YONG SIEW TOH CONSERVATORY CONCERTO COMPETITION: SINGAPORE'S BEST-KEPT SECRET

 

YONG SIEW TOH CONSERVATORY’S 

CONCERTO COMPETITION: 

SINGAPORE’S BEST-KEPT SECRET 

Saturday (15 March 2025), 6 pm

Everybody knows where the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory is, and how its students and faculty regularly serve up top quality performances, yet one of its best-kept secrets is its annual concerto competition. In an institution that consistently produces the soloists who shine in concerts, this annual event is de rigeuer in finding the top soloists of tomorrow. I had the rare opportunity of attending one of this year’s concerto competition evenings and had a real treat. 

Over two evenings, ten young soloists (representing the best in high strings, low strings, piano, woodwinds and brass, and voice) displayed their prowess in ten repertoire works. And it was free to attend. I had missed the first evening (which included Liszt and Brahms piano concertos, a Prokofiev violin concerto, a Scandinavian brass concerto and Samuel Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915) so I was determined not to miss the second. And I was not disappointed. 

The audience was small but enthusiastic and attentive, willing to share in whatever that gets served up. How often does one get to hear a rarity as Wolfgang Erich Korngold’s single movement Cello Concerto? It will never get as popular as his Violin Concerto but soloist Chen Pei-Yi (with Liu Jia on piano) does a very good job, lapping up its lyrical lines with relish while negotiating its knotty counterpoint (who doesn’t fancy yet another fugato?) very capably. Hers was a very confident reading and now let’s hear it with orchestra for real the next time around. 

Another rarity for concertgoers is Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concert, a more austere work with a really quirky opening theme, almost an earworm. Chua Jay Roon’s performance was arguably even more impressive as she coped very well with its manifold twists and turns, never missing a beat, and making the cadenzas sound like child’s play. Another good reason was to witness pianist Clarisse Teo virtuosically substitute for the orchestral part, and the twosome handled the thorny bits (there were many in its four movements played as one continuous run) with great aplomb. Looking forward to witness the orchestral version sometime soon. 

Did I mention that every soloist performed their parts wholly from memory? That’s the lot of young professional musicians these days – they must know alltheir music by heart, and with no fumbling around with scores. The rest of the concert was on more familiar ground, beginning with Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, which received a sumptuous if not revelatory reading from cellist Liu You-Yu with Liu Jia on piano. She has a good feel for its Romantic impulses, and ardour was well captured in many lyrical lines, and when it came to the more virtuosic variations, her technique held up and she delivered with aplomb. A very satisfying reading all around. 

The only vocalist this evening was soprano Zhou Wenyue (with pianist Choi Hye-Sion) in Mozart’s popular motet Exsultate Jubilate. The famous part is the Alleluia at its end but the aria and recitative that came before it was well worth hearing too. Her clear articulation of the words was admirable, even if her runs were not always immaculate. There were no extraneous gestures or hand movements, just her voice and no other distractions, and when it came to the final Alleluia, she was confident and made the best case possible. 

After a short intermission, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto was the longest work on show. Over-familiarity has tainted this masterpiece, but Syu Cheng-Yi (with pianist Ge Xiaozhe) tried his best to keep it fresh. His technique had held up for most part, with the particularly treacherous first movement cadenza well handled. The most memorable part was in the Canzonetta in G minor, the slow movement’s melancholic mood very well judged, before leading into the Allegro vivacissimo finale where all stops were pulled, providing a riproaring close to the concert. With a few tweaks here and there, and he will be ready to take part in this year’s National Violin Competition. 

It was an enjoyable show all around judged by a panel of three international jurists, and if compelled to pick a performance I would like to hear again with an orchestra, that would be the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto with Chua Jay Roon doing the honours. Came later this year or next, my wish might just come true.

Encore, please!

TOUCH 2024 / National University of Singapore Piano Ensemble / Review

 

TOUCH 2024 

National University of Singapore 

Piano Ensemble (NUSPE) 

Esplanade Recital Studio 

Monday (8 April 2024) 

One of my favourite activities as an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore during the mid to late 1980s was to escape to the Centre for Musical Activities (now Centre for the Arts, or CFA), where I sampled records in its LP collection, attended music talks and occasional concerts. 

The Centre for Musical Activities (CMA) then,
now the Centre for the Arts (CFA) Studios.

A particular concert which caught my interest was the one by the Piano Ensemble (NUSPE), where one got to enjoy piano repertoire performed by fellow students. The overall standard was mostly middling to pretty good, not much to write home about, but sharing with them a common interest in piano playing was a wholesome hobby, and that was enough for me. 

Imagine my pleasure to be invited to the annual NUSPE concert, titled Touch 2024, to find that the world of amateur piano pursuits has completely evolved. This recital involved 28 young pianists, performing on two pianos 14 works most of which may rightly be called rarities. 

There was absolutely nothing by Rachmaninov, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert or Schumann. The very interesting repertoire may instead be classified under three unusually distinct categories: works by woman composers, works from the Americas, and works from the present / former Communist bloc. 

