FINALS OF SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION 2026 HAS BEGUN!

The Finals of the Singapore International Violin Competition 2026 has begun, with the completion of the first evening. In two concerts, the six finalists become first violinists of a string quartet to perform either of two quartets from Joseph Haydn's Op.77 set. Working with three members of the world-renowned Shanghai Quartet (violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, violist Honggang Li and cellist Sihao He), each performs as the leader of the quartet, an underrated skill demanded of all great violinists who are also great musicians. 

In a way, this is a subtle and astute test of musical leadership and interpretation that is quite different from the outwardly virtuosic person of a soloist in a concerto performance. 

This evening, the performances of both Haydn string quartets were a total delight. These two quartets, composed in 1802, represent his most mature works and final utterances in this medium which he popularised. The first violinist's role is a virtuoso one, not just having to play the melodic lines, master the most difficult passages, but also to keep the ensemble together. In this respect, all the three finalists this evening shone, their outings showed that live performances best any recording to be had. I am certain that the small audience, not exceeding 50 people at the most in Victoria Concert Hall were truly enthralled.

A small audience attended the concert,
with the jury sitting in the circle seats.

SongHa Choi (South Korea) was the leader
in Haydn's Quartet in G major, Op.77 No.1

Zou Meng (China) was the local favourite,
presently a student at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.
He led in the Quartet in F major, Op.77 No.2

Georgii Moroz (Ukraine) is a Yong Siew Toh alumnus.
He starred in the evening's second performance of
Haydn's Quartet in F major, Op.77 No.2

Thursday (5 February), the second session of the Finals features Michael Germer (Denmark), Karisa Chiu (USA) and Qingshu Weng (China). All three will perform Haydn's Quartet in G major, Op.77 No.1 with members of the Shanghai Quartet.

Tickets are available here:

Singapore International Violin Competition: Finals

SHANGHAI QUARTET / 6th Singapore Chamber Music Festival / Review

SHANGHAI QUARTET

6^th Singapore Chamber Music Festival

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Wednesday (30 January 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 February 2013 with the title "Shanghai Quartet's explosive rapturous night".

The Shanghai Quartet has been regular visitors to Singapore, and it had the honour of opening the 6^th Singapore Chamber Music Festival with a recital of stark contrasts. Beethoven appears in many string quartet programmes, because his 15 quartets broke new ground on a form that began with his teacher Haydn, and went on to define the genre.

Even if his G major Quartet (Op.18 No.2) was an early work, traces of future greatness may be discerned. The foursome articulated its themes with crispness and clarity, in a very cohesive performance all round. The slow movement had a hymn-like quality, looking forward to Beethoven’s fondness for longeurs, but also showed how the quartet coped with sudden shifts in dynamics when lingering Adagio cantabile quickened into a brisk Allegro.

If young Beethoven was adventurous and somewhat impetuous, then mature Bartok was an outright radical who rewrote all the rules. The Hungarian’s Fourth String Quartet was the vanguard of modernism in 1928, and its grinding dissonances and bald discords still sound provocative today. The Shanghai Quartet coaxed a totally coherent reading, one that brings to mind that stupendous outing by the Tokyo String Quartet in 1991. 

Its second movement was a study of pianissimo and prestissimo, of nervous disquiet not quite dispelled by the third movement’s spooky nocturne. As if in sympathy with things that go bump in the night, a spotlight in the ceiling of the stage exploded with a terrific rupture, just as the players readied themselves for the famous pizzicato fourth movement (below). That and the rumbustious finale in a driving Bulgarian rhythm, unerringly wrought, brought out the cheers.

Like in the evening before, the visiting main act was joined by locals for a grand finale. Singapore’s T’ang Quartet faced off with their Shanghai counterparts in Mendelssohn’s celebrated Octet Op.20. The stunning work of genius by a 16-year-old, its symphonic pretentions were apparent, as was the virtuoso part written for the first violinist as if in a concerto.

For this, Weigang Li rose to the occasion with a quiet and distinguished aplomb. Never seeking to upstage his seven associates, his paradoxical role was that of leader and equal partner. Together, their performance was one of intoxicating passion and camaraderie. The sheer sonority of strings in the outer movements, despite each player having a different and distinct part, had the homogeneity of oneness. In the popular Scherzo, a fairy-like lightness provided the music and spirits a life-affirming lift. These fine qualities, in a nutshell, are the essence of good chamber music. 

The 6^th Singapore Chamber Music Festival at the Conservatory continues well into March. All concerts are non-ticketed and admission is free. 

