED TO

27 & 28 Sep 2024

Victoria Concert Hall

Message from Raffles Hotel

Dear Guests,

It is with great pleasure and excitement that I extend my warmest greetings to each and every one of you on behalf of Raffles Hotel Singapore. As we enter the second year of our esteemed partnership with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for the 2024/2025 season, I am deeply honoured to commemorate this continued collaboration within these pages.

Both Raffles Hotel Singapore and the Orchestra share a profound commitment to excellence, elegance and the pursuit of perfection in our respective realms of art, culture and hospitality. It is this shared vision that has allowed our partnership to flourish, bringing joy and inspiration to our audiences.

Throughout the past year, the captivating melodies of the orchestra have resonated through the hallowed halls of the Esplanade and Victoria Concert Halls, as well as within the historic walls and gardens of Raffles Hotel. These enchanting performances have created unforgettable moments, elevating the experience for our valued guests, forging a harmonious union of music and emotional luxury.

We are particularly privileged to present a dedicated concert this year in celebration of our Grande Dame. Witnessing the immense talent, dedication and passion exhibited by each member of the Orchestra continues to be a source of great pride for us. Your unwavering commitment to nurturing Singapore’s musical heritage and captivating audiences with unforgettable performances is truly inspiring.

On behalf of Raffles Hotel Singapore, I convey my heartfelt gratitude to all members of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Your dedication, artistry and relentless pursuit of excellence have profoundly enriched our hotel and the broader cultural landscape as we shape history and build a lasting legacy for future generations. May our partnership continue to thrive, creating timeless memories and inspiring those who follow.

Sincerely,

Christian Westbeld Managing Director Raffles Hotel Singapore

Classics at the Movies

Fri & Sat, 27 & 28 Sep 2024

Victoria Concert Hall

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Gerard Salonga conductor

Chan Yoong-Han violin1

Lara Maigue soprano2

Poet and Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé

Building the Barn from Witness by Maurice Jarre (orch. Christopher Palmer)

Por Una Cabeza1 by Carlos Gardel (arr. John Williams)

Three Pieces from Schindler's List1 by John Williams

Suite from Psycho by Bernard Herrmann

Intermission

Murder in the First by Christopher Young

Murder in the First (1995) courtesy of Christopher Young and Europäische FilmPhilharmonie - EFPI

Lascia ch'io pianga2 by George Frideric Handel

Ombra mai fu2 by George Frideric Handel

The Silence of the Lambs – Suite by Howard Shore

The Cantina Band by John Williams (adpt. Gerard Salonga)

Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 50 mins (including 20 mins intermission)

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 with its 44-week calendar of events. The SSO is led by Music Director Hans Graf, the third in the orchestra’s history after Lan Shui (1997–2019) and Choo Hoey (1979–1996).

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 over 50 recordings, culminating in its 3rd place win in the prestigious Gramophone Orchestra of the Year Award 2021. In 2022, BBC Music Magazine named the SSO as one of the 23 best orchestras in the world.

The SSO performs over 60 concerts a year at such venues as the Esplanade Concert Hall and Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in its concert seasons. Its versatile repertoire spans all-time favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres.

The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the Singapore International Piano Festival and the biennial National Piano & Violin Competition.

the cast

Gerard Salonga

conductor

Gerard Salonga is currently Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) in Kuala Lumpur, and the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) in Manila. For two seasons he served as Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra from 2016 to 2018 where he was appointed by Maestro Jaap van Zweden. He also served as Music Director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra in Manila from 2012 to 2020.

He has assisted and covered maestros Jaap van Zweden, Jun Märkl, Hans Graf, Yu Long, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mark Wigglesworth, and Leonard Slatkin, and has conducted the Philippine Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Kunming Nie-Er Symphony, Evergreen Symphony, Thailand Philharmonic, Bangkok Symphony, Singapore Symphony, South Denmark Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Gerard has also collaborated as arranger or conductor with artists like Lea Salonga, Lang Lang, Sumi Jo, Wang Leehom, Wu Tong, Cecile Licad, Hacken Lee, Anthony Lun, Michael Ball, Il Divo, Danielle de Niese, TaikOz, Shen Yang, James Ehnes, Jan Lisiecki, and The Beach Boys.