Am I in Husum (another word for piano heaven)? No, its just the Esplanade Recital Studio but piano rarities are in the air. And performed at a very high level. 12 of the 14 duos accomplished the onerous task of playing completely from memory some very technically difficult music, and there were no performance which were indifferent or half-baked. Everyone was well prepared and out there having a good time. 

What were the works performed? For starters, the woman composers were Mel Bonis (Scherzo Op.40), Amy Beach (Old Time Peasant Dance from Suite Founded Upon Irish Tunes), Cecile Chaminade (Intermede, Op.36 No.1) and Germaine Tailleferre (Jeux de plein air or Outdoor Games). 

Koh Xin Ruo & Samantha Kuek
playing Mel Bonis

Sugimoto Takami & Lim Cheng An
go to the Beach.

Let it never be said that women are lesser or inferior to men. These pieces represent wonderful music, well-crafted and full of charm, totally enjoyable within the hands of Koh Qin Ruo and Samantha Kuek (Bonis), Sugimoto Takami and Lim Cheng An (Beach), Shen Congzhe and Zhao Zijie (Chaminade), and Ng Jing Ting and Liew Xin Yi (Tailleferre). Of these, the two varied movements of Tailleferre (the only lady member of Les Six) left the strongest impression. 

Shen Congzhe & Zhao Zijie
charmed in Chaminade.

Ng Jing Ting & Liew Xin Yi
made the strongest impression with Tailleferre.

Hoang Manh Duc & Zhang Ming
entertained with Piazzolla.

From the Americas came perhaps the two most familiar pieces, Astor Piazzolla’s Adios Nonino, a tango dedicated in memory of his father played with flair by Hoang Manh Duc and Zhang Ming, and most entertaining of all, William Bolcom’s ragtime fantasy The Serpent’s Kiss (from The Garden of Eden), complete with foot-stomping, rapping of piano wood and audible tongue clicking from He Yuxin and Zhang Ziye. 

He Yuxin & Zhang Ziye
had a great time with Bolcom.

Kelly Amanda & Zheng Yilin
in more rhythmic Copland.

Aaron Copland’s Danza de Jalisco (from Latin American Sketches) from Kelly Amanda and Zheng Yilin was a engaging first cousin of his more extended El Salon Mexico. 

Chua Zi Tao speaks about his new work.

Chua Zi Tao & Phua Guan Wei
give a world premiere.

The sole local work was the World Premiere of young composer Chua Zi Tao’s A Musical Box from a Distant Land, which he cheekily referred to as “the quietest piece in the whole concert”. Performed by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory undergraduate himself and Phua Guan Wei, the work was an oasis of static stillness, with soft chords and birdsong permeating the air, a refreshing breath of fresh air away from the hustle-bustle of keyboard pyrotechnics. 

Gwendolyn Heng & Wu Ziye
opened the evening with Khachaturian

Verrin Bo & Celine Tan
with Arutiunian & Babadjanian's
Armenian Rhapsody

From the former and present Communist / Soviet bloc nations were Armenian Aram Khachaturian’s Fantastic Waltz (elegantly played by Gwendolyn Heng and Wu Ziye), the jointly-composed Armenian Rhapsody by Alexander Arutiunian and Arno Babadjanian, with each composer separately writing the primo and secondo parts. Verrin Bo and Celine Tan gave one of the evening’s most convincing performances. 

Lai Ruo Yan & See Xian Hui
go to Vietnam!

From Vietnam came the Singapore premiere of Dang Huu Phuc’s Con Ga Rung (Wild Chicken) and Trong Com (Rice Drums) from Lai Ruo Yan and See Xian Hui, two short pieces that delighted in ostinato rhythms and pentatonic melodies. Imagine Bartok in Saigon, and one gets the picture. 

Mao Huanqing & Zhao Yushan
commune with Kabalevsky.

Chua Zhan Au & Joshua Ngeow
Defending the Yellow River.

The former Soviet Union saw Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Youth Concerto, a pleasing Socialist Realist potboiler. The first movement has sappy tunes but was well-played by Mao Huanqing and Zhao Yushan. In a similar vein was the populist finale Defend the Yellow River from the China Central Philharmonic Committee’s infamous Yellow River Concerto. Shamelessly jingoistic and copying from Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Grieg, and throwing in The East Is Red for good measure, a suitably bravura account was afforded by Chua Zhan Au and Joshua Ngeow, which closed the evening on a flag-waving high. 

The late Nikolai Kapustin will be pleased
his music's being played in Singapore.

Best performance of all!
Tan Chong Ren & Ma Yuchen in Kapustin.

Wait! Stop press! I have not even mentioned the best performance of the evening. That had to be Tan Chong Ren and Ma Yuchen’s no holds barred recital of Nikolai Kapustin’s Fourth Piano Concerto, which has to be a Singapore premiere. Scored in jazz and popular dance idioms, this freewheeling work received as rhythmically vibrant and unbuttoned reading as could be hoped for. That the duo mastered this completely from memory was just a staggering thought. 

