SEAN GAN Piano Recital / HELP SEAN FULFILL HIS JUILLIARD DREAM!

SEAN GAN Piano Recital

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory 

Steven Baxter Recital Studio

Monday (29 May 2023)

 

Getting accepted to study at New York City’s Juilliard School of Music is a rare honour, and just a handful or so of Singapore / Malaysian musicians have had that privilege. Pianists Margaret Leng Tan, Nicholas Ong, Nellie Seng and Tengku Irfan, organist Phoon Yu, violinist Loh Jun Hong, conductor Joshua Tan and composer Koh Cheng Jin are among them, a goodly bunch spread over some decades. The opportunity, however, entails a financial burden so onerous that scholarships barely cover, thus crowd-funding becomes necessary. For the talented young Malaysian pianist Sean Gan, native of Seremban (Negri Sembilan), dreams become a reality only when bills are paid.

 

A joint 1^st prize winner of the Artist Category of the National Piano & Violin Competition in 2019, Sean’s unusually adventurous recital opened with Nikolai Medtner’s rarely performed Sonata-Skazka in C minor (Op.25 No.1). Medtner’s music does not reveal its secrets as readily as his contemporaries Rachmaninov or Scriabin, but Sean did well to bring out its themes, typically an elusive melody that gradually reveals itself on the left hand, accompanied by right hand filigree. Syncopations and triplet figurations, especially in the first and third movements, often complicate manners but he mastered these well, as with the slow central movement’s lush lyricism leading to its rapturous climax. More importantly, the fantastic and whimsical spirit of skazki (fairy tales or legends) was upheld through its absorbing ten minutes-or-so.  

 

Here is a video of an earlier performance of the Medtner:

(1) Nikolai Medtner - Sonata-Skazka, Op. 25 No. 1 in C Minor - YouTube

 

Completely different was Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Second Sonata (1970) which carried the evocative title Fire Sermon. Seldom has coruscating violence (Bartok and Ginastera come to mind) and reassuring calm been so convincingly juxtaposed, and Sean revelled in its long-held resonances with well-placed chords and splashy tone clusters, where palms and forearms gratuitously obliged. Very good control of the sustaining pedal ensured the music shifted seamlessly between these extremes.

 

Completing the recital was Chopin’s Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante (Op.22), the only familiar work on the programme. Fortunately, familiarity did not usher in contempt, as the nocturne-like opening basked in lovely cantabile, and the concluding Polish dance of nobility romped home with authority and digital brilliance. Also from the Romantic era was Sean’s encore of Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No.12, or Chasse-Neige (Snow Flurries). Going beyond mere notes, this performance showed what the music was about, world weariness foretelling a tragedy to come.

 

You can sample more of Sean’s artistry in these Youtube videos:

J.S.Bach:

Sean Gan - Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition 2021 (Artist Round 1, 27th Nov) - YouTube 

Tan Yuting / Busoni / Ravel / Chopin: 

Sean Gan - Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition 2021 (Artist Round 2, 30th Nov) - YouTube 

Chopin Piano Concerto No.2:

Sean Gan - Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition 2021 (Artist Finals, 3rd Dec) - YouTube 

 

Help Sean realise his Juilliard dreams by contributing here:

SimplyGiving: Online Fundraising & Crowdfunding Across Asia 

SIMFONI KERONCONG NUSANTARA / Orkestra Melayu Singapura / Review

SIMFONI KERONCONG NUSANTARA

Orkestra Melayu Singapura

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (19 May 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 May 2023 with the title "Orkestra Melayu Singapura's night of keroncong tunes was music to the ears." 

 

Part of Pesta Raya 2023, Esplanade’s Malay festival of arts, Simfoni Keroncong Nusantara was a veritable showcase of keroncong, a popular musical artform unique to the Malay Archipelago. The name keroncong is onomatopoeic, derived from the strumming sounds of a ukulele-like instrument that originally accompanied its earliest singers.

 

Keroncong’s origins date from 16^th century Java when freed Portuguese slaves or Mardijkers intermarried with locals, creating this art of singing which shares spiritual and inspirational links with Portuguese Fado music. Its history was briefly dealt with at the beginning of the concert by Indonesian singer Andre Michiels, himself a Mardijker descendent, and his trusty ukulele.   

