HANS GRAF & SNYO / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

 

HANS GRAF & SNYO 

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Saturday (8 March 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 March 2025 with the title "SNYO pulls off ambitious programme under Hans Graf's baton".

Fact: a music director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has never conducted the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) until this evening. This happening was mostly facilitated by the SNYO, formed in 1980 under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, becoming part of the Singapore Symphony Group in 2016. In a very ambitious and demanding concert programme, the young players distinguished themselves under the direction of Hans Graf. 

The concert opened with three short pieces by Russian composer Anatoly Lyadov (1855-1914), notorious for his fastidious but indolent personality, the result of which meant he composed only miniatures. All based on Russian folklore and mythology, the works were presented like a suite, beginning with Baba Yaga (Op.56), where Graf’s downbeat produced an immediate response of outright alertness and cohesion. 

This and Kikimora (Op.63), inspired by a flighty witch and impish spirit respectively, brought out the orchestra’s mastery of scherzando elements, namely razor-sharp reflexes and mercurial playing. Even more breathtaking were the fantastical spells conjured in the Impressionist scoring of The Enchanted Lake (Op.62) where an evenness of pianissimo and restraint were vital. 

As if to display its versatility, George Gershwin’s Porgy And Bess: A Symphonic Picture arranged by Robert Russell Bennett provided the greatest possible contrast. This big and brassy score, epitome of Hollywood glitz and glamour, saw a performance that displayed boldness and swagger. 

The extravagant scoring included three saxophones and banjo, the latter starring in I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ played by Daniel Chai. Although the songs were not performed in the actual sequence as heard in the opera, it did close with Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way, the striding optimism of which was clearly appreciated by the audience. 

The true potential and metier of the orchestra were definitively felt in Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No.2 in D major (Op.43), also marking conductor Graf’s first performance of the Finnish composer’s symphonies here. The warmth of sonority from the string section was palpable right off the bat and would be a continuous pleasure throughout. 

The woodwinds distinguished with crispness and clarity of articulation, while the brass – with arguably the most exposed parts – could do with several boosts of confidence. Nevertheless, the symphony’s arduous journey from murky darkness in the second movement to affirmative light in the conjoint third and fourth movements was unfurled with no little majesty. 

The prestidigitation required of the strings was magnificently handled and one wondered how well schooled or drilled the players were. Much credit goes to their tutors and newly-appointed music director Joshua Tan for preparing them for this big and rare occasion. 

Inspiration on the day came from Graf, who clearly relished the opportunity and coaxed his charges to a rousing but not over-the-top conclusion for this patriotic symphony. To have witnessed two superlative performances of the Sibelius Second by youngsters in as many months (the Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute did it in January), was cause for pride and celebration.

SYMPHONIC GIFTS / Singapore National Youth Orchestra & Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra / Review

SYMPHONIC GIFTS

Singapore National Youth Orchestra &

Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (24 July 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 July 2015 with the title "Youth orchestras make history and music together".

This will go down in history as a first ever collaboration between the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) and the Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra (SYCO), both National Projects of Excellent now under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. Its respective conductors Leonard Tan and Quek Ling Kiong (below) took turns to lead and play chatty and convivial hosts for the concert.

Western instruments conducted by Tan opened with Leong Yoon Pin's Dayong Sampan Overture, not merely an arrangement of the popular Malay song but a symphonic fantasy. Amid the obligatory dissonances and busy counterpoint emerged that catchy tune on solo oboe, accompanied by violin glissandi. The SNYO gave an assured account of what must be Singapore's best known orchestral composition.

SYCO then followed, conductor-less, to perform works of two popular genres: Jiangnan Shizhu and Chuida, representing a culture of strings with winds, and winds with percussion respectively. Happy Times was a showpiece of huqin prowess that progressed from slow to very fast. Li Min Xiong's A Well-Matched Fight featured a raucous duel between solo drummer Lim Rei centrestage (above) and seven of her percussionist partners against the entire band, with both groups coming out first among equals.

Guest violinist Siow Lee Chin was the glamourous soloist in Kam Kee Yong's Kuang Xiang Qu (Chinese Rhapsody) for symphony orchestra, performing its fiendish free-wheeling part with the swashbuckling verve as if it were Ravel's Tzigane. The orchestration was not particularly Chinese, veering more towards the music for biblical epics by Bloch and Rozsa, and the end result brought out the cheers.

