pianomania: CATCHING UP WITH SASHA SOUPTEL

CATCHING UP

WITH SASHA SOUPTEL

How time flies. It seemed like a short while ago when Singapore Symphony Orchestra concerts opened with the familiar figure of Alexander Souptel (everybody knows him as Sasha) emerging from the wings with his violin raised high above his head to lead a concert. The last time that happened was in 2013, when he officially retired as SSO Concertmaster at the age of 65 years old.

Sasha with his former boss,
Gennady Rozhdestvensky & Viktoria Postnikova.

Sasha first came to Singapore in 1993 as a Russian emigre, having served for many years as concertmaster in the late great Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky's orchestras. He had been head-hunted by Choo Hoey who found him a suitable replacement for the Czech violinist Pavel Prantl. Sasha had an enormous and catholic solo repertoire, and nobody would have expected his first concerto with the SSO to be Sofia Gubaidulina's Offertorium. His second concerto was not by Tchaikovsky, but Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D major.

Sasha with star student Alan Choo.

He eventually settled down here and became a Singapore citizen, and also taught at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. Among his students was the young Alan Choo, who became the first Singaporean violinist to win 1st prize in the Artist Category of the National Piano and Violin Competition in 2011 with Khachaturian's Violin Concerto. That seems a complete world away from the baroque violin.

Sasha with Masako,
from a 2016 concert at Victoria Concert Hall.

After his retirement, Sasha has taught violin privately and in the Virtuosi Music Centre with his partner Masako Suzuki White. He still gives performances, notably in the From Russia With Love concerts which showcased Russian emigres in Singapore, as well as informal gigs where he is most at home performing bonbons, improvisations and jazz.

Tuesday this week (19 September) saw Sasha entertaining a large audience at the Esplanade Concourse in a short programme called Tango For You Again, together with former SSO principal bassist Guennadi Mouzyka and pianist Aya Sakou. Pieces they performed included Matos Rodriguez's La Cumparsita, Carlos Gardel's Una Por Cabeza and Jakob Gade's Tango Jalousie, amongst other popular favourites. As always, Sasha is a total charmer, one for whom music is a natural extension of an easy and outgoing personality. Russia's loss has been Singapore's gain, and long may he continue to shine.