 

Led by conductor Amri Amin, Orkestra Melayu Singapura (OMS) on this evening comprised mostly Western instruments (violins, cellos, bass, ukulele, guitar, piano and assorted winds including flutes and horns) and percussion with drum-set. Accompanying singers from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the keroncong numbers ranged from insouciant crooning to full-power vocals.

 

Common to these songs was a sense of melancholy, with reflection and introspection overshadowing outright joy and exultation. Providing a diversion was a virtuoso solo role for Indonesian violinist Liliek Jasqee, whose Stephane Grappelli-like improvisations were an added delight. Presenting completely in Malay, both hosts, jazz singer Rudy Djoe and television personality Marina Yusoff, were an amiable and engaging presence throughout.

 

OMS had its own trio of young singers, Hafiz, Sheera and Umairah, who starred in Keroncong Tiga Kota, a song that celebrated the three cities of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Of the invited singers, both Singaporean Suryana Norddin and Malaysian Jamilah Abu Bakar impressed in their songs, including the former in Sayang Di Sayang (made famous by the late “Queen of Keroncong” Kartina Dahari) and Jampi; the latter in Alunan Biola and the feline-inspired Aksi Kucing, complete with vocalised mews from both orchestra and audience.

Suryana Norddin

Jamilah Abu Bakar

Keroncong veterans also had a field day. Malaysian Dato Yusni Hamid, despite being in her seventies, rolled back the years in her signature song Kau Yang Ku Nanti. Eddy Ali flexed his mellow vocal apparatus for Nasib Malang and Bunga Melor, but the loudest cheers were reserved for heavily silver-sequined Emilia Contessa, whose deeply resounding alto voice, once heard, is unlikely to be forgotten.

 

Dato Yusni Hamid

Eddy Ali

Emilia Contessa

Her songs included a medley from Akhir Sebuah Impian (the tragic 1973 Indonesian movie she starred in as a mere teenager), Anggin November, and Setangkai Anggerek, a duet with the overmatched Eddy Ali. Nothing she sang was not deeply felt, and that is star quality indeed.

 

The concert without intermission had overshot its 90 minutes by another 50, but as it was getting better with each song, nobody were leaving their seats. It had to end sometime, doing so with the soloists returning with the evergreen Bengawan Solo, and possibly the favourite Malay song of all time, Rasa Sayang. The spontaneous standing ovation said it all, as the allure of keroncong is not diminishing anytime soon. 

SLO ADULT CHORUS IN CONCERT / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

SLO ADULT CHORUS IN CONCERT

Singapore Lyric Opera Chorus

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (14 May 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 May 2023 with the title "SLO Chorus concert offers mixed bag of operatic treats".

 

One underrated aspect of opera performance is the role of the chorus. Much of the atmosphere and spirit of an opera production is missing if the chorus is absent. Serving to comment on onstage happenings and to stir up audience engagement, what would Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Aida or Puccini’s Turandot be without the chorus?

 

The Singapore Lyric Opera Chorus has had a storied history since the company’s earliest days, and is still peopled by talented amateur singers, whose love for music (and acting) surpasses all other considerations. Led by conductor Terrence Toh and accompanied by pianist Dale Huang, the 30-strong SLO Adult Chorus performed excerpts from three operas featured in its 2022-2023 seasons.

Photo: Lee Zhi Yu

 

Its members sauntered in with an air of informality. Waving at the audience, one knew this was not going to be too serious an affair. Champagne was uncorked with choruses from Johann Strauss The Younger’s popular operetta Die Fledermaus, including Ein Souper Heut Uns Winkt (A Supper Beckons Us Today) and Im Feuerstrom Der Reben (In The Firestorm From The Vines), which were delightful. Bruderlein Und Schwesterlein (Little Brothers And Sisters) and the intoxicating finale, O Fledermaus, were included later, and it would have been nicer had the chorus sung these from memory.

