Singapore Symphony Orchestra Apr 2023

first time Is this your at the SSO?

WELCOME! You’ve begun a richly rewarding musical journey and we want you to feel comfortable at the SSO. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to ask, check out our FAQ!

WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?

We don’t enforce any dress code. Many come in business attire or smart casual outfits, and that’s great.

WHEN SHOULD I CLAP?

Many pieces of music have multiple sections called movements. E.g. most concertos have three movements while symphonies usually have four. Traditionally, applause is only expected at the end of the entire work, rather than between each movement.

If you’re unsure, check our programme booklet, or wait for the conductor to put down the baton at the end, and acknowledge the orchestra and audience.

CAN I TAKE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS?

Video and photography of any kind are not permitted when musicians are actively performing. However, non-flash photography is allowed during bows and applause. Take home a musical memory and tag us on @singaporesymphony!

THE KOZLOVSKY REQUIEM

7 Apr 2023, Fri Esplanade Concert Hall

WINDS ABOVE THE SEA –

HANS GRAF AND HE ZIYU

14 Apr 2023, Fri Esplanade Concert Hall

For the enjoyment of all patrons during the concert:

• Please switch off or silence all electronic devices.

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

• No photography, video or audio recording is allowed when artists are performing.

• Non-flash photography is allowed only during bows and applause when no performance is taking place.

Go green. Digital programme books are available on www.sso.org.sg.

Photographs and videos will be taken at these events, in which you may appear. These may be published on the SSO’s publicity channels and materials. By attending the event, you consent to the use of these photographs and videos for the foregoing purposes.

Autograph session A

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. In 2021, the SSO clinched third place in the prestigious Orchestra of the Year Award by Gramophone.

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, leading the SSO in keeping music alive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat 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. The SSO launched its digital concert hall, SSOLOUNGE, in 2021. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season.

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 five-city 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 critical acclaim in the 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. The most recent critically acclaimed albums include a Rachmaninoff box set (2021), Richard Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier and Other Works” (2020), and three Debussy discs “La Mer”, “Jeux” and “Nocturnes”. A Four Seasons album and a complete Mozart Violin Concerto cycle with Chloe Chua and Hans Graf will be released in the near future.

The SSO has also 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, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and the VCHpresents chamber music series, the Singapore International Piano Festival and the biennial National Piano & Violin Competition.

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.

HANS GRAF Music Director

HANS GRAF Music Director

With the distinguished Austrian conductor Hans Graf, “a brave new world of musicmaking under inspired direction” (The Straits Times) began at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, where he was appointed Chief Conductor from the 2020/21 season, and Music Director from the 2022/23 season.

Graf was formerly Music Director of the Houston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Basque National Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. He is a frequent guest with major orchestras around the world including the orchestras of Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Vienna, Leipzig Gewandhaus, DSO Berlin, Dresden, Royal Concertgebouw, Oslo, Hallé, London, Royal Philharmonic, the Bavarian, Danish and Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestras, Budapest Festival, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian National, and the orchestras of Melbourne, Sydney, Seoul, Hong Kong and Malaysian Philharmonic. Graf has led operas in the opera houses of the Vienna State Opera, Munich, Berlin, Paris, Strasbourg, Rome and Zurich. In 2014 he was awarded the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis for Strauss’s Die Feuersnot at the famed Vienna Volksoper, where he returned in 2021 to lead Rosenkavalier.

Hans Graf's extensive discography includes all the symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, the complete orchestral works of Dutilleux, and the world-premiere recording of Zemlinsky’s Es war einmal. Graf’s recording of Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony won the GRAMMY and ECHO Klassik awards for best opera recording.

Born near Linz in 1949, Graf is Professor Emeritus for Orchestral Conducting at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. For his services to music, he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government, and the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Republic of Austria.

OLGA PERETYATKO soprano

One of the world’s most sought-after sopranos, Olga Peretyatko made her international breakthrough when she became a prize-winner at Plácido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia Competition. Since then she has been a regular guest at nearly all important opera houses, concert halls and festivals, including La Scala, Saatsoper Berlin, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Bolshoi Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Berlin Philharmonic, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro Colón, and many others.

Peretyatko’s uniquely compelling voice and stage presence allow her to interpret a wide range of operatic roles from humorous to tragic. She has collaborated with the most renowned stage directors and conductors of our times, such as Kirill Petrenko, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Yury Temirkanov, Lorin Maazel, Alberto Zedda, Daniel Barenboim, Dmitry Tcherniakov and Robert Lepage.

Peretyatko’s performance for the Bastille Day celebrations has attracted a live audience of 600,000 and an international TV audience of several million. Her six critically acclaimed albums on Sony Classical has received numerous prestigious awards, including OPUS Klassik (2018), ECHO Klassik (Best Solo Album, 2015), and Premio Franco Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana. Her latest album, on Melodiya, is dedicated to her daughter Maya. It brings together 23 lullabies from different corners of the world, personally selected by Olga and sung in their original languages.

Peretyatko was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia and started her musical journey singing in the children’s choir of the Mariinsky Theatre. Having earned a performance degree as a choir conductor, she went on to study singing at the Hanns Eisler-Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, the Opera Studio at the Hamburg State Opera, and the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro, Italy.

