Discovering Music - That's Fantastic!

Singa pore Sy mphon y orcheStra

DISCOVERING MUSIC!

THAT’S FANTASTIC! 28 January 2018 Victoria Concert Hall

S ing a p or e S y mp hon y or c he S t r a 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 1,800-seat state-of-the-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works and all outreach and community performances take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the home of the SSO. The orchestra performs 100 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.

Since Lan Shui assumed the position of Music Director ‘A fine display of in 1997, the SSO has performed in Europe, Asia and orchestral bravado for the United States. In May 2016, the SSO was invited to perform at the Dresden Music Festival and Prague Spring the SSO and Shui’ International Music Festival. In 2014 the SSO’s debut at the The Guardian 120th BBC Proms in London received critical acclaim in the major UK newspapers The Guardian and Telegraph.

J a S on L a i conductor Jason Lai has been the Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 2013 and also the Principal Conductor of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra since 2010.

Intent on broadening the appeal of classical music, Jason is also building a unique reputation as a communicator with mass appeal through his television appearances. He has frequently appeared on BBC television as a judge in both the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and the classical talent show Classical Star. He reached his widest audience as a conducting mentor in the series Maestro.

Since settling in Singapore he has continued with his television work. He was presenter and conductor for Project Symphony, an eight-part series for Okto where he was filmed setting up a community orchestra. This year he has been involved filming for a BBC series called Heart of Asia which explores the contemporary arts and culture scene in Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines, and a series for BBC World called Tales from Modern China.

Jason’s roots lie in Hong Kong but he was born in the UK and was a pupil at the prestigious specialist music school in Manchester, Chetham’s, where he studied cello. At Oxford University he studied both cello and composition, and went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he was awarded a Fellowship in Conducting. Jason won the BBC Young Conductors Workshop in 2002 and was appointed the Assistant Conductor to the BBC Philharmonic with whom he made his BBC Proms début in 2003.

SSO Mu s ic i a n s Lan Shui Music Director Joshua Tan Associate Conductor

Jason Lai Associate Conductor Andrew Litton Principal Guest Conductor

Choo Hoey Conductor Emeritus Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director

FIRST VIOLIN Igor Yuzefovich° Concertmaster Lynnette Seah Co-Concertmaster Kong Zhao Hui* Associate Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han Fixed Chair Cao Can* Chen Da Wei Duan Yu Ling Foo Say Ming Gu Wen Li Jin Li Cindy Lee Sui Jing Jing Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe SECOND VIOLIN Michael Loh Associate Principal Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Nikolai Koval* Lee Shi Mei^ Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Lillian Wang Wu Man Yun* Xu Jue Yi* Ye Lin* Yeo Teow Meng Yin Shu Zhan* Zhang Si Jing*

VIOLA

BASSOON

Zhang Manchin Principal Guan Qi Associate Principal Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair Marietta Ku Luo Biao Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai Yang Shi Li

Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue

CELLO Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Song Woon Teng Wang Yan Wang Zihao* Peter Wilson Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er DOUBLE BASS Guennadi Mouzyka Principal Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair Olga Alexandrova Jacek Mirucki Wang Xu FLUTE Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan

CONTRA BASSOON Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal HORN Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Kartik Alan Jairamin TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin TROMBONE Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong BASS TROMBONE Wang Wei Assistant Principal TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal TIMPANI

PICCOLO

Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal

Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal

PERCUSSION

OBOE

Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Zhu Zheng Yi

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

* With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. ° Igor Yuzefovich plays an instrument generously loaned by Mr & Mrs G K Goh ^ Musician on temporary contract Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.

HARP Gulnara Mashurova Principal Huang Yu Hsin^

HECTOR B ER L IOZ (1803–1869) Symphonie fantastique – An Episode in the Life of an Artist, Op. 14 I. Rêveries – Passions (Reveries – Passions) II. Un bal (A ball) III. Scène aux champs (Scene in the Fields) IV. Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold)* V. Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Dream of the Night of the Sabbath)* In 1827, the French composer Hector Berlioz, then aged 24, had a massive infatuation with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson. He sent her many love letters and stalked her, but she skilfully avoided all of his attempts to communicate, and left Paris. She returned two years later, and Berlioz’s infatuation was renewed. However, Harriet gave instructions to keep him far away, and he subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown. Somehow, this protracted episode provided potent fuel for Berlioz’s creativity to blaze, and he took just six weeks to write his Symphonie fantastique (“Fantastical Symphony”), which was premiered in May 1830. Unfortunately, Harriet did not attend the premiere.

Harriet returned yet again to Paris in 1832 and this time, attended a performance of the Symphony. Realising that Berlioz had written a Symphony about her, she finally met him.

Life strangely imitated art. To persuade Harriet to marry him, Berlioz overdosed on opium in front of her. After she hysterically agreed to marry him, he took an antidote. They were married in 1833, with neither speaking each other’s language and strong opposition from each other’s families. Unsurprisingly, they separated in 1844 after years of constant fighting, although Berlioz continued to provide for Harriet for the rest of his life.

Written in five movements, the Symphony features an idée fixe (“fixed idea”), a musical depiction of Harriet which can also be described as her theme. With a musical “once upon a time,” Berlioz opens his Symphony, magically whisking us into his world. The Artist’s (Berlioz writing about himself in third person) “surge of passions” takes us to the Allegro of the First Movement and Harriet’s theme is introduced, accompanying an increasingly rapid heartbeat and heightened emotions. Berlioz described this movement as depicting the obsessive emotions of unrequited love, with “delirious passion … fury and jealousy … tenderness, tears, its religious consolation.”

DISCOVERING MUSIC In our interactive showcase series, the SSO and Jason Lai take you on an educational concert experience using excerpts from a piece of music.

That’s Fantastic will feature the first three movements of Berlioz’s masterwork.

The scene changes in the Second Movement – a ballroom flickers into sight over harp arpeggios, with couples swirling and dancing within. Harriet accompanies the Artist in this scene, hauntingly appearing in the flute and oboe.

Berlioz brings us to the countryside in the Third Movement. Two shepherds play a duet in the distance, and the gentle rustling of the trees help to soothe the Artist’s turbulent emotions. Harriet’s theme continues to haunt his thoughts and he feels a pang of anguish, as the Scene in the Fields dissipates in a roll of thunder. *In despair, the Artist poisons himself with opium and is plunged into a hallucinogenic nightmare in the Fourth Movement. He dreams that he has killed Harriet, and is led on a March to the Scaffold to his own execution. Just before the fatal blow, Harriet’s theme resurfaces as the Artist’s final thought. The guillotine drops, his head hits the ground with a thud, and the crowd cheers wildly. *The nightmare continues in the Fifth Movement, as the Artist finds himself surrounded by witches and monsters at his funeral. Harriet personally visits; she is transformed into a witch – cantering in a grotesque dance, depicted by a squawking E-flat clarinet. Berlioz conjures bizarre sounds from the orchestra, portraying a devilish, wild dance. The spooky medieval Dies Irae chant from the Catholic Requiem (Mass of the Dead) appears and combines with the dance, resulting in a violent climax to this Fantastical Symphony. * The fourth and fifth movements are not featured in this concert.

Programme notes by Christopher Cheong

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