Photo: Lee Zhi Yu

 

The audience also had a foretaste of Pietro Mascagni’s verismo opera Cavalleria Rusticana, set for November, with Gli Aranci Ollezano (The Scent Of Oranges) and A Casa, A Casa (Let Us Go Homewards), a carefree evocation of peasant life during Easter. Despite its relatively small size, the chorus projected well, and captured much of the music’s spirit.      

 

Opportunities were afforded to no less than 19 singers in a series of arias, duets and ensembles, distending the concert to about 140 minutes. The solos were wildly variable, from bathroom singers to those more than competent, but from these, one exceptional voice stood out.

Photo: Lee Zhi Yu

 

However, one wondered what possessed a soprano to attempt Puccini’s Nessun Dorma (Turandot), which usually taxes the best of tenors. Another bravely scaled the heights of Bellini’s Casta Diva (Norma), wobbled perilously and blotted fond memories of Diana Damrau’s fine account just a week before.      

 

Some singers were born to act. Zoey Li’s account of Purcell’s When I Am Laid In Earth (Dido And Aeneas) was so believable one knew she was going to hang herself, while bass Hugo Van Bever’s over-the-top role in Rossini’s La Calumnia (The Barber Of Seville) was pure theatrical buffo.

 

Tenor Dennis Lin in Jules Massenet’s Pourquoi Me Reveiller (Werther) was the portrait of angst and vulnerability. Stealing the show by a country mile, however, was Fumiko Ogasawara in Bizet’s Micaela’s Air (Carmen), with singing and acting that were exemplary on both counts. She could easily walk into the main casts of any of company’s productions.

 

Closing the show was the rousing Bell Chorus from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, also scheduled for November. As a showcase and campaign to recruit new members, the revitalised SLO Chorus could not have done a better job.

IMPOSSIBLE THINGS / Wayfarer Sinfonietta / Review

IMPOSSIBLE THINGS

Wayfarer Sinfonietta

Esplanade Annexe Studio

Thursday (11 May 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 May 2023 with the title "Wayfarer Sinfonietta plays contemporary fare with flair."

 

Established in 2021, Wayfarer Sinfonietta is a professional chamber group that specialises in performing contemporary music and accompanying singers, led by prize-winning young conductor Lien Boon Hua, who is also the director of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s new music ensemble OpusNovus. Its latest concert for string ensemble was as uncompromisingly edgy as it was original, putting a marker on future programmes to come.

Photo: Moonrise Studio

 

Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Illumine (2016) exploited all possibilities of string playing, opening the evening with literally a chill. Its skilful use of tremolos, harmonics, slides and explosive pizzicatos generated an unnerving atmosphere. Although one of calm and stasis, it however radiated a strange warmth. The sonorities generated in the blackbox theatre was not unlike the sun casting rays on a frigid Arctic landscape.   

Photo: Moonrise Studio

 

What followed was far more tonal, with American composer Nico Muhly’s three-part song cycle Impossible Things (2009), a setting of six poems by Egypt-born Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (or C.P.Cavafy), translated into English and scored for voice, solo violin and strings. Tenor David Charles Tay was the protagonist, opening with I Believe In The Hereafter. This and each of the subsequent verses translocated the listener to some distinct time and place.

 

His clear diction was complemented by Chan Yoong-Han’s virtuosic violin, serving as partner in commentary as well as conflicting voice. The final part, dated at precisely 27 June 1906,  2 p.m., could not have more diverse subjects, the brutal execution of a teenager followed by the eponymous Impossible Things. Accompanied by repetitious patterns favoured by minimalists, the words “The loveliest music is the one that cannot be played... the best life is the one that cannot be lived.” had a ringing resonance.

Photo: Moonrise Studio

 

After Tay trooped offstage, Chan continued without a break into Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Nocturne (1994) for solo violin with its grinding dissonances and fiendishly tricky passages. This was a brief return to the desolate and wintry climes that opened the concert, before massed strings erupted into perhaps the programme’s only remotely familiar work, American minimalist John Adams’ Shaker Loops (1978).

If there were any preconceptions that this ensemble was merely a pick-up group of free-lancers, this performance shattered all such illusions. A work demanding such immense precision and incisiveness, playing at neck-breaking pace, could only be accomplished by the best in the land. Scanning faces and names of the players, one found Singapore Symphony Orchestra musicians and competition award-winners among them, and why not?

