LIVING THREADS / Performers(') Present / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory / Review

 

LIVING THREADS

Performers(‘) Present 2026

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

Conservatory Concert Hall

Thursday (22 October 2026)

The opening concert of the triennial Performers(‘) Present conference / festival organised by Yong Siew Toh Conservatory was an extraordinary event. It was refreshingly different, and one which included Singapore premieres of two rather unusual instrumental concertos conducted by Lien Boon Hua.

The 80-minute concert without intermission opened with the Green Tea Concerto (2021) by Japanese composer Dai Fujikura (born 1977). This 19-minute single movement concerto was originally written for traverso (baroque flute) and a small ensemble of strings and harpsichord. Eric Lamb was the excellent soloist on modern flute, with a virtuoso part that took ideas from Debussy’s Syrinx and Prelude to the Afternoon of the Fawn. 

That was just the start point for a journey of fantasy which was inspired by Fujikura’s family experience of planting and harvesting green tea. At points, the ethereal instrumental colour relived those of Toru Takemitsu’s chamber works. While strings and harpsichord (played by Chiu Pin-Hsin) spun a web of busy activity, Lamb’s flute solo remained steadfast and unfazed, symbolic of the resilience of the tea shrubs all through to the close of this exquisitely beautiful work.

There was a short 6-minute interlude by Balinese gamelan exponent Wayan Rachman on gender wayang, a one man gamelan metallophone tuned to the Pelog scale. The intricate blend of melody and counterpoint wrought by just two mallets was totally intriguing. It was little wonder how its sound so entranced composers like Debussy at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, and spawned new directions of musical composition.

Orientalism might have been the inspiration for the four-movement Piano Concerto (1983-85) by American composer Lou Harrison (1917-2003). This featured a much larger ensemble of strings, two harps, three trombones and percussion with the zaniest of piano solos helmed by Albert Tiu. This work was written for and premiered by Keith Jarrett no less, a far cry from his solo jazz musings. The music is tonal and modal, with the ensemble tuned to some antique (Kirnberger II) system, which hovered between C major and G major.

The first two movements were extended sonata movements, the first sounding a lot like Chinese music with heterophony from the accompanying instruments. Tiu obliged with resolute octaves and lots of scurrying around the scalic notes. The piece de resistance was its second movement, titled Stampede. Riot (bringing to mind the recent events in France) was more like it, with repeated crashing forearm clusters and further flourishes from octave-long cluster felt-lined board. It was for most part a pitched battle between piano and Christian Borres on drums while others fell silent.

The third movement seemed almost apologetic, its hymn-like countenance was like a prayer, easily the most beautiful moments of the concerto. The finale was short-winded, with piano accompanied by tinkling percussion for a happy and joyous (no longer riotous) close. The audience erupted with loud enthusiasm for all the performers, a sign that new music that is accessible and intelligible will always be welcomed.

LISTENING TO TAIWAN / National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

LISTENING TO TAIWAN

National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (14 October 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 October 2026 with the title "National Taiwan Symphony returns with pleasing programme including S'pore composers and musicians". 

The National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (NTSO), oldest professional orchestra of the Republic of China, conducted by Tung-Chieh Chuang returned to perform here after a hiatus of ten years. As in its previous concert, the music of Taiwanese composers was proudly showcased.

The evening opened with Ching-Shan Chang’s Echoes of Eight Decades, a sumptuously scored work that quoted Taiwanese folk melodies. Beginning slowly but gaining in pace to a joyous conclusion, its Impressionist colours were redolent of Frenchman Claude Debussy’s palate and Englishman Frederick Delius’ pastoral style.

Photo: NTSO 

Just as sensitive to ears which abhor dissonances of any kind was Tyzen Hsiao’s The Angel from Formosa, playing on the G major triad with cor anglais getting the plum solo. It's very easy 4-minute listen may be summed up in the composer’s notes to, “clear away the filthy souls in today’s society, which is filled with a lot of music that makes our mind confused and decadent”.

Photo: NTSO

Upholding a similar credo was Zechariah Goh’s Singaporean Folk Medley, lining up four songs, Ondeh Ondeh, Suriram, Kopi Susu and Jinkly Nona, sung in Malay and Kristang (the Eurasian creole) by 130 singers from the Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir (Eudenice Palaruan and Wong Lai Foon, choral directors).

Photo: NTSO

The choirs remained in the gallery for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy (Op.80). This unusual work opened with an extended and improvisatory piano solo, impeccably helmed by Albert Tiu before reveling in a set of variations with orchestral backing. The subject was an earlier song Gegen Liebe (Requited Love) which would, years later, be transformed into the Ode To Joy.