THE KOZLOVSKY REQUIEM

© DANIIL RABOVSKY

OLESYA PETROVA

mezzo-soprano

The internationally acclaimed Olesya Petrova is a charismatic mezzo-soprano with a marvellous stage presence. She has collaborated with many theatres, concert halls, orchestras, and chamber ensembles around the world such renowned conductors as Giordano Bellincampi, Emmanuel Villaume, Valery Gergiev, Leo Kremer, Fabio Mastrangelo, and Vladimir Fedoseev.

Her most recent and future projects include her signature role as Amneris in Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and at Arena di Verona, as well as Azucena in Il Trovatore, Ulrica in Un Ballo in maschera, La Frugola in Il Tabarro and Madelon in Andrea Chénier at the Metropolitan Opera, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Jezibaba in Rusalka at Opera de Wallonie, Sorceress in The Fiery Angel at Teatro Real, Ulrica at Teatro de la Maestranza and at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Azucena in a concert version of Il Trovatore and Verdi’s Requiem with Auckland Philharmonic, Verdi’s Requiem at NHK Tokyo opera among others.

Since 2016 Olesya Petrova has been a soloist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, where she performs the roles of Ulrica, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, and the Countess in The Queen of Spades among others.

Olesya Petrova is a prize-winner at the II Paris Opera Competition (2012; 1st prize and Audience Award) and a Finalist at the BBC Singer of the World competition (Cardiff, 2011).

BORIS STEPANOV tenor

Born 1986 in Leningrad, Boris Stepanov graduated from the Glinka Choral School in 2005 and from the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 2010. He has worked with such renowned orchestras as Bach Collegium Japan, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Moscow Soloists.

Stepanov’s recent highlights include Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Helikon Opera Moscow, Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte,

Edmondo in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the stage of Mikhailovsky Theatre St. Petersburg, where he is an ensemble member.

Stepanov’s past engagements include performances at Grand Théâtre de Genève in Carmina Burana, re-invitation there for the role of Raymond in a concert version of Tchaikovsky's Orleanskaya Deva under the baton of Dmitri Jurowski, Jurodivy in Boris Godunov in Genève, Gothenburg and Stockholm, Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Zinovy Borisovich in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Santiago de Chile, Malcolm in Macbeth for Theatre du Capitole Toulouse, and Kudrjas in Katya Kabanova at Concertgebow Amsterdam.

A principal of Mikhailovsky Theatre since 2015, Boris has performed Beppe in I Pagliacci and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Young Gipsy in Aleko, Tsar Berendey in The Snow Maiden, among others. He has also performed parts in Dido and Aeneas, Desyatnikov’s As an Old Organ Grinder, Johann Mattheson’s Boris Godunov in Hamburg with the Mikhailovsky Theatre and at Novaya Opera Moscow, and in Aleko in concert at the Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

© ALEXEY KOVALEV

The Austrian bass Christoph Seidl studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

His opera debut was a new production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth von Mzensk at Opernhaus Zürich, after which he was permanently employed at the theatre’s opera studio for the season of 2013/14.

Following employment as a member of the Young Singers Project in Salzburg, the Young Ensemble of Theater an der Wien, the ensemble of Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, and most recently the ensemble of Aalto-Theater Essen, he is also a steady member of the ensemble at Oper Köln since the season 2022/23, his first roles there include Trojan Soldier/ Les Troyens, Don Estoban/ Der Zwerg, Osmin/ Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Alidoro/ La Cenerentola.

His repertoire includes roles such as Sarastro/ Die Zauberflöte, Commendatore/ Don Giovanni, Baculus/ Der Wildschütz, Eremit/ Der Freischütz, Simone/ Il Trittico, Sparafucile/ Rigoletto, Colline/ La Bohème, and one of his best roles, Graf Waldner in R. Strauss’ Arabella.

Seidl is also an established lied and concert singer, his repertoire encompassing Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and contemporary works. Concerts led him to Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts “Bozar”), Moscow (Bolshoi) and New York City (Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center).

He has worked with conductors such as Nello Santo, Fabio Luisi, Sebastian Weigle, Theodor Currentztis, Antonio Pappano, René Jacobs, Kent Nagano, Thomas Hangelbrock and Bertrand de Billy, as well as directors such as Claus Guth, Andreas Homoki, Robert Carson, Peter Stein, Tatjana Gürbaca, Herbert Föttinger and Michael Sturminger.

CHRISTOPH SEIDL bass

EUDENICE PALARUAN Choral Director

Eudenice Palaruan studied at U.P. College of Music, majoring in composition and choral conducting. After finishing his Bachelor's Degree, he took another four-year study at the Berliner Kirchenmusikschule, Germany, majoring in choral conducting.

He was the resident composer/arranger and assistant choirmaster of the Philippine Madrigal Singers. He performed with the World Youth Choir and the Berlin Monteverdichor. In addition, he was the principal conductor of the San Miguel Master Chorale. For the past years, he

has been the resident conductor of the International Bamboo Organ Festival. With his active involvement in the choralization of Philippine and other Asian indigenous music, he premiered a significant volume of new Asian choral works. In addition, he was often invited to give lectures on non-Western vocal aesthetics.

Eudenice taught composition and choral conducting in several institutions such as the University of the Philippines College of Music, the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, and St. Paul University College of Music and the Performing Arts. Currently, he teaches at the Singapore Bible College School of Church Music and directs the SBC Canticorum.