Look who's playing?
Ng Pei-Sian, Joelle Hsu,
Olivia Chuang & Wang Dandan (from L)
Photo: Moonrise Studio

 

What minimalism looks like,
a view of violinist Chikako Sasaki's score.

The challenge of playing difficult music and surmounting all kinds of odds are what sets true professionals apart. There was a visceral thrill in witnessing the incessant buzz, rapidly shifting rhythms and tonalities of the opening movement Shaking And Trembling. The  middle movements were an epiphany of control and restrain, with no less attention paid to finer details. Closing with more dynamism in A Final Shaking and a surprisingly quiet final bar, the 70-minute-long concert was greeted by nothing less than tumultuous applause.

KINGS & QUEENS OF OPERA / Diana Damrau, Nicolas Teste & Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

KINGS & QUEENS OF OPERA

Diana Damrau (Soprano) 

& Nicolas Testé (Bass)

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (5 May 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 May 2023 with the title "Soprano Diana Damrau dazzles with technical prowess and emotional depth".

 

Opera singing is not just about beautiful voices and pretty faces, but much more than that. It involves the faithful and vivid transcendance of personal experiences, and those of legends and fictional characters, to relatable personalities onstage. Dramatic feeling and good acting play big parts but great opera singers possess qualities that draw listeners into innermost thoughts and secrets, making them feel totally involved.   

 

German soprano Diana Damrau is blessed with that X-factor, and her return to Singapore’s stage after a magnificent 2017 showing could not have been more welcome. The same forces that spelt success also came with her, including husband, French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé, and Bulgarian conductor Pavel Baleff, who led the Singapore Symphony from the podium.

 

This year’s programme, themed around royal subjects, was less popularist than the last. Focused on Italian bel canto and 19^th century French opera traditions, nothing was more apt than Damrau opening with Bel Raggio Lusinghier (Alluring Ray Of Light) from Rossini’s Semiramide. Her command and control of tricky running notes seemed effortless, with thrilling flights in high registers negotiated with stunning aplomb.   

 

More importantly was her expression of joy and love, with lyricism and theatricality indelibly captured in a perfect aria that belied the opera’s convoluted and violent narrative. This queen would later be slayed by her lover, who turned out to be her “long-lost” son. More pathos was mined in the Cavatine and Aria from Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, where another queen pondered last moments before her impending execution. Damrau’s portrayal of anguish amid vertiginous highs passages was palpable and real.  

 

One absolute rarity was the Prayer, Veliki Bozhe, Chui Moiata Molba (Great Lord, Hear My Prayer), from 20^th century Bulgarian composer Parashkev Hadjiev’s Maria Desislava. Another queen is betrothed to marry a king she neither knows nor loves, and her beautifully seamless lines reflected both solemnity and deep contemplation.  

 

Damrau’s partner-in-life Testé also had moments in the spotlight. His richly burnished and stentorian voice shone in portrayals of Claudius (Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet), Solomon (Charles Gounod’s  Queen Of Sheba), Don Carlo (Verdi’s opera of the same title) and Prince Gremin (Tchaikovsky’s  Eugene Onegin), demonstrating that his was no undercard act.

 

As there are not so many famous duets for soprano and bass (as opposed to the more glamourous soprano-tenor tandem), the audience had to be satisfied with just one. Donizetti’s Recitative & Duet from Maria Stuarda, Oh Mio Buon Talbot! (Oh My Faithful Talbot!), proved the evening’s highlight, as Damrau’s ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots found solace and peace in the comforting arms of Testé’s Talbot, her keeper.

 

Opening each set of arias were well-selected orchestral overtures and excerpts from stage composers including Rossini, Adolphe Adam, Leo Delibes, Vincenzo Bellini and Tchaikovsky. The relative unfamiliarity of these, wholly compatible with sung numbers, provided an added allure.

 

There had to be one absolute showstopper, and Damrau got the final word in Casta Diva from Bellini’s Norma. Has there been a more powerfully emotive aria than this in all of opera? Smoothness and suppleness of delivery were the rule, and despite two well-received encores, one suspects this to be the most abiding memory of an unforgettable evening of opera.