All ears were pricked for the second half's music, specially orchestrated for both ensembles combined. At this point, it could be said this was an exercise symbolic of solidarity between instrumentalists across the cultural divide rather than something truly practicable. But only time will tell.

Eric Watson's Tapestries – Time Dances now resembled a concerto grosso, with a core group of three Chinese instruments (ruan, dizi and guzheng) and four Western instruments (violin, cello, French horn and harp) backed by the over-hundred-strong mega-orchestra. One outcome was that Chinese instruments stood out in the solo parts because of their penetrating timbres, while violins, violas and cellos overwhelmed the huqins when massed strings sang. At parts, Watson's creation began to sound like those of his compatriot, Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Wang Chenwei's The Sisters' Islands took on a distinctly Nanyang slant, with its use of Indo-Malay melodies, and the symphonic poem had a particularly effective spell depicting an attack by pirates of the Singapore Straits. One only wonders which orchestra does a blown conch shell belong to. Both pieces were led by conductor Quek.

The concert ended with Jeremiah Li's arrangement of Kelly Tang's Symphonic Suite On A Set Of Local Tunes, helmed by conductor Tan. This medley mixed the Malay song Chan Mali Chan with Dick Lee's Home and Bunga Sayang and NDP favourite Singapore Heartbeat, with a Hollywood-like vibe. Home was accounted by solo erhu accompanied by yangqin, which lent a tender touch, and Tang's trademark in-joke was to throw in the fanfare from The Magnificent Seven, not once but twice.   

As an encore, the audience was given permission to whip out their handphones and wave their built-in torches (above) to the strains of Home. After which they gamely rode off into the sunset. 

Guest violinist Siow Lee Chin with Guest-of-Honour
Sim Ann, conductors Quek Ling Kiong & Leonard Tan,
with board members of the SSO & SCO.

Addendum

I am grateful to Professor Lim Seh Chun for offering this most interesting piece of history:

The SYO and SYCO has collaborated before, but way back in 1971. The two orchestras performed in several joint concerts in Singapore and in Lausanne, Switzerland at the International Festival of Youth Orchestras. The concerts were led by the legendary Goh Soon Tioe and two younger conductors Goh Say Meng and Lee Suat Lin. 

Members of the SYO then included Prof Lim himself, conductor Lim Soon Lee, violinist Tan Peng Tow (who was the soloist in Mozart's Violin Concerto No.5), her brother Tan Peng Chin and neurologist Prof Benjamin Ong. 

The SYCO reads like a Who's Who of Chinese orchestra music today, including the composer Phoon Yew Tien, conductors Lum Yan Sin, Yeo Siew Wee and Lee Hoon Piek, recording-meister Goh Aik Yew, high fidelity reviewer Tham Chaik Kong and SCO veteran Sim Boon Yew.

VIVA I'ITALIA! / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

VIVA I'ITALIA!

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (6 March 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 March 2015 with the title "Sterling concert by school talent".

The Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) manages 186 talented young musicians from 47 schools in the nation, giving them a platform to perform symphonic music at a highest possible level. Its concerts are a showcase of the vast potential this nation possesses as well as the diversity of thematic programming. Its latest concert was a celebration of Italian music, from the Renaissance to the late 19^th century.

The orchestra's Principal Conductor Leonard Tan also served as the concert's highly animated presenter, humourously explaining each work while lauding his charges for their sterling efforts. This kind of encouragement worked wonders as the players were in fine form for the eight works performed in this demanding programme.

The first half was devoted to music for smaller ensembles. Eight brass players separated by the length of the stage performed the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli's Sacra Sinfonia Sonata Pian 'e Forte, which simulated the antiphonal effect of ceremonial music within a cathedral.  There was some shaky intonation at the start but the double quartet soon warmed up and produced a rich and resonant sonority.

The orchestral winds revelled in Julie Giroux's Italian Rhapsody, a fun piece which rehashed popular melodies like Puccini's Musetta's Waltz (from La Boheme), Luigi Denza's Funiculi Funicula and Verdi's Anvil Chorus (Il Trovatore). Samuel Chan's excellent clarinet solos led the way into this cheerful romp of a piece.

Somewhat more serious was Vivaldi's Double Cello Concerto in G minor (RV.531), where soloists Megan Lim and Lau Yun Xi clearly and confidently articulated their parts while exhibiting very good chemistry together. The chamber accompaniment was discreet yet supportive. A larger group of strings with two oboes and two French horns then polished up Mozart's early Symphony No.10 in G major. Its three short movements, from the 14-year-old prodigy, were lit up with playing of a rare blazing intensity by players scarcely little older.

