Singapore Symphony Orchestra Mar 2024

LAN SHUI AND BOMSORI THE HUNGARIAN CONNECTION – BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO 1

JOHN WILLIAMS – ESSAY AND FLUTE CONCERTO

Jin Ta

Principal Flute

Stephen Riady Chair

2 frst time Is this your at the SSO?

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LAN SHUI AND BOMSORI

Fri, 1 Mar 2024

Esplanade Concert Hall

THE HUNGARIAN CONNECTION BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO 1

Sat, 23 Mar 2024

Esplanade Concert Hall

JOHN WILLIAMS

ESSAY AND FLUTE CONCERTO

Fri & Sat, 29 & 30 Mar 2024

Victoria Concert Hall

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• Please minimise noises during performance. If unavoidable, wait for a loud section in the music.

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Cover photo: Sloth Creatives

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.

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 through its school programmes. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings. In 2021, the SSO clinched third place in the prestigious Orchestra of the Year Award by Gramophone. In 2022, BBC Music Magazine named the SSO as one of the 21 best orchestras in the world.

In July 2022, the SSO appointed renowned Austrian conductor Hans Graf as its Music Director, the third in the orchestra’s history after Lan Shui (1997–2019) and Choo Hoey (1979–1996). Prior to this, Hans Graf served as Chief Conductor from 2020.

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. The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-of-theart 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.

Beyond Singapore, 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 fivecity tour of Germany and Prague also included the SSO’s second performance at the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2014, the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received praise in major UK newspapers The Guardian and The Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions.

The SSO has released more than 50 recordings, with over 30 on the BIS label. Recent critically acclaimed albums include Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights (Chandos) and Scriabin - Poems of Ecstasy and Fire (BIS). Following the Four Seasons album on Pentatone, a complete Mozart Violin Concerto cycle with Chloe Chua and Hans Graf will be released in 2024. The SSO also leads the revival and recording of significant works such as Kozłowski’s Requiem, Ogerman’s Symbiosis (after Bill Evans) and violin concertos by Robert Russell Bennett and Vernon Duke.

The SSO has collaborated with such great artists as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Joe Hisaishi, Neeme Järvi, Okko Kamu, Hannu Lintu, Andrew Litton, Lorin Maazel, Martha Argerich, Ray Chen, Diana Damrau, Stephen Hough, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Krystian Zimerman.

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

Our Story

The Group’s vision is to be a leading arts organization that engages, inspires and reflects Singapore through musical excellence. Our mission 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.

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

LAN SHUI

Conductor Laureate

Conductor of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

As a guest conductor, Shui has worked with many orchestras worldwide. In the United States he has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco, Baltimore and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. In Europe he has conducted the orchestras of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Danish National Symphony, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestre National de France and Royal Swedish Orchestra.

Lan Shui is the recipient of international awards from the Beijing Arts Festival, New York Tcherepnin Society, the 37th Besançon Conductors’ Competition in France and Boston University (Distinguished Alumni Award) as well as the Cultural Medallion, Singapore’s highest accolade in the arts, and the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star, or BBM), both awarded by the Singapore government. LAN

Lan Shui served as the Music Director of Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 2019, where he “turned a good regional orchestra into a world-class ensemble that plays its heart out at every concert” (American Record Guide). Together they made several acclaimed tours to Europe, Asia and the United States and made their BBC Proms debut in 2014. Currently the SSO’s Conductor Laureate, Lan Shui was also Chief Conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic from 2007 to 2015, currently serving as the orchestra’s Honorary Conductor. He is presently Principal Guest

Since 1998 Shui has recorded over 40 albums with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for BIS, including the firstever complete cycle of Tcherepnin’s symphonies plus complete orchestral works of Rachmaninoff and Debussy. He also recorded Beethoven’s complete symphonies with the Copenhagen Philharmonic. His albums have received Grammy nominations twice.

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HEARTPATRICK

BOMSORI KIM

violin

“This violinist is ready for anything: with virtuosity, presence, clarity and a warm, rich tone, Bomsori is adept at making each moment her own.” – Crescendo Magazine

Bomsori’s 2023/24 season is packed with exciting highlights, including her debut performances at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic and at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She was on tour with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich and Paavo Järvi, and also made her debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Pittsburgh Symphony and James Gaffigan, and la Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and Krzysztof Urbanski, among other debuts.

Bomsori was the Focus Artist of the Rheingau Musik Festival 2021 and in the same year began a 5-year residency at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival as Menuhin’s Heritage Artist.

In February 2021, Bomsori signed the exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and in the same year, released the album Violin on Stage, with NFM Wroc aw Philharmonic and Giancarlo Guerrero. Her duo album with pianist Rafa Blechacz, featuring works by Fauré, Debussy, Szymanowski and Chopin, won the Fryderyk Music Award for “Best Polish Album Abroad”.

Born in South Korea, Bomsori received a Bachelor’s degree at Seoul National University, where she studied with Young Uck Kim. She also earned her Master of Music Degree and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School where she studied with Sylvia Rosenberg and Ronald Copes.

She performs on the Guarnerius del Gesù violin “ex-Moller,” Cremona, 1725, on extended loan through the generous efforts of The Samsung Foundation of Culture of Korea and The Stradivari Society of Chicago, Illinois.

bomsorikim.com

© KYUTAI SHIM

GÁBOR KÁLI conductor

After replacing Iván Fischer upon the maestro’s request in April 2019 with the prestigious Budapest Festival Orchestra, earning rave reviews and standing ovations, Hungarian Gábor Káli positioned himself as one of the most promising young conductors.