During the extended lockdown, Eudenice continued skill development programmes to maintain the vocal and artistic upkeep of the Singapore Symphony Chorus. Through hybrid online-physical rehearsals, he gave vocal training to its members, rehearsing chamber ensembles and developing repertoire breadth for equal voices. In addition, as a composer and arranger, he wrote new choral works for The SSC Affair, an outreach programme of the Singapore Symphony Chorus that trains choral music enthusiasts around Singapore.

Armed with a passion to inspire choral excellence in children and youth, Wong Lai Foon has been a driving force behind the development and growth of the Singapore Symphony Children’s and Youth Choirs. A founding conductor of the Children’s Choir (SSCC) at its inception in 2006, Wong was appointed Choirmaster in 2015, and led in the formation of the Youth Choir (SSYC) in 2016.

She has prepared both ensembles in a wide range of performances that have drawn praise for the choirs’ beautiful tone and polished delivery. Highlights of past collaborations with the SSO include Britten’s War Requiem, Bizet’s Carmen, Puccini’s La Bohème and Mahler’s Second and Third symphonies. In addition, the SSCC has shared the stage with the celebrated ensemble, The King’s Singers, the Maîtrise de Radio France at the Philharmonie de Paris, and has performed for local and world heads of states at state functions. The SSYC is featured on the SSO’s CD, Russian Spectacular.

Wong has commissioned and premiered works by local composers in an effort to

grow the body of local compositions for treble choirs. Her efforts to educate and inspire extend into the community through workshops, talks, as well as adjudicator, chorus-master and guest-conductor roles. Some ensembles that she has worked with include The Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Singapore Symphony Chorus, Singapore Lyric Opera, Hallelujah Singers, and Methodist Festival Choir. She holds a master’s degree in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College, USA.

WONG LAI FOON Choirmaster

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY CHORUS

Celebrating Choral Excellence

Singing is a joyful experience, and singing together is a celebration. The Singapore Symphony Chorus offers talented and passionate choristers a platform to come together to perform great symphonic works at the highest standards. In coming together in their shared love for music, the Chorus is a warm community of like-minded choristers, that represents the pinnacle of choral excellence in Singapore.

Since its first performance on 13 June 1980, the Chorus has established itself as one of the finest symphony choruses in the region. The Chorus has performed with renowned conductors including Okko Kamu, Lan Shui, Lim Yau, Masaaki Suzuki and Sofi Jeannin – amassing a wide repertoire such as Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, Britten’s War Requiem, and Bach’s St John Passion, amongst others.

Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director Shane Thio rehearsal pianist

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY YOUTH CHOIR

Inspiring Choral Passion

Comprised of Singapore’s finest young choristers aged 17 to 28, the Singapore Symphony Youth Choir is an energetic ensemble inaugurated in 2016 to complement the SSO with a chorus of vibrant voices.

Exploring the best of different musical worlds and styles, the Youth Choir has performed Scriabin’s Prometheus, Puccini’s La Bohème, as well as recorded Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Within the last seasons, the Youth Choir has had opportunities to perform with world renowned conductors and tour with the SSC and SSO, to present at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur. In 2021, at the height of the pandemic, the Youth Choir continually challenged and overcame performing limitations to produce a digital production of its own, “Where I Belong”.

Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster

Evelyn Handrisanto rehearsal pianist

The Choruses

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY CHORUS

SOPRANO

Karen Aw

Laurence Biard Tertois

Janice Chee

Alexis Chen

Julie Demange Wodtke

Kaitlyn Kim

Fumiko Ogasawar

Sarah Santhana

Lian Kim Selby

Stacey Wang Espera

Sarah Tang

Sachiko Tomimori

Agnieszka Veriga

ALTO

Chng Xin Bei

Truly Hutapea

Dorothy Lee-Teh

Wendy Lim

Lin Wei

Dorcas Lo

Sharon Low

Daisy Natalia

Natividad Solaguren

Ena Su

Ratna Sutantio

Elsie Tan

Tan Seow Yen

Wang Jiunwen

TENOR

Jean-Michel Bardin

Chng Chin Han

Chong Wei Sheng

Ronald Ooi

Samuel Pažický

Ian Tan

Ben Wong

BASS

Ang Jian Zhong

Winsen Citra

Arthur Davis

Andy Jatmiko

Joseph Kennedy

Paul Kitamura

Wong Hin Yan

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY YOUTH CHOIR

SOPRANO

Goh Chen Xi

Yixian Chen

Serene Cheong

Hana Kasai

Laura Lee

Janice Lim

Desiree Seng

Navya Singh

Carine Tan

Janelle Tan

Tan Yuqing

Naddy Teo

Jasmine Towndrow

Raeanne Wong

ALTO

Chan Li Ting

Goh Jue Shao

Elizabeth Goh

Erin Ho

Zachary Lim

Trixi Lim

Ong Sherlyn

Violet Ong

Ellissa Sayampanathan*

Tan Yulin

Amelia Yeo

Zhang Jingqi

TENOR

Andre Ang

Cris Bautro

Alfonso Cortez

Titus Teo

BASS

Leonard Buescher

Loy Sheng Rui

Dominic Tang

Tan Hee

Joshua Tan

Wong Zhen Wei

Zhang Xidong

27 MAY 2023

Sat, 7.30pm | Victoria Concert Hall

Tre Voci

Highlights:

JOHANNES BRAHMS

O sü β er Mai

RAVEL

Trois Chansons

MATSUSHITA

Dona Nobis Pacem

Commissioned works by:

Americ Goh

Kenneth Tay

Tickets from $20

Singapore Symphony Chorus

Singapore Symphony Youth Choir

Singapore Symphony Children's Choir

Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director

Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster

@ sgsymphonychorus

@ sgsymphonychildrenschoir

@ sgsymphonyyouthchoir Official Hotel

ZIYU

The outstanding violinist He Ziyu was one of the youngest soloists ever to perform with the Vienna Philharmonic when he made his debut under Adam Fischer at the Musikverein in 2017, aged just 18. A year earlier he won both the Salzburg International Mozart Competition and the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.

