SSO PRE-TOUR CONCERTS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

PRE-TOUR CONCERTS

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

University Cultural Centre

Thursday & Friday 

(8 & 9 October 2026)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 11 October 2026 with the title "SSO delivers impressive sampler of programme for upcoming China tour".

Come 13 to 25 October, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by newly-appointed Finnish music director Hannu Lintu will embark on a seven-city tour of China, its first since 2011. Displaced from its usual performing homes at Esplanade and Victoria Concert Halls because of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, the orchestra’s two pre-tour concerts were held at the National University of Singapore’s Cultural Centre.

Despite a 1700 capacity and being perfect for university convocations, it is unfortunately not an ideal venue for symphony concerts. The orchestra nonetheless persevered, opening the first concert with Wang Chenwei’s The Sisters’ Islands (2006), the most performed 21st century work by a Singaporean composer.

It has weathered 20 years well, originally a work for Chinese instruments when it won top billing at the inaugural Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Compositions. A programmatic symphonic poem, Malayan scales and dances were used to narrate the legend about two sisters Linah and Minah who get transformed into a pair of islands in the Singapore Straits.

Highly accessible in idiom, it also scored a conch shell and ocarina to salute maritime origins, and is considered a prime example of Nanyang music, literally music from the south seas.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Next came Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, with soloist Chloe Chua, now 19-years-old and pursuing undergraduate musical studies in Berlin. Since winning the Yehudi Menuhin competition in 2018, she has continued to mature musically. Her tone is warm and generous, exhibiting excellent intonation, and coupled with a winsome stage demeanour completely free of artifice.

Singing bel canto lines were brought to the fore in the opening and central movements. When the stops were pulled for the mercurial finale, Chua delivered without reservation, drawing loud cheers and prolonged applause from the audience.

Photo: Chris P.Lim

On Friday’s concert, she was joined by Chinese string virtuoso He Ziyu in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364) for violin and viola. Both soloists played with the orchestra in the tuttis, and worked like hand-and-glove for the solo passages. The slow movement’s love-in was a clear case how both young musicians had grown with the work since recording it with Hans Graf in 2023.

Following the rip-roaring Rondo finale, the audience was rewarded with an encore, an exquisitely beautiful arrangement of Mongolian folksong Mu Ge (Pastoral Song) for both instruments by SSO violist Guan Qi.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Both evenings closed with Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony in D major, also know as the Titan. The venue’s dry acoustics were unflattering, especially for unaccompanied winds and brass. Thus the first movement’s evocation of dawn lacked mystery and atmosphere, despite the players best efforts. However, once the strings sang out the Ging heut morgen übers Feld (I Went The Morning Over The Field) theme from the Wayfarer Songs, the ensemble began to settle.

The vigourous Ländler that followed was taken at a good whip, with the boisterous pastoral setting now firmly established. The droll canon with Frère Jacques in the minor key for the funeral procession was just as trenchant, but one wished the Klezmer episodes that followed had a little more swing. Perhaps that sense of reservation might scale down in subsequent performances.

When Mahler proclaimed the “symphony must have everything”, he also meant earthiness and vulgarity being among the attributes. It was no holds barred, however, for the finale’s “cry from the wounded heart” opening the tumultuous movement, and culminating with the eight French horns rising on their feet at the end being a particularly stirring moment.

Besides enjoying a more nuanced and settled performance, the audience on the second evening were treated to a further encore, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ luxuriant Andante Festivo for strings and timpani, performed with conviction and emotion. China, be prepared to be impressed.

Read Shawn Hoo's report on SSO's reception in Shanghai in The Straits Times:

SSO, violinist Chloe Chua kick off China tour in sold-out Shanghai concert | The Straits Times

The stars finally get to meet.
Photo: Yanhuipiaoliang's IG

SSO PRE-TOUR CONCERT: CHLOE CHUA & HANNU LINTU: JEWEL AND TITAN / Review

CHLOE CHUA & HANNU LINTU:

JEWEL AND TITAN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

University Cultural Centra Auditorium

Thursday (8 October 2026)

An edited version of this review was first published on Bachtrack.com on 9 October 2026 with the title "Impressive Wang, Mendelssoh and Mahler from the Singapore Symphony".