Among highlights of the summer 2023 and the 2023/24 season, his intense opera experience led Gábor Káli to his debut with the prestigious Staatsoper Berlin, conducting Peter Eötvös’s opera Sleepless, Oper Köln (Così fan tutte) and Opéra National

du Capitole de Toulouse (Onegin). As a powerful leader of symphonic formations, he guest conducts such major symphonic orchestras as Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Staatskappelle Dresden, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Macao Symphony Orchestra.

Other recent highlights include several performances of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Dresden’s Semperoper upon Christian Thielemann’s invitation, and Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien at Salzburg Festival, as well as guest invitations to Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and RSO Wien at the Musikverein, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and many others.

As a versatile musician, Gábor Káli is highly committed to contemporary repertoire, regularly conducting new music and premiering various works across the globe. He is particularly sought-after for his deep knowledge of Bartók’s works, which led him to conduct the Budapest Festival Orchestra on tour.

Gábor Káli was awarded the prestigious Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2018. In the same year, he also won first prize at the inaugural Hong Kong International Conducting Competition. He studied piano and conducting at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest.

gaborkali.com

© JOHANNA LINK

DÉNES VÁRJON piano

His sensational technique, deep musicality, wide range of interest have made Dénes Várjon one of the most exciting and highly regarded participants of international musical life. He is a universal musician: excellent soloist, first-class chamber musician, artistic leader of festivals, highly sought–after piano pedagogue.

Widely considered as one of the greatest chamber musicians, he works regularly with pre-eminent partners such as Steven Isserlis, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi and Joshua Bell. As a soloist he is a welcome guest at major concert series, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall.

He also performs frequently with his wife Izabella Simon playing four hands and two pianos recitals together. In the past decade they organized and led several chamber music festivals, the most recent one being “kamara.hu” at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest.

He has recorded for the Naxos, Capriccio, ECM and Hungaroton labels with critical acclaim. In 2015 he recorded the Schumann piano concerto with the WDR Symphonieorchester and Heinz Holliger, and all five Beethoven piano concertos with Concerto Budapest and András Keller.

Dénes Várjon graduated from the Franz Liszt Music Academy. He won first prize at the Piano Competition of Hungarian Radio and at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich. He was awarded with the Liszt, the Sándor Veress and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize. In 2020 he received Hungary’s supreme award in culture, the Kossuth Prize.

denesvarjon.com

© LISZT ACADEMY MIHÁLY KONDELLA

GABRIEL VENZAGO conductor

Since his appointment as Chief Conductor of the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz in January 2023, Gabriel Venzago has launched some new and diverse concert series including a new matinee format, a series of music by classical composers with Mozart at its core, and the founding of the “Junge Bodensee Philharmonie”. Guest engagements with orchestras such as Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and his return to Jena Philharmonic Orchestra and the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen, amongst others, lead him all over Europe and beyond.

In 2021, Gabriel Venzago caused a stir when he jumped in at a new production of Idomeneo at the Bavarian State Opera, and attracted media attention with the musical direction of the opera Zaide. Eine Flucht, involving an integrative process with young refugees. As guest conductor he has worked with the Brandenburger Symphoniker, Darmstadt State Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen.

Gabriel Venzago first began his career as a répétiteur, conductor and assistant to general music director Florian Ziemen at the Theater für Niedersachsen Hildesheim. He was then appointed Kapellmeister at the Mecklenburg State Theatre Schwerin, where he was mainly responsible for the new production of Neues vom Tage by Paul Hindemith.

The Heidelberg born conductor studied at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich and at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. He received a scholarship from the Deutsche Bank Foundation “Akademie Musiktheater heute” and conducted his first opera performances at the Wilhelma Theatre in Stuttgart. Since 2017, he has been supported by the Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrats in the programme “Maestros von morgen”.

gabrielvenzago.com

JIN TA

flute

Flutist, educator and composer, Jin Ta has been in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) as Principal Flute since 1998.

In 1991, after completing his studies at the Central Music Conservatory (Beijing) with Professor Zhu Tong De, he entered the University of Michigan on a full scholarship. In 1995, he studied with Professor Fenwick Smith at the New England Conservatory of Music and was selected as an Artist Diploma candidate in 1997. During the eight years he spent in the U.S., Jin Ta won numerous flute competitions including the Silver Prize in the National Flute Talk Competition and NFA Young Artist Competition (1995), First Prize in the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition (1996), Israel Haifa International Flute Competition (2001), among many others.

Besides performing with the SSO, Jin Ta is dedicated to teaching. He has taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LaSalle College of the Arts. He is also a founding faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National

University of Singapore). His students are now working in many professional orchestras in China, Taiwan and Korea. Jin Ta is also a self-taught composer and has published a number of works such as his First Flute Sonata, and Second Sonata, “Mongol”. He frequently gives talks and masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea.

During the COVID-19 circuit breaker period, he and his wife Yu Jing (SSO Associate Principal Cello) created a flute education WeChat channel “Lumino’s art of flute” (小 鲁仔长笛艺术). This channel focusses on contributing free online flute lessons for both college level students and young flutists, and musical stories for children.