In the 2021/22 season Ziyu made his debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Lio Kuokman, and was again invited by Hans Graf to join the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for concerts and recordings. He has also performed with the Swiss Camerata and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra under Howard Griffiths, and the Sofia Philharmonic under Uros Lajovic. Highlights include concerts at the BBC Belfast Proms in the Park, his debut at the George Enescu Festival, a concert and recordings of works by Hans Werner Henze with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg under Maestra Lin Liao, and solo recitals at the Vienna Konzerthaus in the “Great Talents” series.

As the violinist of the renowned Altenberg Trio, he plays regularly in the Brahmssaal of the Vienna Musikverein in the trio’s popular concert series.

He Ziyu began learning the violin at the age of five in his native China with Zhang Xiangrong. At only 10 years old he was invited by Paul Roczek to study with him at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. He completed his master’s degree there in summer 2021 and is currently continuing his postgraduate violin studies with Benjamin Schmid and Paul Roczek, and his viola studies with Thomas Riebl.

He Ziyu plays a violin by Andrea Guarneri from 1688 and a Giuseppe Guadagnini viola dated 1797, which were made available to him by generous private sponsors.

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

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

Tseng Chieh-An Principal

Michael Loh Associate Principal

Nikolai Koval*

Sayuri Kuru

Hai-Won Kwok

Chikako Sasaki*

Margit Saur

Shao Tao Tao

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

Joyce Huang

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

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

Liu Chang Associate Principal

Christoph Wichert

Zhao Ying Xue

CONTRABASSOON

Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal

HORN

Gao Jian Associate Principal

Jamie Hersch Associate Principal

Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal

Hoang Van Hoc

TRUMPET

Jon Paul Dante Principal

David Smith Associate Principal

Lau Wen Rong

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. 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

THE KOZLOVSKY REQUIEM | 7 APR 2023

FIRST VIOLIN

Igor Yuzefovich Guest Concertmaster

Yew Shan

DOUBLE BASS

William Cole Guest Principal

HORN

Austin Larson Guest Principal

Bryan Chong

TRUMPET

Matt Dempsey

Nuttakamon Supattranont

WINDS ABOVE THE SEA – HANS GRAF AND HE ZIYU | 14 APR 2023

FIRST VIOLIN

Igor Yuzefovich Guest Concertmaster

Wilford Goh

Yew Shan

SECOND VIOLIN

Martin Peh

Helena Dawn Yah

VIOLA

Joelle Hsu

Yeo Jan Wea

CELLO

Lin Juan

Wang Zihao

DOUBLE BASS

William Cole Guest Principal

Julian Li

Hibiki Otomo

BASSOON Guo Siping Guest Principal

HORN

Bryan Chong

TRUMPET

Nuttakamon Supattranont

HARP

Charity Kiew

THE KOZLOVSKY REQUIEM REVIVING A CHORAL MASTERPIECE

7 Apr 2023, Fri

Esplanade Concert Hall

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Singapore Symphony Chorus

Singapore Symphony Youth Choir

Hans Graf Music Director

Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director

Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster

Olga Peretyatko soprano

Olesya Petrova mezzo-soprano

Boris Stepanov tenor

Christoph Seidl bass

MOZART

Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183

Intermission

KOZ Ł OWSKI

Requiem in E-flat minor Asian Premiere

24 mins

20 mins

65 mins

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

CHECK-IN TO TONIGHT'S CONCERT

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WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)

Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 (1773)

I II III IV

Allegro con brio Andante Menuetto & Trio Allegro

Homework by teenagers, especially when writing exercises after a model, tends to be rather uninspired and academic. Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183, written in 1773 when he was 17 and a keen student of Haydn’s symphonies, was modelled after Haydn’s G minor symphony – both employ four horns rather than the usual two. Using pairs of horns in B-flat and G meant a wider range of chromatic notes otherwise unavailable, and four horns give a thicker texture to the dark key. However, K. 183 is anything but a dry and composeby-rote composition.

The first movement is marked Allegro con brio, and what vigour it is – a splendid fiery falling diminished seventh sets a scene of jagged dramatic tension, a sturm und drang earworm at its best. Listeners may recognise its use in the opening scene of the Miloš Forman film Amadeus. Violins provide a syncopated rain of fire, while the driving bassline takes on a melodic function like tidal waves pushing things forward rather than just harmonic accompaniment.

The E-flat major Andante is like a melancholic aria that follows the theatrical overture of the first movement. Muted violins and bassoons set a scene of tender and bittersweet sadness, elegant and gracious.