If anyone had said these pianists (and the other 26 for that matter) were Conservatory students, I would have been none the wiser. A hearty molto bravissimi to all! 

N.B. The NUS Piano Ensemble is now tutored by Dr Choi Hye-Seon, vocal coach / accompanist at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.

We're not gangsters.
We're from NUS!

The nice professionally taken photos were by Marcus Soh Zheng Yang. The others, you can lay the blame on Pianomaniac. 

Photographs from SUMI JO's MASTERCLASS

It was rare fortune to be able to catch the brilliant Korean soprano Sumi Jo in a masterclass at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory on Wednesday 19 February 2013. Within two rather short hours, four students sang for her, and a large audience was present to lap up what the famous coloratura diva had to share.

Unlike a lot of masterclasses where the teacher mostly mumbles to himself or herself, Sumi Jo was larger-than-life, just like the roles she portrays on stage. She got herself involved for every minute and was all ears. She even sat in the audience to hear how one of the young singers projected herself. All of the students were technically proficient, so Jo spent time to show how they could further express themselves. She sang along at times (even those snatches of song sounded celestial), and also played on the piano, partly to demonstrate each singer's range.

The audience lapped up her jokes and witticisms, and there was never a dull moment as time passed ever so quickly. Her final exhortation was that everyone was talented, but one needed to work hard at it. The ultimate aim of it all was to "make the world a better place through music."  What a goddess indeed!
  

Mezzo-soprano Tan Shi Yu sang Svegliatevi nel core
from Handel's Giulio Cesare, and Sumi Jo was very impressed.

  

Shi Yu was able to reach the soprano register when prompted
Sumi Jo cannot believe she is only 18 years old.

Soprano Melodie Tan Shi Yi sang V'adoro pupille from
Handel's Giulio Cesare, and was given the advice
to use her diaphragm more for better control.

Melodie was excellent in two melodies by Francis Poulenc,
so much so that Sumi Jo had little more to add.

Mezzo-soprano Zhang Shang got some pointers
on how to make Carmen's Seguidilla more sensuous.

When Sumi Jo addresses the audience,
they are totally attentive.

Soprano Suyen Rae shows her mettle in
Handel's Tornami a vagheggiar from Alcina.

Suyen learns that she could become a coloratura
soprano, because Sumi Jo said so!

"Work hard to make the world a better through music."

SCHUBERT'S DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN / Alan Bennett and Choi Hye-Seon / Review

DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN

ALAN BENNETT, Tenor

CHOI HYE-SEON, Piano

SOTA Concert Hall

Friday (14 February 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 February 2014 with the title "Conveying unrequited love exquisitely".

How did you spend your Valentine’s Day evening? Was it an expensive restaurant and overpriced roses with someone you were hoping to impress, or in the company of the music of Franz Schubert? The Austrian composer was one of the great Romantics, for whom Fate dealt a bad hand in a tragically short life. His Lieder and song cycles dwelled on love, but he was not to enjoy its fruits.

His 1823 cycle Die Schöne Müllerin (The Fair Maid Of The Mill) of 20 songs after poetry by Wilhelm Müller was about young love, unrequited and rebuffed, leading ultimately to despair and suicide. Not quite the stuff for courting couples, but given the chemistry between the husband and wife team of tenor Alan Bennett and pianist Choi Hye-Seon, one could be easily persuaded.

The concert began with two solo Impromptus (from Op.90) performed by Choi. The rippling right hand figurations over which lyricism ruled supreme provided a prelude to the exquisite hour and a bit to follow, besides allowing late-comers to settle in their seats.

Bennett possesses an unusually bright and youthful voice, one with a clear ring in the topmost registers, belying his hefty physical stature. Singing completely from memory and not fettered with a score, he was able to convey a myriad of moods and emotions by communicating directly at the audience.

From the unabashed optimism of Das Wandern (Wandering) and Wohin? (Whither) to hesitant uncertainty of Der Neugierige (Curiosity) and Ungeduld (Impatience), one could readily follow the young miller’s descent into emotional turmoil. This was aided by a booklet with the German texts and translations, but the downside was the rustling caused by hundreds of leaves being noisily turned. At least people were paying attention.

It was a testament to Bennett’s art and endurance that each song sounded freshly minted, and there was little or no evidence of strain as he progressed. The 14^th and 15^th songs Der Jäger (The Huntsman) and Eifersucht und Stolz (Jealousy and Pride), with indignant words spat out at a furious pace, were accomplished with relative ease and facility. His partner Choi was sensitive and supportive throughout.

The cycle’s last three songs, also its most famous, were wonderfully portrayed. The bleakness of Tröckne Blumen (Wilted Flowers), synonymous with love snuffed out, and the dirge-like rhythm of Der Müller und Der Bach (The Miller and The Brook) were allusions of death itself. The final Des Baches Wiegenlied (The Brook’s Lullaby) provided an uneasy balm of terminal repose, with its waters obliviously washing over hope and life itself.    

The encore demanded by the audience was a teaser for the next song cycle to come, Winterreise (Winter Journey). A warm reception for Bennett and Choi awaits.