By Zhang Heyang
This concert marks the debut of Singaporean conductor Darrell Ang as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. Winner of the prestigious 50th Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors in France, he is currently the Artistic Director of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra in China, and one of the most prominent Chinese conductors active on the international stage today. Known for his refined musical sensibility, Ang is also admired for his curatorial vision that bridges cultures and transcends genres.
Titled A Bug’s Life, the concert explores the wondrous diversity of insects as imagined by composers, through a vibrant blend of classical, folk, and contemporary musical languages. As both conductor and curator, Ang contributes his own original work — A Bug’s Life (Paraphrase on a theme by Alexander Scriabin) and infuses the programme with his personal reflections on the natural world based on a long-standing fascination with the lives of insects.
The concert opens with Butterfly Overture by Ge Gan-Ru. Originally written for symphony orchestra, the work is anchored by a soaring solo violin line that evokes the delicate flutter of a butterfly, set against a dreamlike, sweeping orchestral backdrop. Ge, who was trained as a violinist before switching to composition in his third year of study, brings a string player’s intuition to his writing—merging expressive lyricism with structural clarity and emotional resonance.
According to the composer, Butterfly Overture is a heartfelt tribute to his mentor Chen Gang, one of China’s most celebrated composers and pedagogues. Chen championed the primacy of emotion in music and encouraged his students to develop their own unique artistic voices. The butterfly, a recurring motif in Chen’s work, symbolises beauty, love, freedom, and above all, the poetic defiance of death. This performance marks the world premiere of the Chinese orchestral version, specially commissioned by SCO and adapted by Chinese composer Luo Maishuo.
Eternal Flow of Life, originally the fifth movement of Yang Xiaozhong’s symphonic suite The Supreme Virtue of Water, has been reimagined as a stand-alone Chinese orchestral work in 2025. Making its Singapore debut, the composition unfolds in four distinct movements — “The Origin of Life,” “Fairy of Water,” “All Rivers Flow to the Sea,” and “The Praise of the Heart.” It is a musical meditation on the vitality and continuity of life in nature, characterised by minimalist themes, vigorous rhythmic flow, and a tonal palette inspired by the grandeur of Tibetan music. Drawing on the spacious melancholy and rugged strength of Tibetan musical idioms, Yang paints a vast soundscape reminiscent of highland winds and flowing rivers. The work offers a hymn-like tribute to the miracle of natural renewal, brought to life through the richly layered textures of the Chinese orchestra.
A Bug’s Life is a newly composed work by Darrell Ang, drawing inspiration from Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 10—a mysterious, esoteric piece the Russian composer once described as filled with “the tremulous sounds of insects.” In Ang’s hands, that idea becomes a fantastical tone poem that marries naturalistic observation with otherworldly imagination. Focusing on the order Hymenoptera—bees, wasps, and ants—Ang depicts the intricately structured society of a hive, from the queen and her attending nurse bees, to workers, builders, foragers, and guardians. Each group is brought to life through its own rhythmic and textural identity, creating a sonic ecosystem that mirrors the harmony and complexity of insect life. Weaving in a pastoral melody from Inner Mongolia, Ang sets it alongside Scriabin’s harmonic world to conjure a surreal and majestic aural landscape. Through this composition, he pays tribute to insects as some of the Earth’s most diverse, essential and often misunderstood creatures—reminding us of their quiet yet indispensable role in the greater ecological tapestry we all share.
Butterfly Lovers is one of the most beloved and iconic violin concertos in the Chinese classical repertoire. Based on a well-known folk legend, the piece draws heavily from the plaintive and poetic melodies of Yue opera to recount the tragic love story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai—from their brotherly bond and resistance to arranged marriage, to their final transformation into butterflies. First composed in 1959 by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, the work has been adapted for many traditional Chinese instruments, including the pipa, guzheng, and erhu—testament to its lasting popularity and expressive range.
This performance adopts an arrangement for the Chinese orchestra by Yan Huichang and Ku Lap-man, and features Korean cellist Cho Hang Oh, Principal Cellist of the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra and a graduate of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. The cello’s vocal timbre adds new emotional depth to the familiar themes, especially in the transcendent final section, “Transformation into Butterflies.” As the melody rises and lightens, the music takes flight—mirroring the lovers’ ascent as butterflies, a poetic image of eternal love. The symbolism of the butterfly, woven throughout the concert, finds poignant culmination in this work.
Composed in 1979 by Hong Kong composer Doming Lam, The Insect World is an experimental suite that offers a whimsical yet philosophical portrait of insect life. Commissioned and premiered by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra under the composer’s own baton, the piece stands as a rare “symphonic poem for insects” in Chinese orchestral canon. Divided into five short movements, the work uses sonic impressionism to sketch the behaviours and environments of bees, dragonflies, silkworms, butterflies and more. Lam pushes the boundaries of traditional Chinese music by expanding its tonal language, harmonies and orchestration, drawing on an imaginative array of instrumental textures and timbral contrasts.
From the industrious buzz of bees to the delicate rhythm of silkworms spinning silk, and the carefree dance of butterflies weaving through flowers, the suite concludes with a vision of harmony and interdependence. The Insect World closes the concert with wonder and playfulness, inviting listeners to marvel at the complexity of life on even the smallest scale.