Future engagements include the PPO, MPO, OFY, and the Thailand Philharmonic.

Gerard is thrilled to once again be visiting Singapore to conduct the SSO.

Chan Yoong-Han

violin

Chan Yoong-Han is currently the Fixed Chair first violinist in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of Rice University and the University of Massachussetts in Amherst, his principal teachers include Chan Yong Shing, Beryl Kimber, Sergiu Luca, Charles Treger, David Cerone, Kurt Sassmannshaus and Dorothy DeLay.

Yoong-Han has performed solo with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Szeged Symphony of Hungary, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Youth Orchestra, Orchestra of the Music Makers, SAF Chinese Orchestra and Braddell Heights Symphony. He was invited to perform as soloist in the 2003 SSO President’s Young Performers Concert as well as the 1999 President’s Charity Concert.

As part of Singapore’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2015, Yoong-Han was concertmaster of the MFO for the Sing50 concert in the National Stadium, as well as concertmaster of the OMM in its performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Singapore’s premiere of Wagner’s Die Walküre in 2020.

In Singapore Yoong-Han is the recipient of the 2000 Shell-NAC Arts Scholarship and the 2004 NAC Young Artist Award. YoongHan performs on a David Tecchler, Fecit Roma An. D. 1700, courtesy of Mr G K Goh.

Lara Maigue

soprano

Award-winning soprano-songwriter, Lara Maigue is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Music, major in Voice. She was recognised by the Aliw (Entertainment) Awards Foundation as Best Female Classical Performer for 2017 and Best Female Crossover Performer for 2018. Lara’s musical repertoire consists of singing opera, kundiman, jazz standards, broadway, OPM, as well as her own original compositions. She won Best Jazz Recording at the 2019 and 2023 Awit Awards while her debut album won Pop Album of the Year at the 2020 Star Awards for Music.

Lara is a two-time finalist of the Philippine Popular Music Festival for her original compositions, a 2024 awardee of the Bagong Sibol (Emerging Artist Award) by the Philippine Leaf Awards, and the 2024 Asia’s Golden Icon Awards for Best Female Performer. Praised by Grammy Award-winning soprano, Sumi Jo for her ‘supernatural high notes’, Lara recently became an internet sensation when her video singing Mozart’s “Queen of the Night” aria went viral online with over 30 million views. Lara is currently one of the most in demand sopranos in the Philippines and in Asia, recently completing sold-out Broadway concerts in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