Stephen Riady Chair

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SLOTH CREATIVES

The Orchestra

HANS GRAF

Music Director

RODOLFO BARRÁEZ

Associate Conductor

CHOO HOEY

Conductor Emeritus

LAN SHUI

Conductor Laureate

EUDENICE PALARUAN

Choral Director

WONG LAI FOON

Choirmaster

ELLISSA SAYAMPANATHAN

Assistant Choral Conductor

FIRST VIOLIN

(Position vacant) Concertmaster, GK Goh Chair

Kong Zhao Hui1

Associate Concertmaster

Chan Yoong-Han2 Fixed Chair

Cao Can*

Chen Da Wei

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

Michael Loh Associate Principal

Nikolai Koval*

Sayuri Kuru

Hai-Won Kwok

Chikako Sasaki*

Margit Saur

Shao Tao Tao

Tseng Chieh-An

Wu Man Yun*

Xu Jueyi*

Yeo Teow Meng

Yin Shu Zhan*

Zhao Tian

VIOLA

Manchin Zhang Principal

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

Olga Alexandrova

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

Marcelo Padilla^ Principal

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

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

Guest Musicians

LAN SHUI AND BOMSORI | 1 MAR 2024

FIRST VIOLIN

Lu Wei Guest Concertmaster

Wilford Goh

Lim Shue Churn

SECOND VIOLIN

Zhou Qi Guest Principal

Martin Peh

VIOLA

Erlene Koh

Yeo Jan Wea

DOUBLE BASS

Julian Li

Hibiki Otomo

FLUTE

Wang Tong

HORN

Alexander Oon

Linnet Sim

Eric Yen Shih Hsin

TRUMPET

Jun Ikebe

THE HUNGARIAN CONNECTION - BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO 1 | 23 MAR 2024

FIRST VIOLIN

Kevin Lin Guest Concertmaster

Lim Shue Churn

Violaine Padilla

SECOND VIOLIN

Zhao Yingna Guest Principal

Yew Shan

VIOLA

Patcharaphan Khumprakob

Yeo Jan Wea

CELLO

Wang Zihao

DOUBLE BASS

Joan Perarnau Garriga Guest Principal

Tan Si Pei

HORN

Li Tao

HARP

Charmaine Teo

JOHN WILLIAMS - ESSAY AND FLUTE CONCERTO | 29 & 30 MAR 2024

FIRST VIOLIN

Kevin Lin Guest Concertmaster

SECOND VIOLIN

Zhao Yingna Guest Principal

DOUBLE BASS

Joan Perarnau Garriga Guest Principal

PERCUSSION

Michael Tan

HARP

Charmaine Teo

PIANO/CELESTA

Aya Sakou

LAN SHUI AND BOMSORI RAPTURE AND TITAN

Fri, 1 Mar 2024

Esplanade Concert Hall

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Lan Shui Conductor Laureate

Bomsori Kim violin*

NIELSEN MAHLER

Violin Concerto, Op. 33*

Intermission

Symphony No. 1 in D major “Titan”

Post-concert meet-and-greet with Bomsori Kim and Lan Shui at Foyer, Level 1 A

34 mins

20 mins

53 mins

Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs (including 20 mins intermission)

CHECK-IN TO TONIGHT'S CONCERT

Scan this QR code with the Singapore Symphony Mobile App.

CARL NIELSEN (1865–1931)

Violin Concerto, Op. 33 (1911)

Praeludium (Largo – Allegro cavalleresco)

Poco adagio – Rondo (Allegro scherzando)

Danish music has always sat on the fringes of the European music world: even in modern-day pop music, the popularity of Danish bands AQUA and Michael Learns To Rock in their heyday were still surpassed by music from America and Britain.

Such was the case in the classical scene in the 1880s too: if one was not in Western Europe or Russia, chances of getting known worldwide or getting remembered in the Classical canon were less. Likewise, Danish composer Carl Nielsen sits on the fringe of being remembered and forgotten: considered Denmark’s most famous Classical composer, but sits in the shadow of his contemporaries such as Mahler or Richard Strauss.

Much is known about Nielsen’s life: his birth and childhood spent with his 11 siblings on the picturesque Island of Funen (also the birthplace of author Hans Christian Andersen); his insatiable curiosity for the arts, philosophy and aesthetics; and his marriage to Danish sculptress Anne Marie Broderson, who was acclaimed for her sculptures of moving animals. Nielsen was inspired by Broderson’s studies of nature in art and her concepts of movement, beauty and stasis; these complemented his own compositional aesthetic.

In the summer of 1911, Nielsen was invited by Edvard Grieg’s widow, Nina, to spend some time at Troldhaugen, Grieg’s composing retreat. It was there that Nielsen began writing his violin concerto. By then, the 46-year-old composer had already

written two symphonies, but was finding it difficult to write a concerto for his own instrument. He reflected, “It has to be good music and yet always show regard for the development of the solo instrument, putting it in the best possible light. The piece must have substance and be popular and showy without being superficial. These conflicting elements must and shall meet and form a higher unity.”

Carl Nielsen c. 1908

(Photo: Georg Lindstrøm)

Nielsen’s writing for the violin is highly virtuosic, and includes some extended cadenzas, mostly lightly accompanied by the orchestra. Mixing bravura (one of the sections is titled Cavalleresco, or “chivalrous”) with lyricism, Nielsen also alludes to his admiration of Bach, including figuration from his solo violin sonatas and partitas, Bach’s personal musical motif, and the slow-fast-slow-fast outline of a Baroque sonata.