Photo: NTSO

The sung segment extolling the power of art, music and the human spirit opened with six soloists - sopranos Joyce Lee Tung and Teng Xiang Ting, mezzosoprano Maggie Lu Pei Yun (Taiwanese resident in Singapore), tenors Jonathan Charles Tay and Leslie Tay, and baritone William Lim, before the main chorus’ exultant entry to close. Piano, voices and orchestra in perfect harmony was its rallying cry.

Photo: NTSO

The main work was Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances (Op.45), which ironically presented the concert’s most dissonant music. This was his final masterpiece, a symphony in all but name, one where strife and struggle gave way to mellowness. It received a taut and cogent reading, one which also knew when to relax and luxuriate.

Photo: NTSO

Conductor Chuang expertly marshalled his forces well, the first movement’s tension ratcheted up before the alto saxophone solo altered its complexion. Even his failed First Symphony’s defiant theme was dredged up, now sounding retiring and resigned. The second movement’s waltz, with cor anglais solo, was taken very deliberately and the build up to a final scramble was perfectly judged.

Photo: NTSO

The finale, playing on the Dies Irae chant and Alliluya from his Vespers, provided a thrilling close with the applause ringing in before the tam tam’s final note had dissipated. More cheers erupted after the orchestra’s encore, Che-yi Lee’s luscious arrangement of Teng Yu-hsien’s Ban Chun Hong (Pining for the Spring Breeze).

The review in The Straits Times 

may be found here:

National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra returns to Singapore | The Straits Times

ECHOES BEYOND / Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute / Reflections by PHAN MING YEN

ECHOES BEYOND

Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute

Conservatory Concert Hall

Saturday 5 September 2026

This reflection was written by PHAN MING YEN, personal friend of the Tans, in memory of the late Mr Tan Kah Tee.

On the evening of 5th September, a concert honouring the memory of the late Tan Kah Tee was held at the Concert Hall of the Yong Siew Toh (YST) Conservatory of Music. Titled Echoes Beyond, the event was presented by the YST Orchestral Institute under its “Ones to Watch” Series. The institute’s publicity marketed the programme as one of “searching, transformation and renewal, reflecting on the enduring impact of a life well lived.” 

Photo: Faezah Zulkifli

In the first half, audiences heard the YST Orchestra under principal conductor Jason Lai in Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question and Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration. The second half began with YST Head of Piano Studies Albert Tiu and Cello Faculty member Qin Li-Wei in Harry Sdraulig’s Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Spring Waters before YST Concerto Competition 2026 Prizewinner Jiang Qifan took center stage with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.3.

Photo: Faezah Zulkifli

The titles of the works in themselves may already echo the programme, although Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.3 was more of a practical calling card to seek opportunities than one bearing any visionary message. This was the work with which the composer wrote specially for his debut in the USA, where he eventually settled — perhaps more out of necessity than choice, as he always longed for the Russia he once knew.

Photo: Sean Chew

At a pre-concert reception, YST Dean Peter Tornquist paid tribute to Tan Kah Tee’s legacy for the conservatory — a donation of three concert grand pianos and the Tan Eng Chin Scholarship. 

Alborada del coq,
inspiration for improvisation.
Photo: Mrs Catherine Tan

Photo: Sean Chew

This preceded a sharing by Tan’s widow, Mrs Catherine Tan, that was memorable for an anecdote which illustrated the depth to which music resonated in his life. One morning, when Tan was already stricken by the illness that would take his life, he still found strength to improvise on the piano, accompanying the crowing of a rooster that had wandered into their house compound. Tan, from all those who remembered him, was always there in the audience at YST concerts.

Charles Ives and Richard Strauss

As for the concert itself, a thought flashed by during the climactic moments of Death and Transfiguration and stuck in the mind for the whole evening — reinforced by the orchestra’s support in the Rachmaninoff. The YST Orchestra reminded me of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra at their best in the mid-1990s: performances delivered with raw conviction and power. It was the kind of conviction that made you want to revisit music you once knew or made you curious about music you were hearing for the first time.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

The wistful mood set by Tiu and Qin in the two cello-piano duos after intermission set the stage for the epic that is Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto — famously once described as a work of quicksilver mood shifts that ran the gamut of all human emotions.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Jiang Qifan’s high-spirited drive through of the third movement of the Rachmaninoff and his encore of Rachmaninoff’s Polka de W.R was enthusiastically received by the audience comprising guests and the public. The concert was part of the conservatory’s “Ones to Watch” Series, and the evening certainly piqued one’s curiosity about who to listen out for next.