The concert's second half comprised wholly of orchestral highlights from the great operas. An arresting drumroll and martial strains opened Rossini's Overture to The Thieving Magpie, from which an exciting allegro ensued. Clearly the orchestra understood how a patented Rossinian crescendo worked, and this dramatic device was milked to quite thrilling effect.

Orchestral strings were given the chance to shine in the famous Intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, a poignant few minutes made even more so with conductor Tan's cogent synopsis of the opera's fatalism. The full orchestra then dug in for Ponchielli's popular Dance of the Hours (from La Gioconda), which had lightness, whimsicality and the full tilt for a final flourish.  

To close was Rossini's William Tell Overture, which saw more fine solos from Megan Lim's cello, Leow Rui Qing's cor anglais and Rachel Ho's flute. Perhaps a couple more rehearsals would have better sealed the final package but there was no denying the adrenaline rush elicited by that furious gallop that has now become forever associated with the Lone Ranger. As an encore, the Lone Ranger rode again but at a more frenetic tempo and with the orchestra on its feet. That was enough to bring out the bravos and a standing ovation.

LANXESS SNYO CLASSIC: MUSICAL VIRTUOSOS / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

LANXESS SNYO CLASSIC 2014

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (27 November 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 November 2014 with the title "British cellist's impressive debut here".

Concerts by the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) used to be low-profile and minimally-publicised affairs until the involvement and sponsorship of Lanxess, the German chemical company. This partnership has resulted in several internationally renowned soloists performing with the orchestra, including Italian flautist Andrea Griminelli and Canadian violinist Lara St John. The latest concert of all-French repertoire saw the Singapore debut of British cellist Natalie Clein, winner of the 1994 BBC Young Young Musician of the Year Competition.

Anyone who has heard her stunning CD recording of Camille Saint-Saëns’s two cello concertos will attest that she is even more impressive in live performance. Cutting a svelte figure in a green floral gown, her glamourous appearance was almost a distraction until she actually sat down and performed.   

In Saint-Saëns’s First Cello Concerto in A minor, the tone she coaxed from her 1777 ‘Simpson’ Guadagnini was rich and full-bodied, immediately putting her mark on the single-movement work performed without breaks. The virtuosic and fast hairpin turns encountered at the beginning and close of the concerto were met with lightning reflexes, requisite of this showpiece, a testament to her finely-honed technique. Even in the quieter bits, her playing was always transcendent and unfailingly beautiful.  

Serving like a substantial encore was Fauré’s Elegie, a concert favourite which far from being a funereal dirge, was another opportunity for Clein and her cello to demonstrate long-breathed lyrical qualities. In both concertante works, the SNYO led by SSO Associate Conductor Jason Lai was sensitive and attentive to the fine shifts in dynamics, keeping up with the constant activity in the concerto and allowing the soloist to sing unabated.

On its own, the young orchestra distinguished itself, opening the concert with Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, an excellent showpiece that highlighted fine solo playing from the woodwinds, particularly Simon Lee’s cor anglais. and ensemble strings which raced to a terrific crescendo before closing on a rousing high.

In the second half, twelve short movements from Bizet’s evergreen opera Carmen, neatly packaged in two orchestral suites, was a popular choice. The opening Prelude was serious, intoning the cruel hand of Fate. There was a rustle of recognition in the audience at the Toreador’s March and sultry Habanera. The absence of voices was never an issue, because the solo and ensemble playing was always close to excellent.

The soothing Intermezzo, which starred flute, clarinet and harp provided lingering moments to cherish, so beautiful was the playing. Kudos also go to the pair of trumpeters who confidently blazed their way in Escamillo’s Aria  and the Military March. Conductor Lai finally led his charges into the wild, vertiginous gypsy world of the Bohemian Dance, which began steadily but got increasingly frenzied all the way to its raucous conclusion. A shout of “Ole!” would have been the natural response to such playing of immediacy and high spirits.

Once again, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra proved its mettle in the heat of concert, and that can only bode well for the growing orchestral scene here.

RUSSIAN EXTRAVAGANZA! / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

RUSSIAN EXTRAVAGANZA!

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (30 July 2014) 

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 August 2014 with the title "Rah-rah Russian tunes".