The beginning Praeludium alternates between brilliant violin passages and calmly embellished melody leading into the Cavalleresco section, which opens with a jaunty dance, and is led by an oboe solo into a more flowy second subject. These ideas are developed upon, culminating in an unaccompanied cadenza before the recapitulation and coda end the movement.

The Poco adagio opens with the oboe announcing Bach’s name in initials — the notes B-A-C-H (H is B-natural in German notation, hence B-flat, A, C, B-natural), the contour of this theme is quickly taken up by the violin and developed into a winding melody that seems to be searching for an unattainable something. The final rondo is cheerful, contrasted with tranquil episodes, and Nielsen can’t resist but give the violin one final virtuoso cadenza right before the end.

Instrumentation

2 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings

World Premiere

28 Feb 1912, Copenhagen

First performed by SSO

17 Nov 1989 (Arve Tellefsen, violin)

Programme note by Natalie Ng

GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911)

Symphony No. 1 in D major “Titan” (1888)

Langsam. Schleppend. “Wie ein Naturlaut” – Immer sehr gemächlich Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell. Trio: Recht gemächlich Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppend Stürmisch bewegt

Mahler was just 28 when he finished his gigantic First Symphony, one of the greatest Firsts ever written. It was begun in 1884 and completed four years later. Mahler subtitled the work “Titan”, after a novel by Jean Paul. The first performance took place in Budapest on 20 November 1889 with the composer conducting. In 1896, Mahler eliminated the so-called “Blumine” (Flowers) movement, which did not resurface until 1959.

Among the innovations one can point to in this symphony are the largest assemblage of orchestral musicians hitherto required in a symphony, and the incorporation of café, pop and gypsy music, especially in the “Funeral March” of the third movement. The evocation of nature in a symphony had been realized before (notably in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique), but nowhere else are the very sounds of nature so pervasively and integrally bound up with the symphonic thought than in the first movement of Mahler’s First, which he instructed in the score to play “Slow. Dragging. ‘Like a sound of nature’ – Always very easygoing”. The opening moments of the work are unforgettable — that sustained, distant sound of strings spread across a six-octave range vividly suggests the mystery and peace of the night into which are interjected cuckoo calls, far-off fanfares and fragments of stillunformed melodies. The mood of the lengthy slow introduction is finally dispelled by the sprightly theme of “Ging heut’ morgen über’s

Mahler's Symphony No. 1 was premiered at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary.

(Photo: FORTEPAN/Budapest Fováros Levéltára)

Feld,” (one of the Songs of a Wayfarer, first heard in the cellos), followed by another lusty, outdoorsy theme. The music grows in fervor and intensity, culminating in a mighty outburst from the entire orchestra. The release of enormous, pent-up energy is crowned by three great whoops from the horn section, and the movement continues on its merry way to its ultimate conclusion.

The robust scherzo second movement (to be played “with vigorous movement, yet not too fast”) is notable for its heavy rhythmic impulses derived from the Ländler, a rural Austrian dance. Special effects here include the use of the woodwind section en masse (often up to twelve players) in featured

roles, breathtaking fanfares from the horns and trumpets. A charming Trio, introduced by a poetic horn call, provides gentle contrast.

The third movement (with the instruction, “solemn and measured without dragging”) opens with a sinister, minor-key variant of the popular French folksong “Frère Jacques” (“Bruder Martin” in German-speaking lands). The original title of “Funeral March” refers to Mahler’s parodistic portrayal in sound of a mock funeral procession, depicted in a book of Austrian fairytales. Beasts of the forest accompany a dead woodsman’s coffin to his grave. The use of a double bass instead of a cello to begin the “Frère Jacques” tune adds a touch of the grotesque. The tune is used as a canon or round, with additional instruments taking up the tune in turn (bassoon, cellos, tuba, etc.) without waiting for the previous one to finish.

After this material has run its course we hear a new, sentimental theme in the oboes, this one also bearing a countertheme, now in the trumpets. Suddenly the sounds of a country fair intrude, music of a gypsy band with its corny melodies and relentless umpah accompaniment. And then, as if from another world, Mahler offers an interlude of quiet repose – almost a dream sequence –in music of sublime beauty and gossamer textures. Eventually the mournful “Frère Jacques” music returns and the movement slowly recedes into the furthermost reaches of audibility.

Anyone who has dozed off to the third movement’s funereal tread will be instantly and rudely shocked back to his senses with the hellish outburst that opens the finale. Marked “stormily”, it is one of the most frightening passages in all music. To

Mahler, that opening cymbal crash followed by the roar of drums represented a flash of lightning emitted from a thunder cloud. Strings swirl and rage, woodwinds in their highest registers scream in anguish, brass proclaim terrifying fanfares, and percussion evoke the din of battle and cataclysmic conflicts.

When the torrent of notes finally subsides, strings sing a consoling, infinitely tender and yearning song. The violent conflicts return, but this time they result in heroic proclamations from the brass. However, victory and fulfillment are not quite yet achieved. In another long, generally quiet passage, the music slowly gathers momentum, ultimately reaching a towering climax for which Mahler instructs the entire horn section to stand while it delivers fanfares from within an orchestra gleaming in a thousand dazzling, spectacular colours.

