ELEMENTS – SSO x DINGYI
Musicians of
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
& Ding Yi Music Company
Victoria Concert Hall
Sunday (11 January 2026)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 January 2026 with the title "Creative take on mainstream and avant-garde fare by SSO and Ding Yi".
In a first-ever collaboration between the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Ding Yi Music Company, instrumental virtuosity was the order of the day. Such a programme consisting wholly of contemporary works by local and Chinese composers is not a regular part of the SSO faithful’s diet, but par for the course for Ding Yi, Singapore’s leading professional chamber ensemble playing traditional Chinese instruments.
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| Programme curator Dedric Wong introduced the works to be performed. |
A very well-filled house was treated to a vast array of timbres and sounds, from traditional to contemporary. Opening the evening was young Singaporean composer Sulwyn Lok’s Gathered By The Winds, an SSO commission which brought together three very popular folk songs from China. Even a neophyte will recognise Molihua (Jasmine Flower) from Jiangsu, Mu Ge (Pastoral Song) from Inner Mongolia and Xiao He Tang Shui (The Little River Flows) from Yunnan, performed in an upbeat arrangement influenced by popular music.
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| Photo: Clive Choo |
The piquant combination of Western flute (Jin Ta) and Chinese dizi (Lyu Sih-Ying), supported by pipa, sheng, yangqin, guzheng and Western string quintet, with rhythm section of Chinese and Western percussion (Low Yik Hang and Mark Suter) was ear-catching and enjoyable.
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| Photo: Clive Choo |
Of far sterner substance was Academy Award-winning Chinese composer Tan Dun’s Eight Colors (1986), an early work for Western string quartet, crafted when he was still experimenting with atonalism and the avant-garde. Violinists Zhao Tian and Zhang Sijing, violist Wang Dandan and cellist Christopher Mui treated this work as they would a work by Arnold Schoenberg or Elliott Carter, with utmost seriousness. The portamenti (slides) encountered kept its feeling Oriental while and brevity prevented musical interest from wearing thin.
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| Photo: Clive Choo |
The work with most local flavour was Singapore composer Ho Chee Kong’s Shades Of Oil Lamps, commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival and premiered by London Sinfonietta in 2008. Led by Ding Yi resident conductor Dedric Wong, this version saw some Western instruments of the original replaced by Chinese instruments, which included dizi, sheng, daruan and huqin, while retaining cello, bass, oboe, bassoon and two percussionists.
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| Bassist Yang Zhengyi strikes the gong, and the story comes to an end. |
Its programme centred around an itinerant storyteller of a century ago plying his trade along the Singapore River. Enthralling his listeners, the music followed the ebb and flow of tall tales being spun, reaching a climax before the inevitable plea for donations. Even audience disquiet was being captured, before a gong signalled it was time to pack up.
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| Photo: Clive Choo |
The longest work on the programme, also directed by Wong, was Chinese composer Zhou Long’s Metal, Stone, Silk and Bamboo in the world premiere of its octet version. Its three demanding movements attempted to relive and recreate the lofty heights of Tang dynasty palace composition through contemporary perpectives.
Dizi exponent Lyu was cast as lead performer, playing dadi, qudi and bangdi, flutes of different registers. Supported by flute, clarinet, violin, cello, zhongruan and percussion, its three varied movements were a tour de force of creative imagination. A repeat performance by the combined forces of SSO and Ding Yi cannot come soon enough.
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