Music Director’s Message(2010-2011)

As Singapore is positioned at the crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures, SCO has long been searching for a unique character and identity.

After the samplings of a seven-month mini-concert season, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) will now have a year-long (August 2010 to July 2011) starting this year. We will also embark on a concert tour to Paris in October 2010, as well as engage the most talented composers to participate in the Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Orchestra. This ceaseless pursuit of excellence is a quality that I share with everyone in SCO.

As Singapore is positioned at the crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures, SCO has long been searching for a unique character and identity. Thanks to the guidance and recommendation of the SCO Board. The new vision “We aspire to be a world renowned Chinese Orchestra with a uniquely Singaporean character” that we have embraced, exemplifies SCO’s determination to pursue our mission “To inspire Singapore and the World with our music”.

There is no doubt that home is where our heart belongs, but we must go global in our quest for success. Due to our philosophy of “Embrace the Traditional, Experience the Contemporary”, we will spare no effort to imbibe the essence of Eastern and Western cultures so as to achieve the unique Nanyang flavour. That is how we have arrived at the theme of “A Cultural Kaleidoscope, A Nanyang Romance” for this season’s programmes.

The East-West blending is apparent from the very start, with famous local jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro performing alongside SCO in the concert “Jazz You Up with Jeremy Monteiro”. Casual Classical, which is a collaboration with local artiste Adrian Pang, hopes to attract a multi-lingual audience, while the Sun Festival concert sees the combination of Chinese and Western musical classics with a multi-media sand painting performance. This concert features violinist Rachel Lee and guitarist Milos Karadaglic, much like the other East-West combination of dizi maestro Tang Jun Qiao and recorder master Michala Petri in the “Colours of the Wind: A Dialogue Between Recorder and Dizi” concert.

SCO continues to track the historic Nanyang sojourns of our ancestors. After the success of “The Cantonese Music Lingers On” and “Sounds of Teochew”, the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan will be working with us to produce “Hokkien Classics”, featuring excerpts of nanyin music, Hokkien opera selections together with Hokkien foot drum. A team of composers and I have travelled to the Guangdong and Fujian regions in search of inspiration to turn out works that showcase the charm of Hakka and Quanzhou. These compositions will be featured in a concert in collaboration with Singapore Arts Festival to symbolize the search of our ancestral roots.

SCO is the favourite collaborator of many internationally renowned musicians. This season’s highlight must be the 20-year old piano prodigy Haochen Zhang’s choice of Singapore as the first stop for his performance of the piano concerto “Yellow River”. A gold medalist of the 13th Van Cliburn Piano Concerto, he will also perform a recital concert at the Singapore Conference Hall.

As a Chinese orchestra of international repute, we work tirelessly to interpret the classical works. “The Dream of Chang’an: Music of Zhao Ji Ping”. This is a tribute to this accomplished Chinese composer, Chairman of Chinese Musicians Association. We also have the honour of inviting famous composer Zhu Chang Yao, Chairman of China Jiangsu Musicians Association, to perform many of his erhu works at “Charms of Jiangnan: A Tour with Zhu Chang Yao”. Distinguished female conductor, Professor Zheng Xiao Ying, artistic director of Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra will also be collaborating with us for the first time. On International Women’s Day, we will present an all-female concert, with a female conductor, female composers and soloists. A father-daughter team, Maestro Cao Peng and his daughter, violinist Sha Xiao Cao will be performing the classic violin concerto “The Butterfly Lovers”.

Kicking off 2011 will be a gala concert “Rhapsodies of Spring”, the pick of the heavyweights in concerts. Some of our new partners in collaboration are the DJs of 97.2FM, Marcus Chin, Chen Biyu and Chua Lilian. Local diva Kit Chan will again collaborate with us at the Huayi Festival. In addition, we have the support of many luminary artistes, such as tenor Yu Ji Xing, one of the China’s top young promising soprano Lei Jia, renowned percussionist Wang Jian Hua, famous erhu soloist Chen Chun Yuan, sand painter Ruan Yun Ting, nanyin artistes Wang Da Hao and Wang Yi Ming, and SCO musicians Han Lei, Xu Hui, Tan Loke Chuah, Guo Chang Suo, Ong Yi Horng, Seah Kar Wee, Lim Kiong Pin, Zhang Bin, Yu Jia, Jin Shi Yi, Zhang Rong Hui, Cheng Tzu Ting, Foong Chui San, Han Ying, Jing Po, Zhao Li, Meng Jie, Huang Gui Fang, Xu Wen Jing, Shen Qin, Zhu Lin, etc.

To nurture future generations of Singapore artistes, SCO will join National Arts Council for the first time to co-organise the 2010 National Chinese Music Competition and we will hold a concert for the winners. Another performance platform, “Exuberance of Youth” concert has been designed for newcomers to music conductorship and prize-winning soloists. Having gained the recognition of the Ministry of Education’s National Projects of Excellence, the Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra has risen to new heights after 18 months of strenuous training. In the new season, they will display their talents at the three concerts, namely “Elegant Music Series 2010”, “Dauntless Spirit 2011” and “Passing the Nanyang Spirit”.

I hope that you will enjoy this season’s fascinating programmes and provide us with your valuable feedback. I look forward to sharing with you the magical spell of Chinese orchestral music.

Tsung Yeh
Music Director