This is certainly not the best of times to celebrate anything Russian, but the Singapore National Youth Orchestra had put so much preparation into this programme that it would be unfair to the young musicians to have cancelled the concert. At least the title could have been changed to something less offensive.

The opener, Shostakovich’s Festive Overture ranks as the most insincere work ever conceived by a great composer. For those who know his music, this paints a glorious and eternally jolly portrait of the Soviet Union, one of modern history’s most murderous regimes. Its brass fanfares, thrilling woodwind runs and slicked up string melodies sing of optimism and great hope for a Socialist utopia, one cruelly denied to many millions who had staked their lives on a fatal ideology.

The orchestra led by its Principal Conductor Leonard Tan gave a best possible account of its strident banalities, with much lustre and no hint of irony. The brass section, boosted by offstage colleagues placed on balconies in the hall’s first circle, have much to be proud of.

Coming as total relief were two concertos by German composer Felix Mendelssohn. The first was his very popular Violin Concerto in E minor, with Neville Athenasius Ang in the solo part. For much of the work, the chemical and biomechanical engineering graduate struggled with intonation but was able to overcome its technical hurdles with fluency and no little robustness. That he maintained his composure well when the audience of mostly youngsters was getting restless and noisy was to his great credit.

A better showing was provided by Benny Lim and Ralph Emmanuel Lim in Mendelssohn’s Concert Piece No.2 for clarinet and basset horn. This rather unusual work pitted two reed instruments of different registers in tandem and how the two Lims complimented each other so well like hand and glove. Within three short movements, they delighted in its witty repartee and struck a vein of humour that flowed like sparkling champagne.

The second half of the concert was devoted to just Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony in F minor. One of his more highly strung and nervously charged works, conductor Tan coaxed from his charges a performance of rare eloquence and no little emotion without resorting to extremes in dynamics or tempi.

Despite a fluff in the opening Fate theme blared out by the French horns, this was a show of confidence which grew with each page. The first movement was taken at a moderate tempo, one that seemed slack initially but proved ultimately well-judged as it gradually built up to a head of steam that never flagged.

The slow movement’s plaintive oboe solo was beautifully crafted by David Yee, and the strings were superlative in the third movement’s massed pizzicatos, all of which were indicative of how strong the orchestra has become over the years. The torrential storm unleashed in the finale, a culmination of Tchaikovsky’s tormented personal life, was greeted with long and prolonged applause.

By which time, one might have also been persuaded that Tchaikovsky, despite being born Russian, was also a citizen of the world. 

MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS

Singapore National Youth Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Tuesday (26 November 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 November 2013 with the title "Youths up the game in the music stakes".

Singapore’s youth orchestral movement is riding high on the crest of wave of musical excellence, none as evident as this year. Following in the examples of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra and Orchestra of the Music Makers, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) has considerably upped its game to match the accomplishments of its colleagues.

This latest concert conducted by American guest conductor David Commanday was a proud showcase of the maturity of its young musicians, both as an ensemble as well as in disparate solo parts. Marcus Choo’s solo French horn that opened Weber’s Oberon Overture was a portrait of composure and confidence despite being so exposed, and that set the tone of the concert as the whole.

Its slow introduction, so expertly traversed, was the perfect foil to the work’s mercurial and energetic main body which could boast of slickly homogeneous string playing and a responsiveness that was totally gripping.   

The orchestra sympathetically partnered Canadian violist Max Mandel in Carl Stamitz’s Viola Concerto in D major (Op.1), with very cohesive tutti playing and attentive accompaniment. It was left to the soloist to weave a charming spell of singing tone in the first two movements and folksy jocularity in the Rondo finale, with a surprising and jaw-dropping glissando slide down to the nether reaches.  

The truest test came in Brahms’s mighty First Symphony in C minor, which was clearly the highlight of the evening. From its opening measures, the intent was clearly spelt out. This was to be an account infused with urgency and nervous tension, the good kind that drives the music forward. Yet under Commanday’s command, it also sounded spacious, one that had ample room to breathe.

The warmth and breadth of the playing was a unifying factor, lit up be excellent solo playing by oboe and violin in the beautiful slow movement and clarinet in the flowing third movement. Only inappropriate applause (by a quite clueless audience that insisted on clapping after every pause) spoilt the hush and transitory silence that led into the glorious finale.     

