Discovering Music - Everyone Is A Soloist!

Singa pore Sy mphon y orchestra

DISCOVERING MUSIC!

EVERYONE IS A SOLOIST! 1 May 2018 Victoria Concert Hall

S ing a p or e S y mp hon y or c he S t r a Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is well-loved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings.

The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-of-the-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works and all outreach and community performances take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the home of the SSO. The orchestra performs 100 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans all-time favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season.

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

J o Shu a ta n conductor Second Prize winner of the 2008 Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition, Singaporean conductor Joshua Tan’s rise to prominence on the international scene has been marked by successful debuts in Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Mariinsky Hall, Bunkamura, Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. He was featured as the top Singaporean musical talent in 2009 by the Singapore newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao. He has also won numerous awards and scholarships, including the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, NAC-Shell Scholarship, SSO/MOE Scholarship and is the first ever recipient of the Charles Schiff Conducting Prize from The Juilliard School for outstanding achievement. In 2011, he received the Young Artist Award of Singapore.

Tan has studied with leading conductors James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman and Kurt Masur. He has conducted the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Beethoven Bonn Orchestra, St Petersburg State Symphony, Russiche Kammerphilharmonie, National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra (NCPA), China Philharmonic, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic and many more orchestras from China and Japan.

In opera, Tan has conducted La traviata, Tosca, Rigoletto, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Così fan tutte and was also cover conductor for Christoph Eschenbach and Lorin Maazel.

Adept with film/multimedia, Tan is a Disney-approved conductor and gave the Asian premiere of Fantasia. He has also conducted for the BBC’s Planet Earth Series.

Tan is presently Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He was Resident Conductor, NCPA Orchestra from 2009 to 2012. Highlights of the 2016/17 season include debuts with Sinfonia Varsovia, Japan Century Orchestra, Swan Lake and Giselle in Tokyo, Turandot, L’elisir d’amore in Singapore.

Tan is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music (High Distinction).

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

Jason Lai Associate Conductor Andrew Litton Principal Guest Conductor

Choo Hoey Conductor Emeritus Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director

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

VIOLA

BASSOON

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

Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue

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

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

PICCOLO

Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal

Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal

PERCUSSION

OBOE

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

Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo COR ANGLAIS Elaine Yeo Associate Principal CLARINET Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping BASS CLARINET Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal

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

HARP Gulnara Mashurova Principal Charmaine Teo^

B é l a B a r tók (1881–1945) Concerto for Orchestra I. Introduzione (Andante non troppo – Allegro Vivace) II. Presentando le coppie (Allegretto Scherzando) III. Elegia (Andante non troppo) IV. Intermezzo Interrotto (Allegretto) V. Finale (Pesante – Presto) With the outbreak of the Second World War, Bartók fled Europe to the United States in 1940, but unfortunately contracted leukaemia soon after. To make matters worse, he had not written anything substantial for two years. In 1943, his friends, conductor Fritz Reiner and violinist Joseph Szigeti, persuaded the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, Serge Koussevitzky, to commission a piece from Bartók, in the hope that it would revive his spirits and give him something to work towards.

It worked, and Bartók wrote the Concerto for Orchestra in just two months – it was premiered in December 1944 by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Bartók’s wife recounted, “we went [to Boston] for the rehearsals and performances after having obtained the grudgingly granted permission of my doctor for this trip.... The performance was excellent. Koussevitzky says it is the ‘best orchestra piece of the last 25 years’.”

A mysterious Introduction starts in the lower strings, and the atmosphere gradually brightens up, as the higher-pitched instruments join in and the tempo quickens. The main body of the movement – Allegro Vivace – features a strong, muscular main theme, which soon gives way to an interlude led by the oboe and harp. Bartók writes many fugal passages here, with multiple themes jostling for attention, and a brilliant brass fugue leading to an explosive climax. The interlude re-emerges, with some added instrumental effects. Shortened variants of themes reappear before the brass fugue theme closes the movement with a flash of exhilaration.

In the Presentando le coppie (Presentation of Couples), Bartók introduces woodwind and brass instruments one after another. A snare drum sets the beat, and two bassoons trot in, playing a jaunty theme, before two oboes interrupt with even more jollity. A pair of clarinets wander around drunkenly, suddenly slowing down and speeding up, and two airy – somewhat more sober – flutes chatter their way to the centre stage. Two trumpets show off, playing a strangely lopsided tune, with some random pauses inserted.

A brass chorale provides a short interlude, and the snare drum takes every opportunity to remind everyone that he is still there. The instrumental couples come back, but they are joined by third parties this time, with other instruments (sometimes even of the same type) running circles around the original pair.

The middle movement, an Elegia, is a dark, atmospheric one, conjuring up creatures which fly by night. Insects chirp and eerie bird songs appear. Spooky instrumental effects dominate, and a sudden, emotional and angsty outburst is heard in the middle of the night, before vanishing. We hear the birds again, and the movement fades to silence.

Bartók made up a little funny story for the fourth movement, which features “a young man serenading his sweetheart only to be brutally interrupted by a drunken mob” in the Intermezzo Interrotto (Interrupted Intermezzo). Oboes introduce the scene, and the violas – followed by the rest of the strings – serenade the sweetheart.

Bartók made fun of a tune from fellow Russian composer Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony as the ‘interruption’. He didn’t think very highly of it, and was annoyed that it was rather popular. He has the orchestra – most notably the trombones and woodwinds – mock it, before the serenade blossoms again.

A strong horn call resounds, the violas and cellos strum their strings, and violins start running. It is all very fast and loud, before giving way to folk dances. The low instruments stamp and stomp while the higher pitched instruments whirl around in high spirits.

Another fugue then appears to give us a short break from the excitement. A timpani glissando brings us back to the races, and different themes are recalled – at a much faster tempo. Bartók gives everyone a short breather, before some leftover mysterious sound effects from the Elegia are recalled and transformed, and the brass drive us towards a stunningly triumphant Finale.

Programme notes by Christopher Cheong

Have a burning question for Joshua or the Orchestra?

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Join us at the Victoria Concert Hall for a day of musical fun! From educational programmes in the concert hall, to backstage and historical tours of the building there’s definitely something for everyone!

Be treated to an educational percussion demonstration by musicians from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and a performance by the Singapore National Youth Sinfonia!

Free activities include an Instrument Petting Zoo where you get to try your hand at some instruments at the Victoria Concert Hall Atrium!

REGISTER NOw! $20 per participant for MUSIC EXPLORERS $15 per participant for BACKSTAGE PASS

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