Singapore Chinese Orchestra Launches New 2018 / 2019 Concert Season with Spectacular Line-up of International & Local Artists

• 22 spectacular concerts in the new season will celebrate different Asian elements and Singapore’s unique cultural heritage
• Grammy Award-winning violinist, Joshua Bell will perform Butterfly Lovers with the Orchestra
• Music lovers can look forward to renowned artists and soloists from around the world performing with Singapore’s only professional Chinese orchestra at the refurbished Singapore Conference Hall

Singapore, 1 June 2018 – The Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) launched an exciting new concert season today with 22 spectacular concerts lined up from July 2018 to June 2019.

The new 2018/2019 season continues with the 2018 theme Homecoming, Reverberate and Retrospect. Together with renowned international and homegrown artists, the more than 80 musicians of the SCO, Singapore’s only professional national Chinese orchestra, will be presenting a virtuostic line-up of musical performances.

SCO’s Music Director and 2013 Cultural Medallion winner, Mr Tsung Yeh, who has helmed the Orchestra since 2002, said: “For the past 21 years, the SCO has been contributing to Singapore’s cultural heritage through its vibrant concerts as well as participation in nation-wide celebrations like National Day and the Singapore Arts Festival. We have also been privileged to showcase our work at prestigious events and music festivals in Europe, the United Kingdom, China and across Asia. 

“Our new concert season will have something for everyone with a repertoire of familiar favourites, and re-interpretations of well-loved classics. East meets West as we welcome Grammy Award-winning violinist, Joshua Bell when he performs with the Orchestra in the new season’s headlining concert, Butterfly Lovers in August. Acclaimed Chinese-Australian cellist Qin Li-wei will perform with the SCO in the world premiere of a violin and cello double concerto in Homecoming III, together with our Singapore-born and internationally acclaimed violinist, Siow Lee Chin.”

Highlights Promote Diverse Heritage of Music in Asia

The SCO will also draw from both past and present, to breathe new life into orchestral masterpieces that have captivated their local and international audiences through the years. Catered to draw in both SCO fans, as well as new audiences young and old, the new concert season will include:

 – The season’s opening concert with a twin bill, Dream of the Red Chamber and Red Cliff, each an outstanding classical masterpiece with soprano, Wu Bixia and tenor, Jonathan Charles Tay, and conducted by Tsung Yeh.

– Sounds of Mongolia, that will re-tell the legends of ancient Mongolia through Morin Khuur (a traditional Mongolian stringed instrument) performances by renowned Mongolian Morin Khuur master Ba Narisu.

– Story of Singapore, a collaboration with Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s largest Chinese daily to celebrate the paper’s 95^th The musical presentation will explore Singapore’s heritage and press media’s history through Chinese music, pictorial archives and multimedia works.

– In a nod to Singapore’s illustrious music heritage, SCO will stage An Evening of Xinyao II, which will feature familiar ballads inviting audiences to relive a bygone era in the local music scene.

– SCO’s new chamber concert series Music Tuesdays will offer a wide repertoire of traditional and contemporary genres and east-west percussion collaborations.

– Eternal Blossoming of the Red Flowers, by acclaimed Chinese composer Wang Danhong, will close the 2018/2019 concert season on a high note with a vibrant and spirited evening of Shaanbei folk music, featuring master musicians and folk artists from China.

To engage younger audiences and to nurture a deeper appreciation of Chinese orchestral music, SCO will also present a line-up of musical adventures and concerts like DiSCOvering Treasures of Chinese Music – Winds in the Bamboo Grove, a musical exploration of bamboo forests; Voyage to Nanyang 5: Balik Kampong, a re-discovering of the kampong spirit through multicultural instrumental dialogues; as well as interactive activities to introduce audiences to the music and SCO’s musicians.

Multi-Generation Celebration of Distinguished Musicians

Other distinguished musicians from Singapore and overseas in this new season include:

– Siow Lee Chin, acclaimed Singaporean violin soloists and one of the first Singaporeans to forge a solo career on the international classical music stage, will be back to collaborate with SCO and mark the world premiere of a violin and cello double concerto in Homecoming III.

– Fang Qiong, renowned vocalist and Shanghai Conservatory of Music Professor who will perform classic Shanghai songs in the 2019 edition of SCO’s springtime concert, Rhapsodies of Spring.

– Duan Ai Ai, national first-class virtuoso on the erhu and erhu soloist from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music will perform in Wang Yunfei’s erhu concerto, Limitless.

– Zhang Guoyong, China’s renowned conductor and Head of the Conducting Department, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, will lead the orchestra’s performances of famous Chinese works and the world premiere of the double concerto Moments.

– Liu Sha, the youngest of China’s Top 10 Chinese Orchestral Music Conductors of Excellence and the Conductor-in-Residence from the China National Traditional Orchestra, who will lead SCO in performing a selection of renowned Chinese works.

– Wang Dan Hong, resident composer from the China National Traditional Orchestra who has been regarded as the most talented young woman composer in China.

– Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra (SNYCO) will celebrate their 15^th anniversary with a world premiere of Symphonic Floras by young Singaporean composer Phang Kok Jun, during Exuberance of Youth III. SNYCO is a group of highly talented musicians between 11 to 26 years old, managed and mentored by SCO to nurture and groom the future pillars of Singapore’s Chinese music landscape.

– Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra that will be presenting a combined cross-cultural concert with SNYCO.

– The 11^th National Chinese Music Competition 2018, co-organised by the SCO and the National Arts Council.

Tickets for the concerts will go on sale from 1 June 2018 on SISTIC.

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SCO’s Season Brochure can be downloaded here.

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