Thankfully that lapse was fully made up by the atmospheric playing capped by another wonderful French horn solo from Mindy Chang in the “alphorn” motif that heralded the dispersing of dark clouds and the emergence of blazing sunshine. The work concluded on the loftiest of joyous moods, hence the epithet Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony stuck, but the orchestra was not yet through.

The encore of Orange Blossom Special, a fiddlers’ “national anthem” captured in a train ride, was the icing on the cake. A strong SNYO is a vital for the strong future of classical music in Singapore. 

Concert photographs by the kind courtesy of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

A ROMANTIC REMINISCENCE / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

A ROMANTIC REMINISCENCE
Singapore National Youth Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (28 July 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 July 2011 with the title "Conductor's energetic debut".

High-flying Singaporean conductor Darrell Ang (left) was appointed Music Director of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) late last year, but audiences had to wait some eight months before his first concert with his charges in that capacity. It was well worth it given the new found energy and vitality that possesses the ensemble.

The opening bars of Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture made its mark immediately. The turbo-charged pace from the outset seemed initially implausible, but this high wire act seemed to thrive on a surfeit of adrenaline. Stunningly accuracy at high velocity, with the strings singing with natural and unfettered ease, gave this opener the stamp of greatness.

More followed as the orchestra partnered local virtuoso Lim Yan (left) for Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto, a second performance of this rare gem within the space of two weeks. For certain, young Lim yielded nothing to the stupendous reading by Russian veteran Nikolai Demidenko with the Singapore Symphony a fortnight ago. Only the approach was radically different.

While Demidenko highlighted its tragedy with far slower tempos, Lim’s more sprightly account brought out the implicit irony and satire. When it came to the crunch of the gargantuan first movement cadenza and rapid-fire cascades of notes, the younger man matched blow for blow and came off with fewer misses. These two brilliant performances were the stuff of dreams.

In terms of instrumental achievement, the orchestra’s view of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony will have to take some beating. Conducting completely from memory, Ang honed a tight and urgently driven traversal, yet one that was never hectic or harried. Always allowing the music to breathe, there were long stretches of seamless beauty and utter coherence that held the work together.

Strings were particularly mellow, with a homogeneous refinement and suppleness that reminded one of the far more experienced SSO. Also highly confident were the wind and brass solos, with Alan Kartik’s French horn (left) in the slow movement being the pick of the crop.

The valedictory final movement summed up the group’s enormous potential. No longer were notes being dutifully churned out but actually breathed and cherished, and the nail-biting lead up to the triumphant climax had a feverish quality never previously realised. A strong SNYO can only mean a better future for classical music in Singapore.

A MUSICAL CHEMISTRY / Singapore National Youth Orchestra / Review

A MUSICAL CHEMISTRY / Singapore National Youth Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall / Thursday (21 April 2011)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 23 April 2011 with the title "Youths show skill, potential".

The Singapore National Youth Orchestra is a slick outfit, with Ministry of Education backing and an influential sponsor in the German chemical company Lanxess to enrich its collective experience. Its latest concert, led by Russian conductor Alexander Polishchuk, was another display of its polish, prowess and potential.

With all cylinders firing at maximum throttle for Wagner’s Mastersingers Of Nuremberg Overture, one could be forgiven for mistaking these youngsters to be their seniors and tutors in the Singapore Symphony, such was their voluminous output. Entries were clean, precise and the counterpoint intricately deciphered for a memorable opening.

The concerto was memorable for different reasons. Despite an Amazonian stature, personality and sound to match, the Canadian violinist Lara St.John was a portrait of self-indulgence in Tchaikovsky’s evergreen Violin Concerto. A self-professed “wild child” of the violin, unchecked feral instincts resulted in a reading that lurched between nonchalance and hyperactivity.

Her solo entry was hardly distinguished, flat in affect and barely in tune. One wondered whether this was deliberate, as she has talent and technique aplenty to burn. It got better but the tendency to stop, start and linger, such as the lead-up to the finale, was sometimes infuriating. It was amazing how the orchestra partnership coped without perilously falling apart.

Lara St.John and questionable taste go together, it seems. Her solo Bach CD featured in Gramophone magazine's 15 worst ever album covers (May 2011)

Young musicians will have to look elsewhere for leadership, such as its absent Music Director Darrell Ang, whose Fanfare for a Frazzled Earth was given a world premiere. A brief but powerfully evocative work modelled after Stravinsky’s Fireworks, the sound palette was sumptuously conceived. With many threads proceeding simultaneously, an Oriental theme on violas and cellos emerged amid the distant birdsong and incessant hum of nature. Its message was to treasure our world before we lose it altogether.