The third movement is a Menuetto, but this is not the manicured, courtly dance of the Viennese nobility in mirrored gold halls. Bare octaves announce the stern beginning, like a Slavic dance from the eastern territories. The wind trio adds a gentle respite, not unlike one from his wind serenades.

The final Allegro is compressed in comparison with the first movement, with the same urgent relentless drive, but with greater sudden contrasts of dynamics that intensify the pressure. As in the opening movement, brief detours to B-flat major happen, but the short development returns the minor-key tension followed by the recapitulation and closing with a short coda. While the entire movement is marked by swings of emotion, Mozart never loses his composure or poise, and the work ends with his signature restraint on two firm, final chords. Instrumentation

2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, strings

JÓZEF KOZ ŁOWSKI (1759–1831)

Requiem et Kyrie

Dies irae

Tuba mirum

Judex ergo

Confutatis

Lacrymosa

Domine Jesu Christe

Sanctus

Benedictus

Agnus Dei

Quia pius es

Requiem aeternam

Requiem in E-flat minor (1798. Ed. Hans Graf 2023) Asian Premiere of Russia and lover of Empress Catherine, who introduced him to the imperial court circles.

When a composer receives a commission from his monarch to write a requiem mass for a royal funeral, this should normally be a noble burden or honour, but in the case of the Polish composer Józef Kozłowski, this commission by the abdicated king of Poland must have produced mixed feelings. For in a way, Kozłowski’s work was not only a requiem for him, but for his nation.

Józef Kozłowski was born in 1759 in Warsaw, which was the capital of a flourishing Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a centre of culture and the arts, even having Europe’s largest public library. In his youth, he trained in church singing, violin and organ, and became music tutor to the princely Oginsky family. By the 1780s, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had become a de facto client state of Imperial Russia, so Kozłowski, aged 27, moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1786. Enlisting in the Russian Army, he became aide-de-camp to Prince Dolgoruky, who was one of the generals commanding the Russian troops in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792).

Kozłowski’s talents caught the attention of Prince Grigory Potemkin, then prime minister

Kozłowski then returned to music full time, composing operas, sacred choral music, songs, polonaises (most appropriately), and music for court balls. Between 1799 and 1819 he supervised the theatre orchestras and theatrical college at St. Petersburg until paralysis forced his retirement.

Maintaining his contact with the Polish community in St. Petersburg must have been how he met his king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, bearer of the very grand titles King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Duke of Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlasie, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia and Chernihiv. King Stanisław was forced to abdicate the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795 and lived in St. Petersburg from 1797 as a virtual prisoner of the Russian tsar, surviving on a pension granted by Empress Catherine. The commonwealth itself had been dissected with the Third Partition of Poland, its territory

and peoples split between the Habsburg Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire, and Poland ceased to exist as a sovereign nation. Sensing that his end was near, the last king of independent Poland desired a requiem for his own funeral and the commission came to Kozłowski.

Soon after, Stanisław died of a stroke on 12 February 1798 and the requiem was performed on 25 February during a state funeral at Catholic Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg. It had an unexpected revival in 1825 where it was performed again at the funeral for Tsar Alexander I of Russia. The requiem, as a musical setting of the mass for the departed, is specific to the Roman Catholic Church, and is not used in the Russian Orthodox Church, to which Tsar Alexander belonged. Yet, Tsar Alexander bore the title “King of Poland” among his subsidiary titles, so it was deemed meet and right that a Roman Catholic requiem was celebrated for him, in addition to the regular Orthodox funeral rites. For this occasion, the aged and ailing Kozłowski altered some movements of the original score, adding heavier instrumentation and choruses for more drama. The gentler and quieter original 1798 version performed tonight has been carefully edited by Singapore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Hans Graf.

This chapter of the work’s history began in 2018 when Hans Sørensen, Director of Artistic Planning at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, first heard a recording of the Requiem and was struck by its musical quality. He sought to programme it for performance, only to discover that a score was not available from any publisher. Investigating further, the manuscript was finally located in a library in St. Petersburg from where Sørensen obtained a copy.

The work was scheduled in the orchestra’s 2020/21 season, to be conducted by Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov. Sadly, not only was the concert cancelled due to the pandemic, but Vedernikov himself succumbed to complications from COVID-19 in 2020.

It was not until the 2022/23 season that the Requiem could finally be programmed again, this time to be conducted by Hans Graf. Sørensen obtained a Soviet edition of the score and piano score from St. Petersburg, as well as the 1798 autograph and subsequent first print edition by Breitkopf and Härtel in Leipzig. Kozłowski’s own 1798 reduction for keyboard and violin, used for rehearsals with singers and choruses, was also a valuable source of additional editorial information. It also tells us that the singers then were Italian and the soprano and alto parts were sung by men. Graf decided to perform the original 1798 version, thus leaving out the 1825 additions, such as a funeral march and a Salve Regina movement. The result of all these efforts is the modern score performed tonight.

“….the final movement fades into nothing ... It’s humility in front of death: it’s the perfect death.”

– Hans Graf (Bachtrack)

Set in the very unusual key of E-flat minor, the work starts with a combined Requiem et Kyrie movement, a feature common to Austro-Hungarian composers. Sombre strings punctuated by horns accompany a largely homophonic chorus, and the movement ends in hushed pianissimo with the voices alone.