Programme note by Robert Markow

Instrumentation

4 flutes (3 doubling on piccolos),

4 oboes (1 doubling on cor anglais), 4 clarinets (2 doubling on E-flat clarinets, 1 doubling on bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon),

7 horns, 5 trumpets (3 off-stage), 4 trombones, tuba, timpani (2 players), bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal, triangle, tam-tam, harp, strings

World Premiere

20 Nov 1889, Budapest

First performed by SSO 14 Jun 1988

THE HUNGARIAN CONNECTION –BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO 1

Sat, 23 Mar 2024

Esplanade Concert Hall

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Gábor Káli conductor

Dénes Várjon piano*

HUANG

RUO

BRAHMS

Tipping Point (Asian Premiere / SSO Co-Commission)

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15*

Intermission

BARTÓK

Concerto for Orchestra

21 mins

44 mins

20 mins

36 mins

Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs 15 mins (including 20 mins intermission)

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HUANG RUO (b. 1976)

Tipping Point (2022) Asian Premiere / SSO Co-Commission

Tipping Point is a symphony that addresses the pressing global crisis we are facing everyday due to ongoing climate change and global warming. With forests burning, rivers flooding, ice shelves melting, and 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathing polluted air, our nature, landscape, life, and world on this little blue planet is being affected, destroyed, and is vanishing day by day. Art and music have the unique duty and ability to call for awareness and action. As artists, we are obligated to come together united to act. The title of the symphony is Tipping Point, which means, per the dictionary, “the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change.”

My Climate-Crisis Symphony Tipping Point has two meanings: 1) If we continue this dangerous ignorance and inaction, the tipping point of no-return is approaching. 2) Doing all the positive and constructive things from this point onwards to delay or turn the climate tipping point towards a safer, better, and greener world ...

Tipping Point starts with a short recording of US senator Jim Inhofe’s famous/infamous speech and act of throwing a snowball on the senate floor in 2015 and claiming that our world is becoming much colder instead of warmer, disputing the so-call global warming and climate crisis as a hoax. Throughout the symphony, the continuous tick-tock sounds of woodblocks with 60 strikes per minute symbolizes the ticking of a clock, becoming more pressing and urgent as the music progresses.

Tipping Point runs around 22 minutes and has three continuous movements. Its instrumentation exists in two versions:

For large orchestra:

3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 percussion and strings.

For chamber orchestra:

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, 2 percussion and strings.

Tipping Point is co-commissioned by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, and China NCPA Orchestra.

Programme note by the composer, Huang Ruo

Instrumentation

3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, wood block, marimba, waterphone, large bass drum, crotales, Indonesia button gong, wind machine (with thunder-tube), strings

World Premiere

Feb 2023, Maryland

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (1858)

Maestoso

Adagio

Rondo: Allegro non troppo

A dramatic drum roll opens the Maestoso of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, followed by ominously swirling strings and winds that warn us of storms ahead, leaving us with the distinct impression that the composer has something important to say. But what?

When the concerto was finished in 1858, Brahms was coming to the end of his early period, but had experienced much tragedy at the mere age of 25. The concerto began life as a sonata for two pianos in 1854, the same year when his close friend Robert Schumann attempted suicide and checked into a mental hospital, but quickly grew into a larger-scale work under the guidance of Brahms’s friend Julius Otto Grimm, who had much more experience with orchestration— thus the first movement was born.

After the mighty rushing and rousing opening, the entry of the piano seems hesitant and hushed, the image of a young Brahms now having to stand in front of the musical world after his mentor Robert Schumann died in 1856. Nevertheless, the meek piano gathers up its determination and becomes a ferocious challenger to the orchestra, giving as good as one gets. Unlike many previous piano concerti where the orchestra merely accompanies the solo instrument, Brahms made the orchestra an equal partner, perhaps showing the work’s origins as a work for two pianos. Horns and drums are prominent in ways that foreshadow their later appearances in

his German Requiem (which the SSO will perform this April).

Brahms discarded the other movements and inserted a glowingly radiant Adagio slow movement. At the time, he was studying renaissance choral music, and the opening reflects that, with Clara Schumann commenting that the movement had a “churchy quality” and could have been the Kyrie from a Mass. In the manuscript, Brahms had written Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini (“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”) beneath

“Brahms at the Piano” by Willy von Beckerath (1896)

the first five bars of the D major string melody, but who was this blessed person? Brahms himself had written to Clara in 1857, while composing the movement, that he was “painting a tender portrait of you, which is to be the Adagio”. This Benedictus theme is woven throughout the movement, reappearing at various times in different guises.

While taking its general structure from Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, the Rondo begins with a furious Bach-like piano solo that wakes up the orchestra and leads us into paths alternatingly defiant and gentle. The drive and rhythmic vigour ensure that this movement is no mere cribbing of Beethoven, but unmistakably Brahms. While the work was being composed, Brahms had made an engagement with Agathe von Siebold, but broke it when he realised he was commitment-phobic and that music would be his first love. He was later to write that she was his last love. This tragic realisation leading into firm resolve is almost audible as the music goes into hopeful D major.

The premiere in January 1859 at Hanover, with Brahms himself as the soloist, was not well-received. The German audience expected piano concerti to be short, light, and flashy, and Brahms’s work violated all these rules. There was hissing at the first performance, and the audience at the second (five days later in Leipzig) were so hostile that Brahms had to be physically prevented from leaving after the first movement. It was not until the third performance in Hamburg that the work was properly appreciated. Was Brahms hurt by the initial reception? No doubt, but did it stop him from continuing to compose?