The concerto was performed on the
Fazioli grand piano donated by Tan Kah Tee.
Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Photo: Phan Ming Yen

The writer wishes to thank Dr Kevin YL Tan for valuable suggestions.

Post concert photos:

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

SSO NATIONAL DAY CONCERT 2026 / FROM MY LIFE / Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lynnette Seah & Friends / Review

 

NATIONAL DAY CONCERT 2026

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (15 August 2026)

FROM MY LIFE

Lynnette Seah (Violin) & Friends

Esplanade Recital Studio

Wednesday (19 August 2026)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 20 August 2026 with the title "Home-grown talent command stage at SSO National Day Concert & Lynnette Seah solo".

Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s annual National Day Concert has over the years become a true showcase of Singaporean composing talent. Led by Lien Boon Hua, its latest edition included five world premieres in an exceptionally well-balanced programme of original music

Low Peng Guan’s A Singapore Suite opened the show, a short overture taking listeners on a musical tour of Gardens By The Bay, Chinatown, Little India and Singapore River, skillfully blending orchestral colour and imagery with ethnic musical styles.

Sulwyn Lok’s Three Dancers, a double concerto for guitar and zhongruan, united Kevin Loh and Jonathan Ngeow from different musical traditions in a happy marriage of plucked strings. Both soloists traded solo and accompaniment roles in a virtuosic work that contrasted meditative movements with throes of ecstasy.

Wong Cheow Cai’s The Plains: Echoes, celebrating the Padang’s legacy, struck more serious notes with stirring string-writing, punctuated by percussion and Pan Yun’s plaintive oboe solo. Eruption of tense music, depicting cruel years of Japanese Occupation, eventually gave way to a calm but guarded close, with Singapore’s realisation of independence.

Kelly Tang’s Three Symphonic Movements retold different periods of Singapore history with projected images from the National Archives. A busy freeport established by Stamford Raffles was edgily described in Colony, while an idyllic Legend spun apocryphal stories of Sang Nila Utama and the founding of Temasek. Finally, a vibrant Metropolis closed the suite on an optimistic high.

Cultural Medallion recipient Edwin Thumboo’s poem Renovation was the inspiration for Germaine Goh’s Five Beginnings, its verses sung by singer-songwriter Linying with a vocoder, which augmented lines with added harmonies. This beautifully euphonious mini cantata deserves many listens.

The evening closed with The Republic, melodious finale from Singapore – Symphonic Suite by Tsao Chieh (1953-1996), late composer, engineer, defence scientist and local Internet pioneer. His clever polyphonic working of Xiao Bai Chuan, Rasa Sayang and the appearance of Majulah Singapura at its close still raises goosebumps like its 1986 Singapore Arts Festival premiere.

A performance of the National Anthem.

Photographic evidence I was at the concert.

Speaking of national treasures, Cultural Medallion recipient Lynnette Seah gave her first solo concert since retiring as SSO co-leader seven years ago. In a very demanding programme of classical and jazz works, she showed the chops that defined her illustrious career of four decades.

In Cesar Franck’s Violin Sonata in A major, a sweet but resolute tone held sway, alternating lyricism with passion through its four movements. The finale’s canon has one of classical music’s best melodies, milked for all its worth with pianist Albert Tiu who had the more technically difficult part.

They were joined by SSO principal horn Austin Larson for a second performance of Johannes Brahms’ Horn Trio in E flat major (Op.40) heard in Singapore within eleven days. Larson reprised his virtuoso role with absolute aplomb, and the very busy threesome showed what give-and-take in chamber music was about.

The other classical works, also accompanied by Tiu, included Joachim Raff’s heartrending Cavatina and the premiere of young local composer Ong Lin Wei’s With Love, a melodious outpouring with a gospel vibe about it.

Jazz legend Jeremy Monteiro took over the keyboard for the rest of the show. Jazz singer Alemay Fernandez alternated melodies with Seah in Germaine Goh’s arrangement of Irish tune Londonderry Air (Danny Boy). SSO principal cellist Ng Pei-Sian and drummer Hong Chanutr Techatananan made a foursome for Monteiro’s romantic Soul Mates and virile train piece From Paris to Segré.

That the Who’s Who of Singapore’s classical and jazz spheres all joined hands in tribute to Lynnette Seah speaks volumes of their great esteem for her.