The Orchestra

FIRST VIOLIN

(Position vacant) Concertmaster, GK Goh Chair

David Coucheron

Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster

Kevin Lin

Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster

Kong Zhao Hui1

Associate Concertmaster

Chan Yoong-Han2

Fixed Chair

Cao Can*

Duan Yu Ling

Foo Say Ming

Jin Li

Kong Xianlong

Cindy Lee

Karen Tan

William Tan

Wei Zhe

Ye Lin*

Zhang Si Jing

SECOND VIOLIN

Nikolai Koval*

Sayuri Kuru

Hai-Won Kwok

Margit Saur

Shao Tao Tao

Tseng Chieh-An

Wu Man Yun*

Xu Jueyi*

Yin Shu Zhan*

Zhao Tian

VIOLA

Manchin Zhang Principal, Tan Jiew Cheng Chair

Guan Qi Associate Principal

Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair

Marietta Ku

Luo Biao

Julia Park

Shui Bing

Janice Tsai

Dandan Wang

Yang Shi Li

CELLO

Ng Pei-Sian Principal, The HEAD Foundation Chair

Yu Jing Associate Principal

Guo Hao Fixed Chair

Chan Wei Shing

Christopher Mui

Jamshid Saydikarimov

Song Woon Teng

Wang Yan

Wu Dai Dai

Zhao Yu Er

DOUBLE BASS

Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal

Karen Yeo Fixed Chair

Jacek Mirucki

Guennadi Mouzyka

Wang Xu

FLUTE

Jin Ta Principal, Stephen Riady Chair

Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal

Roberto Alvarez

Miao Shanshan

PICCOLO

Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal

OBOE

Rachel Walker Principal

Pan Yun Associate Principal

Carolyn Hollier

Elaine Yeo

COR ANGLAIS

Elaine Yeo Associate Principal

CLARINET

Ma Yue Principal

Li Xin Associate Principal

Liu Yoko

Tang Xiao Ping

BASS CLARINET

Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal

BASSOON

Liu Chang Associate Principal

Christoph Wichert

Zhao Ying Xue

CONTRABASSOON

Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal

HORN

Austin Larson Principal

Gao Jian Associate Principal

Jamie Hersch Associate Principal

Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal

Bryan Chong^

Hoang Van Hoc

TRUMPET

Jon Paul Dante Principal

David Smith Associate Principal

Lau Wen Rong

Nuttakamon Supattranont

TROMBONE

Allen Meek Principal

Damian Patti Associate Principal

Samuel Armstrong

BASS TROMBONE

Wang Wei Assistant Principal

TUBA

Tomoki Natsume Principal

TIMPANI

Christian Schiøler Principal

Mario Choo

PERCUSSION

Jonathan Fox Principal

Mark Suter Associate Principal

Mario Choo

Lim Meng Keh

HARP

Gulnara Mashurova Principal

KEYBOARD

Shane Thio3 Principal Keyboard

CELESTA

Shane Thio3

Aya Sakou3

ORGAN

Joanna Paul3

With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. Musician on temporary contract

Kong Zhao Hui performs on a J.B. Guadagnini of Milan, c. 1750, donated by the National Arts Council, Singapore, with the support of Far East Organization and Lee Foundation.

Chan Yoong-Han performs on a David Tecchler, Fecit Roma An. D. 1700, courtesy of Mr G K Goh. Guest musician

Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.

Programme Notes

Cobbled together into three acts after Franz von Suppé’s death, using music he had already written, Poet and Peasant is sometimes described as a comedy with songs (“Lustspiel mit Gesang”). It premiered in 1846 and the overture has been enduringly popular since then, with a lyrical opening section giving way to dramatic outbursts in the minor key. His popularity in light music circles led to his music being used at the advent of the film industry, and it features in such films as Beetlejuice, a sequel to which releases this year.

Music in film has excelled in horror and mystery contexts, but what sets “Building the Barn” apart from the rest of Maurice Jarre’s score to Witness is its open American sound, in the vein of Aaron Copland: a firm A-flat major holds true from beginning to end. The original score was written for synthesisers, because the film revolves around the Amish community – who, famously, do not play musical instruments –but music from the score has been arranged for orchestra, and consequently enjoys success in such programmes.

Schindler’s List is a classic Spielberg film about the German man who saved over a thousand Jewish Poles over the course of the Second World War. Standing apart from the famous tunes heard throughout the movie, in a beautiful score laid down by John Williams, is one of the most well-known tangos in the world: “Por Una Cabeza”, which features in the opening scene of the film.

From two generations before John Williams and his domination of the film music scene is Bernard Herrmann, most famous for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, but also for classic mid-20th century films like Fahrenheit 451 and The Day the Earth Stood Still. The music from Psycho, one of his finest scores, is taut and tense, with a prelude featuring pounding, dissonant syncopated chords, moving into a languid scene set in the city. The next movement is an elaboration on a three-note idea, so dissonant as to sound like something by Schoenberg or Webern, and then follows the incredible murder scene… The remainder of the suite is in similar vein: perfectly encapsulated miniature moments from the movie, but so bright and so vivid that one can easily imagine the action.