History tells us the answer, and we must surely be glad for it.

Programme note by Edward C. Yong

Instrumentation

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings

World Premiere

22 Jan 1859, Hanover

First performed by SSO

13 May 1980 (Vladimir Conta, piano)

BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945)

Concerto for Orchestra (1943)

Introduzione. Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace Presentando le coppie. Allegro scherzando Elegia. Andante non troppo Intermezzo interrotto. Allegretto

Finale. Pesante – Presto

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Bartók fled to the United States in 1940, but unfortunately contracted leukaemia soon after. As his health worsened, Serge Koussevitzky, who was the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, commissioned Bartók for a new orchestra work in the summer of 1943.

A sudden surge of creative energy ensued (Bartók had not composed anything substantial in the previous two years), and Bartók wrote the Concerto for Orchestra in just two months. It was premiered in December 1944 by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was a resounding success. Bartók’s wife recounted, “The performance was excellent. Koussevitzky says it is the ‘best orchestra piece of the last 25 years’ (including the works of his idol, Shostakovich!).” The intervening years have since cemented the Concerto for Orchestra’s place as one of the greatest orchestral pieces written in the 20th century.

Bartók never wrote a symphony, and this was the closest he ever came to writing one, in scope, structure and ambition. The composer wrote:

The general mood of the work represents, apart from the jesting second movement, a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious

death-song of the third, to the life assertion of the last one. The title … is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertante or soloistic manner. The ‘virtuoso’ treatment appears, for instance, in the fugato sections of the development of the first movement (brass instruments), or in the perpetuum mobilelike passage of the principal theme in the last movement (strings), and especially in the second movement, in which pairs of instruments consecutively appear with brilliant passages.

A slow Introduction begins ominously in the depths of the orchestra, slowly brightening as the pitch moves upwards, leading to a vigorously driving Allegro vivace. Strings lead the first theme, which gives way to an oboe and harp-led lyrical interlude. Fugal passages start to emerge, setting up a brilliant brass fugue which dominates the middle of the movement. The lyrical interlude re-emerges, but this time with a slightly harder edge. Themes reappear, truncated, before the fugue returns to close the movement with an exhilarating flash.

A side-drum leads the Presentando le coppie (“Presentation of Couples”). Five pairs of instruments come in one after another, playing in parallel intervals: bassoons in sixths, oboes in thirds, clarinets in sevenths, flutes in fifths, and trumpets in seconds. A brass chorale provides a short

interlude, before each instrumental theme is presented again, with other instruments running circles around the original pair.

At the heart of the Concerto is the Elegia. Themes from the first movement are recalled and transformed into a dark, atmospheric Nachtmusik (“Night music”). Bartók evokes the sounds of nocturnal elements, and eerie instrumental effects recall the “Lake of Tears” from Bartók’s opera, Bluebeard’s Castle. An anguished cry interrupts this murky soundscape, as another theme from the first movement is agonisingly transfigured, and a piccolo-led bird song darkens the soundscape once again.

In a story told to his pupil and piano virtuoso György Sándor, Bartók imagined “a young man serenading his sweetheart only to be brutally interrupted by a drunken mob” in the Intermezzo interrotto (“Interrupted intermezzo”). The serenade, sung by the violas, is reminiscent of a Hungarian song from the operetta, The Bride from Hamburg. The drunken mob soon interrupts. Here, Bartók caricatures a tune from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony which was very popular in America at that time, and in Bartok’s view, much more than it deserved. “So, [Bartók] gave vent to [his] anger”, blowing several musical raspberries at this melody, before the serenade blossoms again.

A horn call resounds and the strings scurry in perpetual motion over strumming folk dance-like rhythms which frequently inform Bartók’s compositions. A large-scale fugue unfolds across the middle section, before a culminating recapitulation brings the different musical threads together and the brass drive us towards a stunningly triumphant Finale.

Programme note by Christopher Cheong

Instrumentation

3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 3 oboes (1 doubling on cor anglais), 3 clarinets (1 doubling on bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal, snare drum, triangle, tam-tam, 2 harps, strings

World Premiere

1 Dec 1944, Boston

First performed by SSO

10 May 1985

JOHN WILLIAMS –ESSAY AND FLUTE CONCERTO

Fri & Sat, 29 & 30 Mar 2024

Victoria Concert Hall

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Gabriel Venzago conductor

Jin Ta flute*

JOHN WILLIAMS

JOHN WILLIAMS

BEETHOVEN

Essay for Strings (Asian Premiere)

Flute Concerto* (Asian Premiere)

Intermission Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36

11 mins

14 mins

20 mins

32 mins

Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 40 mins (including 20 mins intermission)

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JOHN WILLIAMS (b. 1932)

Essay for Strings (1965) Asian Premiere

It is difficult to separate John Williams’s more concert-oriented music from his music for film, precisely because he is such a great composer for film. In Essay for Strings he chooses a title that is as non-descriptive as possible, but this piece fits right into the tradition of quasi-narrative string-orchestra pieces, like Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night or Strauss’s Metamorphosen. Closer to Williams’s home, there is the famous Barber Adagio for Strings as a reference, and Bernard Herrmann, another film composer of the generation before Williams, also wrote a Sinfonietta for string orchestra. In all of these pieces there is a very definite sense of drama and progression.

