RE:SOUND 10TH ANNIVERSARY / BRADDELL HEIGHTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERTS / Review

 

10TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT

re:Sound

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Saturday (29 August 2026)

40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT

Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (30 August 2026)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 1 September 2026 with the title "re:Sound and Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra's anniversary galas prove diversity of classical scene".

Over last weekend, three local musical ensembles marked their respective anniversaries with a gala concert each. These were Red Dot Baroque (8th), re:Sound Collective (10th) and Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra (40th). By actively programming local composers, the latter two groups have helped shape the concert repertoire enjoyed in Singapore today.

Photo: @Joelcaptures

Singapore’s first professional chamber orchestra re:Sound opened accounts with J.S.Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor (BWV.1041), showcasing 13-year-old Chua Suen Ern in an exacting solo role. With spotless intonation and technique as natural as breathing, she blended seamlessly with players double to quadruple her age. A very bright future beckons.

Photo: @Joelcaptures

Warmth and lushness of re:Sound’s strings were caught in full bloom with harpist Charmaine Teo for the Adagietto from Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Led by violinist Yang Shuxiang, this love letter to Mahler’s wife Alma felt right at 10 minutes, its passionate climax coming at just the perfect moment.

Receiving its world premiere was Germaine Goh’s Sleepless In Singapore, a re:Sound commission. A suite for chamber orchestra, it played like a 21st century concerto grosso in four movements. Between Concrete and Sky evoked dawn in Little India with use of raga scales. Through Windows recounted a frenetic pace of traffic (and life) with the added impetus of pelting rain.

Highly effective scoring included solos for clarinet and soprano saxophone (Ralph Lim), French horn (Alan Kartik) and bassoon (Lim Tee Heong), the latter starring in its slow movement Sleepless, mimicking the call of a nightjar. The finale Tomorrow, Again combined Malay percussive beats with John Adams-styled minimalism for an excitingly manic conclusion.

Photo: @Joelcaptures

The concert’s main work was Ludwig van Beethoven Fifth Symphony in C minor (Op.67) guest-led by Ohio-based Jonathan Ong, first violinist of the Verona Quartet. Although not performing on period instruments, the ensemble adopted the spirit of early 19th century’s “age of enlightenment”.

Photo: @Joelcaptures

Lithe textures and swift tempos did not translate into thin wispy sounds, instead gained an edginess that kept listeners engaged on the edge of their seats. The use of natural horns (without valves) and calfskin timpani heads were added points of authenticity. For an old familiar favourite to sound this refreshing and revitalised is exactly why re:Sound exists.

Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra (BHSO), Singapore’s oldest community orchestra, was led by Leonard Tan in an unusually creative programme. It opened with the winner of a call-for-scores, Seem Jia Ang’s The Journey Ahead. Within a single minute, a flute solo expanded into something with cinematic aspirations but ended as soon as it began, leaving one guessing myriad possibilities for development.

Tan Chan Boon’s In Memory of Franz Schubert (1997) was built on two motifs from the slow movement of the Austrian composer’s “Unfinished” Eighth Symphony. First heard as fragments, these coalesced into actual quotations before launching into an inevitable fugue. The orchestra’s masterful handling of its scholarly discourse was admirable.

Even more impressive was its partnership with Cheong Kah Yiong, founding member of Morse Percussion, in Chinese-American composer Chen Yi’s Percussion Concerto (1998). A solo tour-de-force premiered here by renowned Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Singapore Symphony in 1999, Cheong headily relived all its dynamic moments on gongs, drums and xylophones.

In the central movement Prelude To Water Tune, vocal recitation of Beijing Opera was where Cheong had the advantage of language and fine auditory nuances. The rapid-fire Speedy Wind finale drew the longest and loudest ovation of all soloists who have played with the orchestra.

BHSO literally pulled all the stops for Camille Saint-Saens’ Third Symphony in C minor, popularly known as the “Organ” Symphony, in a performance that lacked nothing in full-blooded passion and visual spectacle. On Victoria Concert Hall’s Klais organ, Loraine Muthiah did the honours, in the hymn-like slow movement and the grandstanding finale which unleashed voice and vibration to spine-chilling effect.

Professional or volunteer, long may communal music-making in Singapore thrive.

SUKA MAKAN: RANGOOLI INDIAN CUISINE @ CLEMENTI WEST

Although located in the heartlands of Clementi West, this place looks unexpectedly classy. This outlet of Rangooli Indian Cuisine, which serves both north and south Indian varieties of dishes, is rather posh. Simply, it does not have the common cafeteria atmosphere that most curry houses have. There is a price to pay, it's a little more pricey that most but well worth the outlay. 