I. Requiem et Kyrie

choir

Requiem æternam dona eis Domine et lux perpetua luceat eis.

soprano & mezzo-soprano solo Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion

tenor & bass solo et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.

choir

Exaudi orationem meam ad te omnis caro veniet.

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them.

You, O God, are praised in Sion, and unto You

shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem.

Hear my prayer, unto You shall all flesh come.

Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.

The Dies iræ throbs in classic requiem fashion, yet is strikingly different from Mozart’s Requiem, followed by a Tuba mirum where a solo trombone and a group of brass represent the trumpet of the last judgement, accompanied by a persistent oboe.

II. Dies irae

choir

Dies irae, dies illa. Solvet saeclum in favilla: teste David cum Sybilla.

Quantus tremor est futurus, quando judex est venturus, cuncta stricte discussurus!

The day of wrath, that day, will dissolve the world in ashes: (this is) the testimony of David along with the Sibyl.

How great will be the quaking, when the Judge is about to come, strictly investigating all things!

III. Tuba mirum

bass solo

Tuba, mirum spargens sonum

Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum

Mors stupebit, et natura, Cum resurget creatura, judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus judicetur.

The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound through the sepulchres of the regions, will summon all before the throne.

Death and nature will marvel, when the creature will rise again, to respond to the Judge.

The written book will be brought forth, in which all is contained, from which the world shall be judged.

In the Judex ergo, two lamenting solo celli introduce a soprano aria that becomes a duet when the alto joins in.

IV. Judex ergo

soprano solo

Judex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet, apparebit: Nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix justus sit securus?

soprano & mezzo-soprano solo

Rex tremendæ majestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salva me, fons pietatis

Recordare, jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuæ viæ: Ne me perdas illa die.

When therefore the Judge will sit, whatever lies hidden, will appear: nothing will remain unpunished.

What then shall I, poor wretch [that I am], say? Which patron shall I entreat, when [even] the just may [only] hardly be sure?

King of fearsome majesty, Who gladly save those fit to be saved, save me, O fount of mercy.

Remember, merciful Jesus, that I am the cause of Your journey: lest You lose me in that day.

The bass solo returns threateningly at the Confutatis to tell us of the torments in Hell awaiting the wicked, but the music becomes gentle as the words turn to a plea for mercy.

V. Confutatis

bass solo

Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis, Voca me cum benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis: Gere curum mei finis.

Once the cursed have been silenced, sentenced to acrid flames, Call me, with the blessed.

[Humbly] kneeling and bowed I pray, [my] heart crushed as ashes: take care of my end.

Throughout his Requiem, Kozłowski uses dynamics from very soft to very loud as part of his artistic palette, dramatically differentiating sections and painting the text. A striking example of this is the Lacrymosa where the chorus sings of that tearful day of judgement, only to be interrupted by a powerful unison outbreak of the orchestra and chorus, ending with soloists and chorus doing a call-and-answer prayer at dona eis requiem (“grant them rest”).

VI. Lacrymosa

choir

Lacrymosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favilla

judicandus homo reus: Huic ergo parce, Deus:

Pie Iesu, Iesu Domine, Dona eis requiem. Amen.

Tearful [will be] that day, on which from the glowing embers will arise the guilty man who is to be judged: Then spare him, O God.

Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Amen.

Domine Jesu Christe occurs in the middle of the service and features the quartet of solo voices as well as a notable clarinet solo. At the heart of the service comes the Sanctus, alternating hushed and reverential passages with loud proclamations of glory.

VII. Domine Iesu Christe

choir

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,

tenor solo

Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum

Soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor & bass solo

Quam olim Abrahae promisisti

soprano & bass solo et semini ejus.

mezzo-soprano & tenor solo et semini ejus.

choir

Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,

deliver the souls of all the faithful departed which of old Thou didst promise Abraham

and his seed.

and his seed.

VIII. Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus

Dominus Deus Sabaoth!

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Soprano & mezzo-soprano solo

Osanna, Osanna,

choir

Osanna in excelsis.

which of old Thou didst promise Abraham and his seed. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna, Hosanna,

Hosanna in the highest.

The usually mellow and welcoming Benedictus is set as an unexpectedly dramatic soprano solo with chromatic touches reminiscent of the contemporary Viennese Classical style. Along with the Dies irae, the Benedictus is the most dramatic movement in the requiem.

IX. Benedictus

soprano solo Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The deeply tragic beginning of the Agnus Dei introduces an insistent plea by the tenor, joined by the chorus soon after.

X. Agnus Dei

tenor solo Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

choir

Dona eis Domine

tenor solo Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

choir

Dona eis requiem

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

dona eis Domine

dona eis requiem

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Grant them rest.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them, O Lord. Grant them rest.

Quia pius es, largely a cappella, anticipates the simple majesty of choral music by Anton Bruckner.

XI. Quia pius es

choir

Quia pius es, cum Sanctis tuis, quia pius es, soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor solo quia pius es,

choir quia pius es, in æternum.

for Thou art gracious, with Thy Saints, for Thou art gracious, for Thou art gracious,

for Thou art gracious, for evermore.

The final movement recapitulates the Requiem aeternam of the beginning, ending quietly and peacefully a cappella. Brief and heartfelt, it encapsulates the spirit of the 1798 work.

XII. Requiem Æternam

choir

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. dona eis, Domine, dona eis requiem.

Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. grant them, O Lord. Grant them rest.