Written in the 1960s when he was still a young man, Williams’s use of dissonance and a sinuous, linear texture is influenced by early 20th century expressionism, even going so far as to use a “tone row” of all 12 chromatic notes to build some of the texture. There are prominent musical references, too: at the climax exactly halfway through, the higher violins scream B-A-C-H!

After a long period of sustained sound, a burst of pizzicato strings comes, as well as a general agitation all around: this sort of dissonant whispering seems a fitting backdrop for a horror film. The dramatic ending is made all the more powerful by the one moment of silence that precedes it.

Instrumentation strings

World Premiere

Dec 1965

JOHN WILLIAMS

Flute Concerto (1969) Asian Premiere

I II III IV

Moderato – Poco meno e calmado

Cadenza

Andante – Cadenza

Allegro

Composed only a few years after the Essay for Strings, this concerto is similarly dissonant and expressionist in behaviour, Williams aligning himself with the classic American modernism of the time. However, he draws from various sources for his inspiration here, specifically stating that the flute part derives from Japanese shakuhachi techniques and sounds. Curiously enough, the solo part is also the only wind instrument in the whole piece, with the orchestra being formed of strings, percussion, harp, and keyboard instruments.

Williams commented that the accompaniment was intended to sound like snapping branches while the music explores a mythical forest, and the four short movements here paint various scenes. Ghostly string slides and plucked low notes form the large part of the first movement, while in the second movement, everyone else fades out and the solo flute is left to improvise on its own in free time before being joined by a single cello.

A solitary vibraphone stroke announces the beginning of the third movement, and from here, tinkling and pinging sounds dominate in the orchestra. The music seems to paint a very blurred picture, full of strange noises from orchestra and soloist alike. Eventually the strings re-enter in a series of long held chords, leading straight into the finale.

The finale has every section in this orchestra competing for attention, with all sorts of sound effects going off in quick succession. The solo flute fights to stay dominant throughout, but the chatter and the noise gets louder and louder, until suddenly everything vanishes and the flute is left alone for a lone statement. Two doomfilled orchestral strokes bring the piece to a crashing end.

Instrumentation

solo flute, glockenspiel, marimba, metal plates, vibraphone, claves, gongs, suspended cymbal, anvil, maracas, triangles, wood blocks, drum, bass drum, 2 harps, piano (doubling celesta), strings

World Premiere

1973, Los Angeles

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 (1802)

I II III IV

Adagio molto – Allegro con brio Larghetto Scherzo. Allegro Allegro molto

Beethoven’s second symphony, coming shortly after his first, showed huge developments in his skill as a composer. His deafness was getting worse and, while writing the symphony, he realised that it would likely be incurable. This eventually led to him writing what is today known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, an overblown name for a letter he wrote to his brothers and never delivered, where he wrote about his desire to continue his artistic development and his despair over his deafness and suicidal thoughts.

Work on music never stopped for him, though, and the symphony took shape much more quickly than its predecessor. In a stroke of innovation, Beethoven eschewed the traditional minuet movement for a scherzo, allowing him a greater range of emotional and dramatic power, and thumbed his nose at the musical establishment by writing a series of aural jokes, shocking many critics of the day. At its premiere in 1803, Beethoven placed the completed symphony alongside his earlier Third Piano Concerto and another oratorio, in effect signing off on his Classical-leaning period and ushering in the Romantic era.

The first movement begins with a slow introduction, but does not stay long in the home key, instead roving across a range of chromatic relationships and establishing the general ambition of the whole piece.

A copy of Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament

Typically Beethovenian energy takes over with the Allegro proper, and the movement is as one would expect: still largely elegant and poised, with a strong forward drive and dramatic touches from the composer. The slow movement allows the audience some breathing space, but Beethoven indulges himself and expands this into a full sonata

form as well, while including clear folk influences (perhaps looking forward to his Pastoral Symphony).

The Scherzo sounds like a folk dance, with large contrasts in musical groups calling and responding to each other. Huge shifts in dynamics, register, and instrumentation make the music sound like it is laughing throughout, though there are sudden key changes leading into the trio section and, sometimes, the strings sound like they are playing in the wrong key! The finale is frantic and filled with pure joy, sounding like an opera scene, with Beethoven painting a comic scene. The music stops and starts, at turns happy and sad, filled with fake endings, harmonic surprises, and loud chordal hits. But eventually D major wins out, and everything is bright again, Beethoven signing off on his personal issues with a future full of hope.

Programme notes by Thomas Ang

Instrumentation

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings

World Premiere

5 Apr 1803, Vienna

First performed by SSO 23 Feb 1979

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In recognition of a generous gift from Dr Stephen Riady, we announced in May 2022 the naming of our Principal Flute, “Stephen Riady Chair”. The position is currently held by our Principal Flutist Jin Ta.

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In recognition of a generous gift from the Estate of Tan Jiew Cheng, we announced in February 2024 the naming of our Principal Viola, “Tan Jiew Cheng Chair”. The position is currently held by our Principal Violist Manchin Zhang.

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SMRT Corporation

Singapore Airlines

Conrad Centennial Singapore Symphony 924

Form a special relationship with Singapore’s national orchestra and increase your brand recognition among an influential and growing audience.

CORPORATE GIVING

We provide our Corporate Patrons with impressive entertainment and significant branding opportunities. Through our tailored packages, corporates may benefit from:

• Publicity and hospitality opportunities at an SSO concert or your private event,

• Acknowledgement and mentions in SSO’s key publicity channels,

• National Arts Council (NAC) Patron of the Arts nominations,

• Tax benefits.

