Singapore, 16 August 2019 (Friday) – Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) will embark on a Europe Concert Tour from 31 August to 9 September 2019, bringing the unique SCO Nanyang music and east-meets-west cross-cultural programme to the European audience.
Conducted by SCO Music Director Tsung Yeh, this is SCO’s second concert tour to Europe after its first in 2005. In 2019’s Europe Concert Tour, SCO will perform at the Konzerthaus Berlin (Germany), presented by Wu Promotion in collaboration with Young Euro Classic, on 31 August; the Dvořák Hall, Rudolfinum in Prague (Czech Republic), presented by Musica Orbis, on 3 September; the Chiesa di San Giacomo in San Domenico in Forlì (Italy), presented by the Emilia Romagna Festival, on 6 September; and the Ancient Theatre of Dodoni in Ioannina (Greece), presented by the Dodoni International Festival, on 9 September. In this second Europe Concert Tour milestone, SCO will feature the best of Singapore and SCO through Singapore artistes and concert repertoire.
Singapore’s Ambassador to Germany, Laurence Bay, hailed “the SCO’s European tour and inaugural performance at the historic Berlin Konzerthaus as a key milestone for the SCO, and a timely showcase of Singapore’s deepening cultural ties with Germany and Europe.”
SCO Executive Director, Nominated Member of Parliament, Terence Ho, said “The SCO musicians are anticipating this upcoming Europe Concert Tour, and SCO is proud to bring SCO’s unique Nanyang music and Singapore’s music representations to the world and to fulfill our mission to inspire the world with our music.”
Renowned Singaporean violinist, Kam Ning, will perform with SCO in Berlin and Prague the evergreen classic The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto composed by He Zhan Hao and Chen Gang, rearranged by Yan Hui Chang and Ku Lap Man. Hailed by the Strad magazine as a “strong artistic personality”, Singaporean violinist Kam Ning has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She was the second prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2001 and was praised by Belgium’s De Standaard as “manifestly the best violinist of the competition”. She has performed under the batons of established conductors such as Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Okku Kamu, Lan Shui, Louis Langree and with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, Liege Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic and City of London Sinfonia, amongst many others. In September 2017, she joined the faculty of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles as Professor of Violin.
Following Kam Ning, established sheng virtuoso, Wu Wei, will perform with SCO in Forlì and Ioannina, German composer and musicologist’s specially-composed work for him, the sheng concerto Earth & Fire. As a sheng soloist, Wu Wei has developed “sheng” the ancient instrument into an innovative force in contemporary music, through the creation of new techniques, the expansion of its repertoire and through integrating different styles and genres, which won him many awards in prestigious national and international competitions. As a soloist, he has also performed with many leading international orchestras and ensembles and at many of the world’s prestigious festivals and venues.
SCO will also perform award-winning Nanyang works from the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition (SICCOC). Singaporean conductor-composer, Kahchun Wong’s orchestral composition Krakatoa, which depicts the 1883 volcanic eruption of Mount Krakatoa, situated off the west coast of Java, Indonesia, which was one of the deadliest disasters in the 19th century, will be performed in Berlin, Prague and Forlì. Kahchun Wong was the first Asian winner of the Mahler Competition in 2016 and is now the Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. This composition won him the Singaporean Composer Award at the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition in 2015.
Gordon Fung Dic-Lun’s pipa concerto Arise, You Lion of Glory, which depicts the traditional Cantonese lion dance, well known for its sophisticated and technical demanding moves. This composition draws inspiration from this gorgeous tradition, using musical materials to illustrate the various elements in the lion dance. This composition won the First Prize at the SICCOC in 2015, and will be performed in Berlin and Prague by SCO pipa principal, Yu Jia.
SCO will also perform composer-in-residence Law Wai Lun’s orchestral composition Prince Sang Nila Utama and Singa and internationally well-known classical-contemporary composer Tan Dun’s works – orchestra work Yellow Earth and huqin concerto Fire Ritual; of which, Fire Ritual will be performed by SCO concertmaster Li Baoshun.
Concert information
- Detailed concert programmes of the SCO Europe Concert Tour are provided in the annex.
- SCO Europe Concert Tour publicity trailer: https://youtu.be/g0QPeU4HR5o.
Ticketing information
Berlin - http://bit.ly/scoeuropeBER
Prague - http://bit.ly/scoeuropePRA
Forlì - http://bit.ly/scoeuropeFOR
Conductor: Tsung Yeh Violin: Kam Ning Sheng: Wu Wei
Huqin: Li Baoshun Pipa: Yu Jia Singapore Chinese Orchestra
Please contact media officers below for more information, photographs and interviews:
Koh Mui Leng
Assistant Director (Special Projects)
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel: (65) 6557 4047 / 9833 0556
Chin Woon Ying
Director (Programmes)
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel: (65) 6557 4012 / 9155 7059