Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s Hits of Chinese Music for Chinese music enthusiasts presents plucked-strings sequel

Singapore, 13 September 2018 (Thursday) – Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) launched a new series of concerts titled Hits of Chinese Music in 2017, which is a series of four concerts, to present classic hits of each instrumental section of the orchestra – woodwinds, bowed-string, plucked-string and percussion. This second concert of the series – Hits of Chinese Music II: Plucked Strings will be held on 29 September (Saturday), 8pm, at the SCO Concert Hall. This concert will be conducted by SCO Music Director Tsung Yeh.

Singapore’s Chinese orchestra music scene started sprouting in the 1950s. During that time, it was more common to see performances of ensembles, and a soloist accompanied by an ensemble. After continuous exploration and pursuit with much determination, our predecessors established the development of Chinese music and today, we are witnesses to the flourishing of Chinese orchestra music. This concert is SCO’s tribute to the pioneers of our Chinese music scene.

SCO’s plucked-strings section, consisting of the yangqin, pipa, liuqin, zhongruan, sanxian, daruan and guzheng musicians, under the baton of Tsung Yeh, will present pieces in its original format and flavour that plucked strings instrumentalists and aficionados will reminisce and enjoy. The concert will be presented in a variety of formats from duet, sectional chamber to full orchestra. Plucked-strings and Chinese music enthusiasts will be able to hear pieces such as orchestra works – Guo Mian’s Water and Clouds Over Rivers Xiao and Xiang, arranged by Gao Wei Jie; and Law Wai Lun’s The Plum Blossom Story. SCO pipa musician Zhang Yin and sanxian musician Huang Gui Fang will be presenting Jiang Shui Lin’s duet piece Spring at Jiangnan.

Daruan musician Jing Po, yangqin musician Ma Huan and xiao musician Yin Zhi Yang will be performing ancient tune Praise of Water, a trio arrangement by Wang Zhong Bing. The ruan section will perform Ning Yong’s Silk Road Camel Bells while the whole plucked-strings section will perform Jiangnan sizhu music piece, San Liu, orchestrated by Gu Guan Ren.

The second-half of the concert will showcase plucked strings concerto works including Liu Xing’s zhongruan and orchestra work Lone Crane in the Clouds, which will be showcased by zhongruan associate principal Lo Chai Xia; Wu Hao Ye and Yu Qing Zhu’s yangqin and orchestra work Imaginations of Yanhe, which will be performed by yangqin principal Qu Jian Qing and yangqin musician Ma Huan; Wang Chang Yuan’s Against Typhoon, which is arranged by Liu Bin into a guzheng and orchestra work to be performed by guzheng musician Xu Hui; and the ever classic pipa ancient tune, Ambush from All Sides, which is arranged by Wang Chen Wei as a pipa and orchestra work to be performed by pipa principal Yu Jia.

This concert is sponsored by Qiu Zhai Art Foundation.

Conductor: Tsung Yeh