Packages start at $10,000 and can be tailored to your company’s branding needs.

PARTNERSHIP

We partner with various corporates through tailored in-kind sponsorship and exchange of services. Current and recent partnerships include Official Hotel, Official Airline, and we offer other exciting titles.

For more details, please write to Chelsea Zhao at chelsea.zhao@sso.org.sg.

GAO JIAN ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL HORN

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & COMMITTEES

CHAIR

Goh Yew Lin

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Yong Ying-I (Deputy Chair)

Geoffrey Wong (Treasurer)

Chang Chee Pey

Chng Kai Fong

Prof Arnoud De Meyer

Warren Fernandez

Kenneth Kwok

Liew Wei Li

Sanjiv Misra

Lynette Pang

Prof Qin Li-Wei

Yasmin Zahid

Yee Chen Fah

Andrew Yeo Khirn Hin

NOMINATING AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Goh Yew Lin (Chair)

Prof Arnoud De Meyer

Geoffrey Wong

Yong Ying-I

HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Yong Ying-I (Chair)

Chng Kai Fong

Prof Arnoud De Meyer

Heinrich Grafe

Doris Sohmen-Pao

INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

Geoffrey Wong (Chair)

Sanjiv Misra

David Goh

Alex Lee

AUDIT COMMITTEE

Yee Chen Fah (Chair)

Warren Fernandez

Lim Mei

Jovi Seet

SNYO COMMITTEE

Liew Wei Li (Chair)

Prof Qin Li-Wei

Benjamin Goh

Vivien Goh

Dr Kee Kirk Chin

Clara Lim-Tan

SSO MUSICIANS’ COMMITTEE

Mario Choo

David Smith

Wang Xu

Christoph Wichert

Yang Zheng Yi

Elaine Yeo

Zhao Tian

SSO COUNCIL

Alan Chan (Chair)

Odile Benjamin

Prof Chan Heng Chee

Dr Geh Min

Heinrich Grafe

Khoo Boon Hui

Lim Mei

Paige Parker

Dr Stephen Riady

Priscylla Shaw

Prof Gralf Sieghold

Andreas Sohmen-Pao

Prof Bernard Tan

Dr Tan Chin Nam

Tan Soo Nan

Wee Ee Cheong

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY GROUP ADMINISTRATION

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Kenneth Kwok

CEO OFFICE

Shirin Foo

Musriah Bte Md Salleh

ARTISTIC PLANNING

Hans Sørensen (Head)

Artistic Administration

Jodie Chiang

Jocelyn Cheng

Michelle Yeo

OPERATIONS

Ernest Khoo (Head)

Library

Lim Lip Hua

Wong Yi Wen

Orchestra Management

Chia Jit Min (Head)

Charis Peck Xin Hui

Kelvin Chua

Production Management

Noraihan Bte Nordin

Nazem Redzuan

Leong Shan Yi

Asyiq Iqmal

Ramayah Elango

Khairi Edzhairee

Khairul Nizam

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Kok Tse Wei (Head)

Community Engagement

Kua Li Leng (Head)

Whitney Tan

Lynnette Chng

Samantha Lim

Terrence Wong

Choral Programmes

Kua Li Leng (Head)

Regina Lee

Chang Hai Wen

Mimi Syaahira

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Ramu Thiruyanam (Head)

Tang Ya Yun

Tan Sing Yee

Ridha Ridza

ABRSM

Patricia Yee

Lai Li-Yng

Joong Siow Chong

Freddie Loh

May Looi

William Teo

PATRONS

Development

Chelsea Zhao (Head)

Nikki Chuang

Sarah Wee

Sharmilah Banu

Eunice Salanga

Digital & Marketing Communications

Cindy Lim (Head)

Chia Han-Leon

Calista Lee

Germaine D’Rozario

Myrtle Lee

Hong Shu Hui

Jana Loh

Sherilyn Lim

Elizabeth Low

Corporate Communications

Anderlin Yeo

Elliot Lim

Customer Experience

Randy Teo

Dacia Cheang

Joy Tagore

CORPORATE SERVICES

Finance, IT & Facilities

Rick Ong (Head)

Alan Ong

Goh Hoey Fen

Loh Chin Huat

Md Zailani Bin Md Said

Human Resources & Administration

Valeria Tan (Head)

Janice Yeo

Fionn Tan

Netty Diyanah Bte Osman

Organisation Development

Lillian Yin

SMETANA, MOZART AND BARBER

14 Mar 2024, 7.30pm

Musicians of the SSO

23 Mar 2024, 7.30pm ORGAN

Richard Brasier organ

SMETANA AND DVOŘÁK

17 May 2024, 7.30pm

Musicians of the SSO

19 May 2024, 7.30pm

The Pavel Haas Quartet

All concerts are held at the Victoria Concert Hall.

Supported by Patron Sponsor

Organ Series

Sponsored by

SCAN

Mr & Mrs Goh Yew Lin

Stephen Riady Group of Foundations

Estate of Tan Jiew Cheng

The vision of the Singapore Symphony Group is to be a leading arts organization that engages, inspires and reflects Singapore through musical excellence. Our mission 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. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a charity and not-for-profit organisation. You can support us by donating at www.sso.org.sg/donate