Singapore, 9 April 2019 (Tuesday) – Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO)’s Homecoming series of concerts started in Singapore’s Golden Jubilee year in 2015, to recognize and feature Singaporean musicians to be home to perform with SCO. Renowned musicians who have performed in these series of concerts include Kam Ning, Kwok Chin-Chye, Choo Boon Chong, Melvyn Tan and Singaporean string quartet T’ang Quartet. On 27 April 2019 (Saturday), 8pm at the SCO Concert Hall, in the third installment of the Homecoming concerts, internationally-renowned Singaporean violinist Siow Lee Chin will perform with SCO in a one night only concert. Cellist Qin Li-wei, along with 3 of SCO’s outstanding percussionists Xu Fan, Tan Loke Chuah and Benjamin Boo, will also perform in this concert alongside the SCO.
Hailed by The Strad as “a charismatic artist who infuses meaning into every note and whose playing is full of elegance and finesse”, Siow Lee-Chin’s Gold Medal victory at the 1994 Henryk Szeryng International Violin Competition launched her career as Singapore’s first violin soloist to make a mark and forge a solo career on the international classical music stage, wowing audiences in more than 20 countries across 5 continents from the Carnegie Hall to the Osaka Symphony Hall. Her performances have been broadcasted on BBC World News, China Central TV, America’s CBS, National Public Radio, and Singapore’s Mediacorp. Recent high profile performances include the world premiere of Air at the 2015 City of London Festival, a work specially written for her by acclaimed composer Yao Chen, who had been commissioned by Grammy award winning artists. She also premiered Kam Kee Yong’s Chinese Rhapsody at Carnegie Hall in 2017. In the same year, to commemorate 50 years of bilateral relations between Singapore and Brazil, Siow Lee-Chin performed the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto with the Orquestra Sinfonica do Teatro Nacional in Brazil. Most recently in August 2018, she had a debut performance at the Kennedy Center. In her debut with the SCO this April, US- based artist and Professor of violin at the College of Charleston, Siow Lee-Chin will perform two violin classics; Henryk Wieniawski’s Polonaise Brillante No.1, Op.4 and Manuel Ponce’s Estrellita rearranged by Singaporean composer Phang Kok Jun.
Singaporean violinist Siow Lee-Chin said, "I am deeply honoured to be part of this Homecoming series of the SCO. It is so meaningful to come home and share my creative performances with the local audiences. I have long admired Maestro Tsung Yeh and his transformative work with the SCO. So naturally, I am very excited to debut with the SCO and also to premiere a new concerto by Dr Ho Chee Kong specially for this occasion. And to perform again with one of my favorite cellist Qin Li-wei is just pure joy!"
Homecoming III concert also features works from Singaporean composers. Associate Professor Ho Chee Kong is an Associate Professor of Composition at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. His compositions for the western and Chinese orchestras have been performed at festivals and concerts internationally. In this concert, SCO will world premiere Dr Ho’s concerto for the violin and cello titled There & Back, which will be performed by Siow Lee-Chin and Qin Li-wei. A Universal Music China Artist, Qin Li-wei has appeared worldwide as a soloist and as a chamber musician. After being awarded the Silver Medal at the 11th Tchaikovsky International Competition, he won First Prize at the prestigious Naumburg Competition in 2001 in New York.
SCO’s three percussionists: Xu Fan, Tan Loke Chuah and Benjamin Boo will also perform Dr Ho’s work for percussion and Chinese orchestra titled The Way of Play, a work which was commissioned for the 2005 Percussion Festival by SCO. Xu Fan is currently SCO’s percussion principal while Tan Loke Chuah is the associate percussion principal. Benjamin Boo, who is a highly active and sought after musician in Singapore, joined the SCO percussion family in 2018.
SCO will also perform Chinese composer Zhao Ji Ping’s Homeland Nostalgia（乡愁）, one of the movements from the large-scale symphonic suite Silk Road Melody（丝路粤韵）. Melding Guangdong folk tunes and music into the work, it creates an impressionistic evocation of a longing for home. The SCO will also perform the Singapore premiere of Wang Dan Hong’s Macau Capriccio in this concert.
Join the SCO in this Singapore-themed Homecoming III concert!
Event details:
SCO and Lianhe Zaobao presents Pre-Concert Talk with Siow Lee-Chin and Qin Li-wei
Date: 24 April 2019 (Wednesday)
Time: 7.30pm – 9pm
Venue: Singapore Conference Hall, Exhibition Hall (Level 1)
Ticketed free admission. Tickets from https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/60106872273 .
Homecoming III Concert
Date: 27 April 2019 (Saturday)
Time: 8pm
Venue: SCO Concert Hall
Ticket prices (before SISTIC fees): $128, $98, $68, $48/$30*
Tickets from SISTIC
*Concession prices
Please contact Media Officers for more information, photographs and interviews.
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