Closing the concert was Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D minor, a sprawling work lent unity by its recurring themes and motifs. Polishchuk’s marshalling of the forces was exemplary, with the slow introduction wound to heights of tension, before released like an uncoiled spring for the Allegro and build-up to a cathedral of Wagnerian sonority.

In the slow movement’s serenade, the cor anglais solo dropped the baton but nonetheless did well to recover. The exciting finale was a mirror of the opening, with all musicians on edge to conclude an encouraging performance that bodes well for the future.

MUSICAL OLYMPUS FESTIVAL CONCERT / Review

MUSICAL OLYMPUS FESTIVAL CONCERT
Singapore National Youth Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (20 January 2011)

The Musical Olympus Festival is an international platform showcasing top young musical talents of the world, including winners of international music competitions, performing in the world’s great concert venues. Founded in St Petersburg, Russia in 1996, Musical Olympus has made its mark in celebrated locales such as Berlin’s Philharmonie and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Singapore’s debut in this prestigious series was to be no less auspicious or rewarding.

Supporting this concert was the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) led by its newly appointed Music Director Darrell Ang. Considering the age of its musicians, the orchestra did a fine job accompanying five excellent soloists, rising young artists all, in various concertos and concertante works.

First off was Armenian saxophonist Hayrapet Arakelyan who performed Francois Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante on Carmen, adapted from the original flute favourite. It is a somewhat darker cousin of the famous Sarasate Carmen Fantasy for violin, but nonetheless contains the ubiquitous Habanera and wildly swirling Danse Boheme. Arakelyan crafted a creamy, mellow sonority, deeply breathed and freely wheeling, typical for the instrument usually associated with jazz. Never strait-jacketed, he allowed the music to breathe and flow unabated, a virtuoso outing setting the tone for more fireworks to come.

Russian Ilya Maximov is more than your common garden Russian pianist who thrives on keyboard gymnastics, which is the minimum requirement for Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. At once, his incisive and fearless approach made one sit up and really listen. Thunder he did in this chord-heavy and octave-strewn score, but there were also moments of introspection, in the second movement and finale, where sheer poetry came to the fore. When it came to barnstorming, he left the orchestra breathlessly trying to catch up. But they did, living dangerously if not for Darrell Ang’s razor-sharp direction that held this tricky masterpiece together. Credit also goes the excellent young clarinettist in the opening solo, which was rock-steady and confidence itself.

Young Singaporean violinist Kong Xian Long, just 15 years old, was invited to share in the spotlight. A multiple winner in the National Violin Competition, his version of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy was in no way overawed by the surfeit of prodigiousness on display. His unerring articulation in the many twists and turns, and close-to-faultless intonation was a marvel to behold. Notwithstanding some raw edges, he is a major local talent to observe in the years to come.

Lanky Hungarian cellist Istvan Vardai, at 25, was the most mature of the instrumentalists, and the most subtle of them all. His lovely singing tone, supple and flexible, was a joy to behold in Schumann’s late Cello Concerto in A minor. This was a performance conceived on a large scale, with every theme and phrase lovingly nuanced; no detail was too minor to be overlooked. He blended nicely with the orchestral cello in the reflective slow movement, and paid due emphasis to the resolute three-note-motif that drove the finale to its satisfying close. A subtle work from a sublime soloist; it’s just as simple as that.

The audience’s favourite was most probably Korean tenor Jaesig Lee, who sang three popular operatic arias. His compactly-built frame belied the booming quality of his voice, which was as fresh and youthful as they come. He evinced genuine nostalgia and regret in Lensky’s Aria (Kuda kuda) from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, followed by the flush of young love in Rodolfo’s Che gelida manina from Puccini’s La Boheme. His is a totally believable and likeable portrayal of opera’s heroes and anti-heroes. Verdi’s La donna e mobile (Rigoletto) brought on the cheers, which was amply rewarded with an encore - a heroic Nessun dorma (Puccini’s Turandot), one that is ripe for any of the world’s top opera houses.

This audience was asked to vote for their favourite star on this Musical Olympus. My vote goes to conductor Darrell Ang and his Singapore National Youth Orchestra, which grew together to became solid and dependable accompanists within a short week of rehearsals. Without them, this two and half hour musical feast of champions would not have been possible.

The Musical Olympus Festival was presented by the Musical Olympus Foundation.