Singapore, 12 October 2017 (Thursday) – Have you ever wondered how an English composer would interpret Chinese music and compose for a Chinese Orchestra? On 3 November, experience a palette of multicultural repertoire by one of Singapore’s notable composers, Eric Watson. Eric Watson’s World of Chinese Music concert will be held on 3 November 2017 (Friday), 8pm, at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium.
Born in the UK, Eric Watson received tertiary musical training at the Trinity College of Music in London where his principal studies were piano, violin, composition, and conducting for which he was awarded the Ricordi prize. Eric Watson has lived in Singapore where he is active as a composer, conductor, music technologist and pedagogue. His experience embraces opera, musical theatre, film and television, and he has written scores in many diverse and different genres including Electro-Acoustic music, Gamelan and Chinese Orchestra. Eric Watson started composing for SCO when he participated in the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition (SICCOC) in 2006, where his composition, Tapestries I – Time Dances, was awarded the first prize. He was also the composer for Singapore’s 2001 and 2007 National Day Parades.
This concert will feature Eric Watson’s SICCOC 2006’s first prize composition – Tapestries I: Time Dances; An Independent Note – a symphonic poem incorporating an excerpt of Singapore’s founding prime minister’s speech during Singapore’s independence day, which will be narrated by local veteran actor, Lim Kay Tong.
Singapore’s established tabla musician, Jatinder Singh Bedi, will perform Dialogue for Solo Tabla and Chinese Orchestra. SCO will also perform Eric Watson’s pieces including Sea – Source of Life, Mahjong Kakis and The Ceilidh.
Eric Watson has also composed a new piece for the instrument sanxian titled The Nanyang Gate. SCO sanxian musician, Huang Guifang, who won the First Grade Prize in the First National Ethnic Music Performing Competition in 1983 and First Prize in the China International Ethnic Music Grand Competition in 1995, will world premiere this new composition with SCO.
Concert Details:
Eric Watson’s World of Chinese Music
Date: 3 November 2017 (Friday)
Time: 8pm
Venue: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium
Ticket prices (before SISTIC fees): $70, $50, $30/$15*
*Concession price
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