It is hard not to see in the music, an image of the Polish nation (which was not to see independence again for over 120 years) submitting itself to Fate.

Programme notes by Edward C. Yong, with additional notes (Requiem) by Chia Han-Leon

Instrumentation

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, bass trombone, timpani, snare drum, strings

World Premiere

25 Feb 1798

WINDS ABOVE THE SEA – HANS GRAF AND HE ZIYU

14 Apr 2023, Fri

Esplanade Concert Hall

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Hans Graf Music Director

He Ziyu violin*

STRAVINSKY

Symphonies of Wind Instruments SSO Premiere

Violin Concerto in D*

DEBUSSY

Intermission La Mer

12 mins

22 mins

20 mins

23 mins

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

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Intermission autograph signing with He Ziyu at the Foyer, Level 1.

STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)

Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920, rev. 1947) SSO Premiere

Stravinsky wrote a long string of memorial pieces throughout his life, beginning with one for his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov and followed by this piece, written in memory of Claude Debussy. The music itself could not be further from Debussy’s style, however, and in calling a twelve-minute piece a “symphony” Stravinsky was certainly not using the word in the modern sense.

In old French musical usage the word symphonie simply means “a sonorous piece”, and Stravinsky’s conscious decision to use only wind and brass instruments for a strong, direct sound hits the listener right from the beginning with loud, open fifths. He would soon leave behind his “Russian period” and was already moving away from the style of music he had cultivated in his great ballets (Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring) toward something that deliberately eschewed sensuousness and the conventionally beautiful in music.

Here, between the crudeness of the opening sonorities and the dissonances of using unrelated chords on top of each other, Stravinsky was also moving toward a new way of formal organisation. There are three main musical ideas, running at three different speeds, and Stravinsky makes no attempt to smooth out the jarring transitions between them whatsoever, only using silence as a defining measure. This would go on to be a defining characteristic of the “neoclassical” music he would write in the rest of the 1920s, and, in this piece, was highly experimental.

Even today, to a modern audience, the string-less instrumentation can sound harsh and strange. A hundred years ago, at its premiere in London, the Symphonies was greeted with contempt and the audience’s laughter during the performance was loud enough to perturb even the conductor Koussevitzky, who refused to stop and explain anything, but instead turned and smiled before continuing.

Instrumentation

3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba

World Premiere

10 Jun 1921, London

IGOR STRAVINSKY

Violin Concerto in D (1931)

Stravinsky was commissioned by an American patron to write a violin concerto for the Polish violinist Samuel Dushkin, who ended up being one of Stravinsky’s longtime collaborators. Stravinsky was initially hesitant, citing his own unfamiliarity with the instrument, but with some persuasion began the commission. For technical help with violin writing, he turned to world-class violist and violinist Paul Hindemith, who advised Stravinsky that his claimed unfamiliarity with the technical issues of violin playing might actually help him come up with new possibilities.

And, indeed, Stravinsky ended up coming up with a chord that he called the “passport” to the whole Concerto, and which is the first thing the violin soloist plays in every movement. It appears prominently throughout the whole piece and informs a lot of its harmonic flavour. Indeed, the Concerto is deliberately archaic in form, resembling Classical-era chamber music rather than a true virtuoso concerto. Stravinsky deliberately chose not to write cadenzas for the performer, saying that he was not interested in using the violin as a showboat.

To wit, there is not very much that distinguishes the four movements apart from Stravinsky’s chosen tonal areas and a general tempo variation. In all of them, the angular violin writing pairs up with various instruments in the orchestra while the rest weave accompanimental textures around the duets that result. However, Stravinsky’s

deft touch and sense of balance results in convincing musical forms, and there are some moments of genuinely beautiful lyricism in the Aria movements, while the Toccata and Capriccio both feature chugging, motoric rhythms.

Stravinsky’s ballet music has always been part of the concert repertoire since their earliest performances, but the Violin Concerto enjoyed no similar fate. Stravinsky’s own attitudes to the genre might have done him no favours (he said he was no fan of the “usual” Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart concerti), but even after its 1931 premiere, violinists were reluctant to pick it up. It was left to the ballet stage to bring him success again, and indeed, it took the great Balanchine two attempts at creating ballet scenarios using the concerto’s music to win over audiences. It has thus enjoyed a resurgence since the 1970s, though it largely still remains on the fringes of standard repertoire.

Instrumentation

2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets (1 doubling on E-flat clarinet), 3 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, strings

World Premiere

23 Oct 1931, Berlin

First performed by SSO

12 Mar 1982 (Grigory Zhislin, violin)

Programme notes by Thomas Ang

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

La Mer (1903)

I II III

De l'aube à midi sur la mer (From Dawn to Noon on the Sea)

Jeux des vagues (Play of the Waves)

Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea)

Few works so richly and evocatively portray the sea as Debussy’s trois esquisses symphoniques (“three symphonic sketches”). Oddly enough, though, the music was not written anywhere near the sea, but rather in various inland locations, including the Burgundian mountains and Paris. In La Mer, Debussy portrays the sea in its various moods, but does not attempt explicit images in sound; rather, through sonorities he seeks to stir the memories, emotions and imagination, permitting each listener a personal perception of the sea. The first performance took place on 15 October 1905 at the Concerts Lamoureux in Paris, Camille Chevillard conducting.