文/ 张鹤杨
本场音乐会是本地指挥家洪毅全首次以新加坡华乐团首席客席指挥身份登台亮相。他曾荣获第50届法国贝桑松国际青年指挥家比赛金奖，现任中国四川交响乐团艺术总监，是近年来活跃于国际乐坛的重要华人指挥之一。洪毅全以细腻敏锐的音乐诠释著称，亦以跨文化、跨语汇的策划视野见长。
音乐会以“昆虫世界”为题，围绕作曲家笔下形态各异的虫类意象展开，融合古典、民族与当代音乐风格。洪毅全亦特别创作《斯克里亚宾模拟曲》，在作品中融入其对昆虫生态的观察与思考。
开场曲《蝴蝶序曲》由作曲家葛甘孺创作，原为西方管弦乐作品，以小提琴独奏线条贯穿全曲，描绘蝴蝶翩然起舞、轻盈翻飞的意象，乐队部分则营造出抒情而广阔的背景，如梦如幻。作曲家早年主修小提琴，大学三年级时转入作曲专业，其对弦乐的深刻理解，使得这部作品在技术与情感表达之间达致高度统一，既富有动感，也饱含深情。
据作曲家所述，《蝴蝶序曲》是为其恩师陈钢而作，以答谢开蒙授业之恩。陈钢是中国著名作曲家与教育家，强调情感为音乐之魂，鼓励学生发展独立的音乐语言，而“蝴蝶”亦是他创作中常见的意象，象征美、爱与自由，以及“以死相争”的精神内核。此次演出为《蝴蝶序曲》华乐版本的世界首演，由新加坡华乐团委约中国作曲家罗麦朔移植改编。
《生生不息》原为交响套曲《上善蜀水》的第五乐章，作曲家杨晓忠于2025年改编为独立的华乐作品，此为新加坡首演。全曲分为四段，结构清晰，以“生命之源”“水之精灵”“百川归海”与“心的礼赞”为线索，描绘自然万物的生长与流动。作曲家借鉴藏族音乐中兼具悠远与粗犷的双重特质，运用极简的音乐素材与鲜明的节奏律动，呈现高原气息与山河广袤的意象，亦在音响上发挥华乐管弦乐丰富的层次与色彩。
《斯克里亚宾模拟曲》是洪毅全为本场音乐会全新创作的华乐作品，以俄国作曲家斯克里亚宾的《第十钢琴奏鸣曲》为灵感来源，并取其作品中“昆虫般颤动的声音”作为出发点，发展出一首融合神秘幻想与自然观察的交响诗。他特别选取膜翅目昆虫——如蜜蜂、黄蜂与蚂蚁——作为描写对象，通过音乐描绘蜂巢中各类分工有序的成员，从蜂后、护理蜂、工蜂、筑巢蜂、采蜜蜂到守卫蜂等，层层展开，勾勒出高度协作的生态结构。
作品同时融入一段来自内蒙古的田园旋律，与斯克里亚宾原作的音响世界交织呼应，呈现出一幅既奇异又庄严的自然图景。洪毅全借此向昆虫这一地球上最多样、最复杂也最容易被误解的生命群体致意，并以音乐唤起人们对生态系统中微小却不可或缺角色的敬畏与关怀。
《梁山伯与祝英台》是一部家喻户晓的小提琴协奏曲，旋律广为传唱，为中国音乐中最具代表性的爱情主题之一。作品改编自脍炙人口的民间传说，旋律取材自委婉抒情的越剧唱腔，描绘梁山伯与祝英台从结拜、抗婚到化蝶的动人历程。自1959年由何占豪与陈钢创作以来，已被改编为琵琶、古筝、二胡等多个版本，展现出极强的生命力与感染力。
此次演出阎惠昌与顾立民改编的华乐团版本，独奏由四川交响乐团首席、韩国大提琴家赵恒午担纲。他毕业于新加坡杨秀桃音乐学院，音色深沉，情感细腻。大提琴的人声质感为熟悉旋律增添新的抒情层次，尤其在“坟前化蝶”一段，旋律由低转高，轻盈舒展，如蝶翩翩起舞，象征生死之爱的升华与永恒，也与本场音乐会贯穿始终的“蝴蝶”意象遥相呼应。
《昆虫世界》由香港作曲家林乐培于1979年创作，是一部充满实验精神的组曲式作品。全曲分为五段，以音响素描手法刻画蜜蜂、蜻蜓、春蚕、蝴蝶等昆虫的形象，并以旋律描绘其中所蕴含的意境，兼具童趣与哲思。作品最早由香港中乐团委约创作，并由作曲家本人指挥首演，是华乐交响文献中少有的“虫鸣诗篇”。
林乐培在此作中尝试突破华乐在调性、和声与音色组合上的边界，结合多种器乐编制，营造丰富层次与动感变化。从蜜蜂的辛勤劳作到春蚕吐丝的细腻节奏，再到蝴蝶穿花的轻盈舞姿，最终以“昆虫世界”一段归于和谐与共生，展现出自然界微观生态中多样、活泼而有序的生命图景，也为本场音乐会划下富有童心与启发意义的句点。