SHANGHAI QUARTET / Review

SHANGHAI QUARTET
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Monday (21 November 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 November 2011 with the title "Fab four from Shanghai".

It was a great pleasure to be reacquainted with the Shanghai Quartet at the Conservatory, in a concert which cemented its reputation among the world’s elite chamber groups. Now in its 28th year since its founding by students at the Shanghai Conservatory, the chemistry between individual members remains awe-inspiring.

Its performance of Mozart’s “Hunt” String Quartet in B flat major (K.458) was a model of incisive precision and togetherness. The approach on the opening movement, which reminded early listeners of a hunting horn, also had lightness and a sense of perfect control. The sound projection in arguably Singapore’s best hall for chamber music came close to perfection, with each instrument’s timbre clearly delineated in both solo and ensemble playing.

Even better was Smetana’s autobiographical First String Quartet in E minor, which carried the title “From My Life”. Li Honggang’s emphatic viola solo breathed an air of defiance, answered by his partners’ passionate outbursts. Not one for faint hearts, the quartet played as if their lives depended on it, reliving the composer’s confessions, trials and tribulations without fear or apology.

They revelled in the folksy dance moments, which alternated with sterner minutes, no better illustrated by cellist Nicholas Tzavaras’s soulful lament in the slow movement. The busyness of the finale was rendered more poignant with first violinist Li Weigang’s piercing shriek, the abrupt musical representation of tinnitus and the composer’s deafness. That the work ended on a muted and subdued note, stated with much stoicism, was a sobering statement on the transience of life itself.

The pleasure of sonority was doubled when violist Zhang Manchin and cellist Qin Li-Wei, both conservatory faculty members, joined in for Brahms’s First String Sextet in B flat major (Op.18). There cannot be too much of a good thing here, as all six musicians blended beautifully through its four movements, beginning with seriousness and closing with good cheer.

The overall excellence may be summed up in the second movement’s Theme and Variations, where together they sounded resolute in unity, and within seconds melting away for each solo thread to be discerned with stunning clarity. The camaraderie displayed was infectious, and this is the reason why recordings cannot replace the immediacy and spirit of live performance.

The Shanghai Quartet and friends take a bow. 

By the way, the second violinist 

of the quartet was Jiang Yi-Wen.

The Shanghai Quartet / Review

The Shanghai Quartet
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Tuesday (19 October 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2010.

Asian string quartets are not exactly a new phenomenon. The legendary Tokyo String Quartet has been thrilling audiences since the late 1960s, while the first prominent quartet to emerge from China, the Shanghai Quartet, was formed in 1983. Performing together for 27 years has lent this group a cohesiveness and homogeneity of sound that is hard to better.

Refinement and clarity were the first qualities to be discerned in Spanish composer Joaquin Turina’s Bullfighter’s Prayer (left). Rapt pianissimos in contemplation resounded as each part came through vividly, alternating with the gentle dance rhythms that provided contrast for this short but revealing opener.

Music from China came next as a short suite transcribed by second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. Honggang Li’s viola provided a pizzicato accompaniment for the familiar Yao Dance, as the spirit of traditional Chinese instruments was rekindled. The lament-like melody of Shepherd’s Song evoked memories of some dumka from a homesick Dvorak, while the rousing dance of Harvest Celebration brought out driving virtuosity from the foursome.

The first half closed with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki’s Third String Quartet (left), written for the quartet’s 25th anniversary in 2008. No longer the enfant terrible of the avant-garde, its quarter-hour was gratifyingly tonal, with a recognisable rhythmic motif permeating the work’s course. The quartet sympathetically negotiated a variety of emotions before settling on a sombre but reflective close.

The big showpiece was Schubert’s Quartet No.14 in D minor, better known as “Death and the Maiden”. The quartet’s incisive attack on the opening theme was awe-inspiring in its sense of drive and purpose, and it had the work’s full measure. Exchanging rapier-like thrusts with moments of aching tenderness, the emotional quotient was high throughout.

The slow movement’s Theme and Variations, based on a piano chorale theme from Schubert’s poignant Lied, was an object of rare beauty. First violinist Weigang Li was immaculate in his exquisite solos, while Nicholas Tzavaras’s cello sang without reserve. For the vigorous Scherzo and pacy finale, the music’s incessant ebb and flow was perfectly judged, as the quartet raced to a resolute ending greeted by a storm of applause.

A short Waltz by Dvorak, delectable rather than profound, was a nice way to end an enjoyable evening of chamber music.