NATIONAL PIANO & VIOLIN COMPETITION 2019 / Artist Finals / Review

NATIONAL PIANO & 
VIOLIN COMPETITION 2019:
ARTIST FINALS
Victoria Concert Hall
Saturday & Sunday (7 & 8 December 2019)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 December 2019 with the title "Six musicians, six concertos in the finals".

The biennial National Piano & Violin Competition (NPVC) is Singapore’s highest platform for finding talent in the two most popular Western classical instruments played here. The competition has been run by the Singapore Symphony Group since 2017, and continues to deliver high standards in its four age categories.

The Finals of the Artist Category (young professionals and tertiary-level students) culminated in performances of six concertos with the NPVC Orchestra. This ensemble was essentially a pared-down Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by British conductor Peter Stark, Principal Guest Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.  

Saturday evening belonged to the piano, opening with Zheng Mingen (China, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory) in Chopin’s First Piano Concerto. Hers were a totally confident showing, filled with virtuosic flair in outer movements and arch-lyricism in the slow central Romanze which served as a nocturne-like interlude. There was much to admire this eloquent and passionate performance that wore its 40-minute duration well.

Tew Jing Jong (Malaysia, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) gave a crisply articulated account of Beethoven’s diminutive Second Piano Concerto, one which fully understood classical proportions yet strained to break free of its constraints. Emblematic of music’s transition into the Romantic era, his reading exuded and balanced silky elegance and muscular grit to just the right degree.       

Seth Tan Xun Yu (Singapore, YST Conservatory) was up to the big-boned challenges of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. He projected sound and song well, but suffered a memory lapse in the slow movement, becoming a bundle of nerves after that. Despite rallying valiantly for the mercurial finale, there was a touch of hit and miss overall. Tew was deservedly awarded the 1st prize by the international jury, while Zheng and Tan placed 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The Violin Artist Final took place on Sunday afternoon, when there were two very different performances of Tchaikovsky’s warhorse Violin Concerto, reflecting the soloists’ very different personalities. Lau Joey (Singapore, YST Conservatory) took a more visceral approach, with an impetus on the Russian’s music to dance and make merry. Her tone was also rich and voluminous. Animated and free-spirited, this also entailed a real sense of risk-taking.

By comparison, Yuchen Zhang (China, YST Conservatory) who followed reflected more on the music’s  cerebral qualities. His playing could be exciting at times, but it was discipline and decorum that that seemed paramount. If Lau is the more arresting soloist heard live, Zhang would be a safer bet in a recording studio.

No 1st prize was awarded in this category. Zhang won 2^nd place, while Lau shared 3rd with Tan Mun Hon, who performed Wieniawski’s Second Violin Concerto with much spirit and lyricism. That Tan is only 14, attending Tanjong Katong Secondary School and having lessons privately, is remarkable in itself. Big futures await all six young musicians, and this competition is merely a tool to identify and hopefully nurture them well.

SSO Artistic Director Hans Sorensen with members of 

the international jury (from L):

Tianwa Yang, Kam Ning, Foo Mei Yi, Uta Weyand,

Alexey Lebedev & Sasha Rozhdestvensky.

All the prizewinners together.