RHAPSODIES OF SPRING 2026 / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

 

RHAPSODIES OF SPRING 2026

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (31 January 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 February 2026 with the title "Singapore Chinese Orchestra kicks off festive celebrations with crowd-pleasing fare".

In typical festive style, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra led by principal conductor Quek Ling Kiong pulled out all the stops for its annual Chinese New Year concert. Quite predictably, Li Huanzhi’s very popular Spring Festival Overture in Sim Boon Yew’s orchestration opened the evening, its celebratory strains never failing to rouse the spirits.

Conductor Quek Ling Kiong
with emcees Yixin & Qi Qi.

What came after that was deliberately scripted, with the Singapore premiere of Liu Chang’s Vires (Huan Ge), a yangqin concerto with SCO member Ma Huan as soloist. Given the coming Year of the Horse (Ma in Chinese), it seemed only apt to cast her (her name is literally “horse happiness”) in the leading role and she did not disappoint.

The work was a rhapsody on Guangxi folk song Rowing and Drifting, beginning serenely before a wallow of melting lyricism. As these virtuoso works go, contemplation eventually gives way to dance and a show of scintillating prestidigitation.

A show of the orchestra’s prowess came in Gu Guanren’s Spring Suite, five picture postcard views of the arriving season in the far reaches of China. A dizi solo distinguished Azalea Blooms, while a woodblock provided the rapid-fire hoofbeats for Sturdy Steeds Gallop.

The mimicry of bird song greeted Early Spring at Miaoling, while cinematic colour depicted broad vistas of Lush Green Meadows and Rivers. Finally, an infectiously vibrant Central Asian dance melody brought Grand Festival at Tianshan to a raucous close.

The second concertante work featured Zhang Shuo on guanzi in Kuan Nai-Chung’s Clouds from The Carefree Journey, a work of philosophical inspiration. Its plaintive quality, with a timbral quality resembling a saxophone, provided the short movement based on a shepherd’s song with precious moments for quiet introspection.

This sold-out concert showcased two world premieres, the first being Li Nixia’s Thousands of Galloping Horses which despite its title had its fair share of slow music. Dissonance from bowed strings and percussion waiting to be stirred made the anticipation of action all the more acute. Then it was time to completely broke loose, the ultimate musical representation of a stampede with steeds headed on a war path.

The other first performance was A Meteor Across Time, a skit with music by Sulwyn Lok, scripted by Boris Boo and directed by Judy Ngo, featuring nine disc jockeys (yet another equine reference) from Mediacorp’s Capital 958 Chinese radio station. The comedy involved a time warp with two men swapping positions and getting into scraps in the Qin dynasty and present day.

Popular trending subjects like health products in aid of longevity, social influencers, sales targets and couples delaying to tie the knot were brought up amid quickfire dialogue and dizzying changes in plot.

Needless to say, all’s well that ends well in the story. Finally, the entire cast united to sing and clap out Tan Kah Yong’s arrangement of that ubiquitous and inescapable Lunar New Year earworm: Chen Gexin’s Gongxi Gongxi.