The service is excellent, and the young South Asian man who took our orders also had a sense of humour. A basket of poppadums came immediately with cups of plain water. Within a short space of time, the naans and curries arrived as well. 

Masala tea and black tea

Butter chicken tikka masala

Mushroom curry

Rogan josh (mutton curry)

We ordered a combination of chicken, mutton and mushroom curries, each with a different taste and level of spiciness. Most Singaporeans are tolerant of high levels of spice, thus we enjoyed this and the generous helpings of curries which fully justified the added cost. Definitely coming back again.

Garlic naan and Butter naan

The full monty

Outdoor city, but not
at this level of heat and haze.

RANGOOLI INDIAN CUISINE

Block 721 Clementi West Street 2 

#01-138/140

Singapore 120721 

Rangooli

SUKA MAKAN: MONGKOK DIM SUM @ CHEONG CHIN NAM ROAD

The current task at hand is to try all the restaurants on Cheong Chin Nam Road. That will take the best part of a year but you've got to start somewhere. So for our second entry is Mongkok Dim Sum. Mongkok is the shopping district in Kowloon, Hong Kong where I buy some of my CDs and indulge in the shared passions of Singaporeans and Hongkongites - food and shopping. 

The selling point of Mongkok Dim Sum is not just the food but the fact it operates 24 hours a day. That means if you get hunger pangs at 4 am in the morning, this is a possible solution. However at 6 pm in the evening, we can still do the yumcha thing which is a morning activity.

The dim sum - we picked three favourites - was excellent. And we had to try and the highly-touted beef hor fun. This one is called Geylang Lorong 9 Beef Hor Fun, which is the hot and wet variety with the flavour of tau cheoh (bean paste). Why Geylang? I suppose people go to Geylang to get hot and wet. Anyway, it's very tasty and the beef slices are very tender too. Will come back, perhaps at 4 am to get hot and wet.

Hot and wet: this Geylang beef hor fun 
is as delicious as it looks.

MONGKONG DIM SUM

8 Cheong Chin Nam Road

Singapore 599733

Mongkok Dim Sum - Cheong Chin Nam Rd | Grab Dine Out

NIU NIU PREVIEWS GALA CONCERT FOR VIVA FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER

For its 20th anniversary celebration, Viva Foundation for Children with Cancer is presenting a fundraising gala concert on 27 October 2026 at Esplanade Concert Hall entitled Viva Concerti: Where The Twain Shall Meet. The concert features Chinese former child prodigy pianist Niu Niu performing eight piano concertos with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra conducted by Chan Tze Law.

Jennifer Yeo, Chairman of Viva Foundation
gave the opening address. An accomplished
pianist herself, she has performed with the SSO
to raise funds for the orchestra.

On Wednesday 2 September, Niu Niu gave a preview of this concert by performing a piano recital at Viva Hub, Novena Medical Centre. His programme of popular keyboard classics included an 8-minute mash-up of the eight piano concertos to be performed.

For the record, movements from the eight concertos to be performed include:

1. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1

2. Chopin Piano Concerto No.1

3. Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2

4. Butterfly Lovers Concerto

5. Liszt Piano Concerto No.1

6. Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5

7. Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

8. Yellow River Concerto

At the age of 12, Niu Niu became the
youngest pianist to record all the Chopin Etudes.

Niu Niu was a student of the legendary
Leslie Howard besides being a Juilliard alumnus.

Niu Niu will also perform the violin (from the Rin Collection) in an abridged version of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, his debut in a violin concerto.

His recital opened with Wang Jianzhong's transcription of Ren Guang's Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon. Also included in were Tchaikovsky's March from Nutcracker (transcribed by Mikhail Pletnev), Liszt's La Campanella, Rachmaninov's 18th Variation from the Paganini Rhapsody, Gershwin's I Got Rhythm and the first movement from Franz Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. 

Niu Niu accomplished this feat of virtuosity and bravura on a Cristofori grand piano which valiantly withstood more multitudes of notes than it had ever endured. As an encore, he let down his hair in an original composition Sunny Day, delighting in infectious bossa nova and samba rhythms.

The preview concert was followed by a sumptuous buffet dinner for all who attended, the photos of which I will not include here.

VIVA CONCERTI:

WHERE THE TWAIN SHALL MEET

NIU NIU PLAYS 8 CONCERTOS

Tickets from $20-1000 

are available at SISTIC:

VIVA Concerti : Where the twain shall meet