The first part, From Dawn to Noon on the Sea, begins very quietly, with slow, mysterious murmuring. Through sonority itself, Debussy evokes the sensation of peering into the very depths of the dark, mysterious sea. As the sea awakens, the orchestral colours brighten and motion quickens. The music swings into a rocking 6/8 meter, and we hear a leisurely call from the muted horns. A mosaic of melodic fragments fills the music in constantly changing sonorities. One of these is heard in the divisi cellos, and is developed into an impressive climax. After subsiding, a new melodic idea, a noble chorale-like passage, appears and slowly grows to paint a majestic picture of the sea under the blazing noonday sun.

Play of the Waves is full of sparkle and animation. Like the first sea picture, melodic fragments are developed in an ever-changing mosaic of orchestral hues. The range and delicacy of Debussy’s scoring fascinate at every turn – even the “ping” of the triangle has evocative power. Debussy’s biographer Oscar Thompson describes this music as “a world of sheer fantasy, of strange visions and eerie voices, a mirage of sight and equally a mirage of sound. On the sea’s vast stage is presented trance-like phantasmagoria so evanescent and fugitive that it leaves behind only the vagueness of a dream.”

The final seascape, Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea, opens restless, grey and stormy, the music suggesting the mighty surging and swelling of the water. Melodic fragments from the first movement return. The activity subsides, and out of the mists comes a haunting, distant call, like that of the sirens, perhaps, high in the woodwinds. The music again gathers energy. Finally, we hear once more the grandiose chorale motif from the first sea picture, and La Mer ends in a great spray of sea water surging through the orchestra in spectacular colours.

Programme note by Robert Markow

After the Shipwreck – Design for an Illustration of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (c.1875) by Gustave Doré source: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Instrumentation

2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, triangle, bass drum, glockenspiel, 2 harps, strings

World Premiere

15 Oct 1905, Paris

First performed by SSO 30 Sep 1988

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Your support makes it possible for us to host world-renowned artists, including the Singapore debut of piano legend Martha Argerich in 2018.

SSO CONDUCTING WORKSHOP

6 & 7 July 2023

Victoria Concert Hall

NEW! CALLING ASPIRING CONDUCTORS!

This workshop is an opportunity for aspiring young orchestral conductors who want to improve their skills as a conductor and to work with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Participants will work on conducting and rehearsal techniques in the context of a professional setting. In addition, there will be an emphasis on accompaniment.

FOR WHOM

You should be a Singapore citizen or PR and should have a music degree or are currently enrolled in a music programme

APPLICATION DEADLINE

To apply for consideration, please submit by 19 May 2023

Please email all application materials to ConductingWorkshop@sso.org.sg

For application enquiries, please contact: ConductingWorkshop@sso.org.sg

2019 Workshop featuring Seow Yibin and Joshua Tan

Scan to find out more

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & COMMITTEES

CHAIR

Goh Yew Lin

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Yong Ying-I (Deputy Chair)

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

Geoffrey Wong

Yee Chen Fah

Andrew Yeo Khirn Hin

Yasmin Zahid

NOMINATING AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Goh Yew Lin (Chair)

Prof Arnoud De Meyer (Treasurer)

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

Guo Hao

David Smith

Wang Xu

Christoph Wichert

Elaine Yeo

Zhao Tian

SSO COUNCIL

Alan Chan (Chair)

Odile Benjamin

Prof Chan Heng Chee

Choo Chiau Beng

Dr Geh Min

Heinrich Grafe

Khoo Boon Hui

Lim Mei

JY Pillay

Dr Stephen Riady

Priscylla Shaw

Prof Gralf Sieghold

Andreas Sohmen-Pao

Prof Bernard Tan

Dr Tan Chin Nam

Tan Choo Leng

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

Teo Chew Yen

Jodie Chiang

Michelle Yeo

Lynnette Chng

OPERATIONS

Ernest Khoo (Head)

Library

Lim Lip Hua

Avik Chari

Wong Yi Wen

Orchestra Management

Chia Jit Min (Head)

Peck Xin Hui

Kevin Yeoh

Production Management

Noraihan Bte Nordin

Leong Shan Yi

Asyiq Iqmal

Ramayah Elango

Khairi Edzhairee

Khairul Nizam

Digital Production

Jan Soh

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Kok Tse Wei (Head)

Community Engagement

Kua Li Leng (Head)

Erin Tan

Whitney Tan

Samantha Lim

Terrence Wong

Choral Programmes

Kua Li Leng (Head)

Regina Lee

Chang Hai Wen

Mimi Syaahira Bte Ruslaine

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Pang Siu Yuin (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)

Anderlin Yeo

Nikki Chuang

Elliot Lim

Sharmilah Banu

Marketing and Communications

Cindy Lim (Head)

Chia Han-Leon

Calista Lee

Sean Tan

Myrtle Lee

Hong Shu Hui

Jana Loh

Sherilyn Lim

Elizabeth Low

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 and Legal

Valeria Tan (Head)

Janice Yeo

Fionn Tan

Evelyn Siew

Organisation Development

Lillian Yin

The mission of the Singapore Symphony Group is to create memorable shared experiences with music. Through the SSO and its affiliated per forming groups, we spread the love for music, nur ture talent and enrich our diverse communities. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a charity and not-for-profit organisation. You can suppor t us by donating at www.sso.org.sg/donate.

Stephen Riady Group of Foundations