SINGAPORE PERFORMERS FESTIVAL 2026 / Photographs from Gala Concert & Award Ceremony

On Sunday afternoon (28 June 2026), I had the pleasure of being invited to the Gala Concert and Award Ceremony of the Singapore Performers Festival (SPF) 2026, organised by the Singapore Music Teachers Association (SMTA). Held at the Lee Foundation Theatre of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, it provided yet another encouraging look at the state of Singapore and the region's young musicians.

The Junior Ensemble performed
a cute simple work called Fruit Salad.

The Senior Ensemble led by Chan Wei Shing
performed works by J.S.Bach,
Respighi and someone modern. 

Unlike many music festivals organised along the lines of music competitions (no doubt a cash cow for many a music school), SPF is a non-competitive event. Young musicians are encouraged to perform for a small and friendly audience, heard by international professional musicians and pedagogues, and given advice on the finer points of music-making and performance. Scholarships are given to the most promising musicians, as well as opportunities to perform in international music festivals. 

Raphael Tan performed the opening movement
from Saint-Saens' Violin Concerto No.3

Chloe Lee played the finale from
Brahms' Viola Sonata Op.120 No.2

Instead of spending a lazy Sunday afternoon in slumber, I got to chill and relax in the company of some of Singapore most talented youths making music. And the shared pleasure of seeing them receive acclamation and encouragement.

Edward Fang plays Liszt's Mazeppa

Ethel Poh and Abigail Lim
had fun with America from
Bernstein's West Side Story

Goh Kai Cheng gave a most accomplished
reading of Chopin's Andante Spianato
& Grande Polonaise Op.22

Concert pianists Shaun Choo and Churen Li
awarded prizes for contemporary piano music

Australian cellist Simon Cobcroft
awarded the prizes for young cellists.

All the prizewinners with the judges.

Piano students of Susan Lai with judges
Toh Chee Hung & Thomas Rosencranz

The Singapore-Poland connection.
Prizes for best performances of Chopin
and Liszt were given by Agnieszka Kowalczuk
from the Polish Embassy in Singapore.

9th SINGAPORE PERFORMERS’ FESTIVAL 2026 — The Singapore Music Teachers' Association (SMTA)

SINGAPORE'S VINTAGE EATING PLACES: COMMONWEALTH CORNER IV: BLOCK 117 WEST (SIN KEE HEONG COFFEESHOP)

We've come to the fourth and final corner of Commonwealth Crescent, which is also the least frequented of our eating places. That's the west end of Block 117, also occupied by Hong Kong Street Chun Kee Restaurant at its east end. It's the only coffee shop (Sin Kee Heong, #01-711) which does not have its own zichar restaurant. The premises is occupied by a number of stalls, including one of Singapore's most celebrated fried chicken wing seller. 

The fried chicken wing stall is closed,
which explains why its near deserted.

The smokers' corner looks busy.

Due to the lie of the land, this corner is raised off the level of the road, and one can sit and watch the world and traffic go by below! It's a Sunday morning, and the coffee shop is almost deserted. Years ago, this coffee shop (which looks unchanged over the decades) was packed, and waiting for noodles could take the best part of an hour. The only section with people is the "smokers' corner", tucked behind and away from healthy people.

The present noodle stall is Lai Chi Mian, which does a good bak chor mee (noodles with minced / sliced pork) and laksa, which is what we had and enjoyed every bit of it. Business is rather slow, but it's not lunchtime yet. 

The look of mee pok just makes me hungry.

Taoist altar and neighbourhood provision store.

LAI CHI MIAN &

SIN KEE HEONG COFFEE SHOP

Block 117 Commonwealth Crescent #01-771

Singapore 140116

SUKA MAKAN: BUTTERMILK N CREAM @ SUNSET WAY

We've always passed by this cosy-looking Western-styled eatery on the way to Five Star Hong Kong Dim Sum or Mariner's Corner on Sunset Way, and this weekend we finally walked in. No regrets, as this is a rather nice fusion restaurant - Buttermilk N Cream - with a small but attractive menu. The weekday set-lunches look particularly attractive, which means we'll have to come again.

It's a small restaurant...

...but its outdoor seating area is spacious.
Pets are welcome too.

Nice place to have tea.

The ambience is homely and wholesome, and the service excellent. It did not take long before our lunch was served, and we were amply rewarded. I've always liked a hearty seafood stew, and this one was served with a large croissant for which dipping became a pleasure. We also ordered Chilean mussels, which meant that we had a lot of mussels to get through. Both dishes were served with different savoury sauces. To try the other inviting dishes, a return is imperative!

Chilean mussels

All day breakfast

Seafood stew - a treat!