Christopher Young began his career by establishing himself in horror and thriller genres, before taking on other projects in the 21st century, including working with Sam Raimi on the score to Spider-Man 3. This suite for Murder in the First, courtesy of the composer himself and the Europäische FilmPhilharmonie (EFPI), was written in 1995 and, similarly to Herrmann’s suite, Young’s much more recent medley from the American crime drama puts together particularly memorable bits of soundtrack.

Lascia ch'io pianga

Mia cruda sorte, E che sospiri

La libertà.

Il duolo infranga

Queste ritorte, De' miei martiri

Sol per pietà.

Ombra mai fu

Ombra mai fu di vegetabile, cara ed amabile, soave più.

Let me weep

My cruel fate, And that I should have freedom.

The duel infringes within these twisted places, in my sufferings I pray for mercy.

The open, C major sound that permeates the whole piece recalls the diatonicism of “Building the Barn”, though the lush string sound seems to draw inspiration from older sources (like Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings). Halfway through, the music takes on an explicitly religious bent: in the original, a chorus intones “Eleison” along with a solo cello line, and the music turns towards an A minor mode, where the music peters out.

Never was a shade of any plant dearer and more lovely, or more sweet.

Classical opera is used in films to add an air of melancholy or elegance, and Handel’s two arias here are no exception. He is, of course, far more widely recognised for the “Hallelujah Chorus”, as well as having written the tune that would end up as the Christmas carol “Joy to the World”. However, “Lascia ch’io pianga” and “Ombra mai fu” are much slower, more solemn pieces. Taken from his operas Rinaldo and Xerxes respectively, both deal with fictional scenarios set in antiquity: in the first, Rinaldo’s lover is resigned to never seeing her knight in shining armour again, and in the second, King Xerxes I of Persia praises the shade of the plane trees for giving him succour. These two arias have been used in countless movies and TV shows over the years, covering such grounds as the classic Dangerous Liaisons to a TV show based on the Castlevania video game. Perhaps most immediately relevant is the 1994 film Farinelli, based upon the true story of 18thcentury singer and sensation Carlo Broschi.

The stolen kiss (1787) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Howard Shore is best known today for his monumental creation for the entirety of The Lord of the Rings, but his score for The Silence of the Lambs is no less an achievement in scene-setting. Operatic in scale and written a dozen years before the first of the Tolkien epics, this is a different approach to horror composition: firmly ensconced in tonal harmony instead of the radical approach that Herrmann takes. Shore’s score underpins so much of the action and always fades in and out of the background with perfect timing. The greatest dissonances, scoring the moment Hannibal Lecter escapes from his cell, are horrifying by contrast to the almost placid tonality that surrounds it.

Finally, the most upbeat tune on today’s programme, and the jazziest: “Cantina Band”, played by a group of aliens on Mos Eisley, is George Lucas’s in-universe nod to the quintessentially American genre. This tune definitely goes toe-to-toe with the “Imperial March” for the position of the most iconic Star Wars tune. A fun bit of trivia for listeners: look up the names of the aliens’ instruments!

Notes by Thomas Ang

Schindler's List (c) Universal Pictures Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (c) Lucasfilm Ltd.

SSO Chamber and Organ Series October

3 OCT 2024

7.30pm, Victoria Concert Hall

SSO CHAMBER SERIES A LOVE OF FRENCH MUSIC

4 OCT 2024

7.30pm, Victoria Concert Hall

SSO CHAMBER SERIES ENCHANTING RAVEL

27 OCT 2024 4pm, Victoria Concert Hall

SSO ORGAN SERIES A GOTHIC HALLOWEEN

Male Chorus of the Singapore Symphony Chorus

Eudenice Palaruan

Choral Director & organ

Ellissa Sayampanathan

Assistant Choral Conductor

Shane Thio celesta & piano

Boey Jir Shin organ