BUTTERMILK N CREAM

Blk 106 Clementi Street 12 #01-52

Sunset Way

Tel: 8645-5670

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VICTOR KHOR PLAYS CHOPIN AND NIER / Review

VICTOR KHOR PLAYS CHOPIN AND NIER

Victor Khor, Piano

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (27 June 2026)

It takes some guts and chutzpah to make a comeback piano recital at the age of 60, but Victor Khor is not an ordinary pianist. His programmes have been unusual and different, and this one was par for the course. Opening with Fryderyk Chopin, his view is not the hyper-accurate and gladiatorial variety to be found in Warsaw competitions, but one so personal as to be almost haram.

The very deliberate pacing in Ballade No.4 in F minor (Op.52) is rubato pulled to its extremes, with accents so placed as to be the opposite of subtle. He wants the melody to be heard in expense of everything else, and elsewhere he wants inner voices to be brought out. Whatever it is, he makes you listen intently. At his languorous tempi, his technique also held up and there was no moment of doubt or that of losing control. The struggles of the ferocious coda were well-captured, with all caution thrown into the wind for a tumultuous finish.

In the Barcarolle in F sharp major (Op.60), one wished for a greater variety of colour and tone. Hidden voices were brought out, and his epic view incorporated that of a rather aggressive gondolier plying overused Venetian canals. Growing into confidence, Ballade No.3 in A flat major (Op.47) followed the course of its successor by combining lyricism with dogged vehemence. Victor’s Chopin is in-your-face and certainly not for everyone. This Moscow Conservatory-schooled pianist might just be Singapore’s solution to Ivo Pogorelich, not the 1980 version but his 21st century iteration.

Over the years, Victor has been most successful playing the music of Radiohead, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Joe Hisaishi. Now his attention is turned to the videogame music of NieR: Automata. This is not to be confused with Nie Er, the composer of China’s March of the Volunteers, but by a collective of Japanese composers formed by Keiichiro Okabe, Keigo Hoashi and Kuniyuki Takahashi. His suite of six selections, arranged for piano, was very well chosen to showcase the music’s acute introspective qualities and sentimentality.

Most of all, these pieces suited Victor’s temperament to a tee. City Ruins (Okabe, arranged by Yo Suzuki) possessed rich harmonies, sometimes even sounding symphonically conceived. Peaceful Sleep (Okabe, arr. Yasumasa Kumagai) is a slow and leisurely trawl in cool jazz sensibilities. The lushness of Voice of No Return (Okabe, arr. Suzuki) needed no special pleading, neither did it outstay its welcome.

The Tower (Okabe, arr. Kumagai) was perhaps the most reflective piece in the collection, and Victor was ever sensitive to its plaints. Its pulsing heartbeat was carried on in Vague Hope (Hoashi), which was very sentimental but not to the point of being cloying. Ending with Weight of the World (Okabe, arr. Dai Sakakibara), its upbeat vibe, excitably generated, provided an optimistic close to the recital proper. I have heard these on YouTube, all of which pale in comparison to Victor’s live readings, where he adds notes of his own, and where passion is worn on the sleeve, expressed to the fullest possibilities.

I will be happy to hear these again in a heartbeat, but only with Victor as the guide. As an encore, Victor offered an improvisation, the rapid figurations of Vavilovskaya (titled after a new Moscow underground station) inform this to be a short and flashy railway piece. Simply brilliant.

VICTOR KHOR was presented by VIRTUOMUSIC.

RANDOM HEARTLAND EATS: SHANGHAI TAN PAN-FRIED BUN @ GOLDHILL SHOPPING CENTRE

OK, this isn't exactly in the heartlands. And it's not a post-concert eats either. I had just heard excerpts of Singapore composer Tan Chan Boon's last two symphonies played on the piano at United Square, and we were both hungry, not having had dinner earlier. It's 9.30 pm and most eating places were closed (except for a very uninteresting Burger King with disinterested staff), and we stumbled across this eatery - Shanghai Tan Pan-Fried Bun - in the old school Goldhill Shopping Centre.

Shanghai Tan is an iconic location in the famous Chinese city, specifically the Bund district, which is perhaps why this eatery specialises in pan-fried buns. But that's not what we ate - noodles, xiao long bao (soup-filled dumplings) and finger food was what we tried. Not bad, according to Chan Boon who had recently been to Shanghai (my visit was way back in 2014). I was just hungry and wolfed down everything. 

Braised pork chop noodles

Classic xiao long bao

Wonton Soup

Fried pork tenderloin strips

The shop closes at 10 pm, but the wait staff was very patient and ensured we had finished everything and satisfied, before turning off the lights. You cannot say that about most places in Singapore.

SHANGHAI TAN PAN-FRIED BUN

153 Thomson Road

Goldhill Shopping Centre (1st floor)

Singapore 307607

Shanghai Tan Pan Fried Bun - Goldhill Shopping Centre - Deals | Grab Dine Out