Although the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is multicultural in its composition of players, it remains the only predominantly ethnic Chinese Western professional symphony orchestra outside of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Just like the nation and its population, Singapore presents an interesting curiosity to people from the mainland. Its seven-city concert tour to the People’s Republic of China from 13 to 25 October led by music director Hannu Lintu is the first since 2011.

The first of two pre-tour concerts opened with the most performed 21st century work by a Singapore composer, Wang Chenwei’s The Sisters’ Islands (2006). This programmatic symphonic poem is based on a legend from the Indo-Malayan Riau archipelago (which Singapore is part of), and uses the pelog scale for its thematic material. Malayan musical idioms and dances present an idyllic soundscape, before the intrusion of dissonance, a pirate attack when the eponymous sisters Linah and Minah are assaulted and shanghaied. 

The merciful gods turn them into a pair of islands, the call of a conch shell and ocarina signaling a return to harmony in the high seas. This work, originally written for Chinese instruments and transcribed for Western orchestra, is now considered representative of Nanyang music, literally music from the south seas (Southeast Asia).

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor (Op.64) was the showcase for Singapore’s best-selling violinist Chloe Chua, who is presently pursuing undergraduate musical studies in Berlin. Her presence alone would account for sold-out houses here and in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Finding celebrity at the age of eleven after sharing first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin competition in 2018, she has continued to mature musically, and this performance was a sign of this progress. 

Her tone is warm and generous, exhibiting excellent intonation, and coupled with a winsome stage demeanour completely free of artifice. Early Romantic music prides itself on singing bel canto lines, which were brought to the fore in the opening and central movements. When the stops were pulled for the mercurial finale, Chua delivered without reservation, drawing loud cheers and prolonged applause from the audience. The result should be no different in China, one predicts.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

The orchestra’s touring warhorse was Mahler’s First Symphony in D major, also known as the Titan. Because of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, neither Esplanade nor Victoria Concert Hall were available, necessitating a shift westwards to National University of Singapore’s Cultural Centre and its cavernous 1700-seat auditorium. Not designed as a dedicated concert hall, its dry acoustics were not ideal, especially for unaccompanied winds and brass. Thus the first movement’s evocation of dawn lacked mystery and atmosphere, despite the players best efforts, but once the strings sang out Ging heut Morgen übers Feld theme from Lieder eines Fahrenden gesellen (Songs of the Wayfarer), the ensemble began to settle.

The vigourous Ländler that followed was taken at a good whip, with the boisterous pastoral setting already well established. The droll canon with Frère Jacques in the minor key for the funeral procession was just as trenchant, but one only wished that the Klezmer episodes that followed had more swing. Perhaps that sense of reservation might scale down in subsequent performances. 

When Mahler proclaimed the “symphony must have everything”, he also meant vulgarity being among the attributes. It was no holds barred, however, for the finale’s “cry from the wounded heart” opening the tumultuous movement, and culminating with the eight French horns rising on their feet towards the end being a particularly stirring moment. China, be prepared to be impressed!

Star Rating: ****

The original Bachtrack.com review can be read here:

Impressive Wang, Mendelssohn and Mahler from the Singapore Symphony | Bachtrack

ZARATHUSTRA AND BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

ZARATHUSTRA AND 

BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (24 July 2026)

This review was published on 25 July with the title "Dynamic SSO steps up to music director Hannu Lintu's unusual pairing of Strauss and Bartok".

The tandem of German composer Richard Strauss with Hungarian modernist Bela Bartok does not seem like obvious bedfellows. However, the two major works programmed in the second concert of Singapore Symphony Orchestra new music director Hannu Lintu’s inaugural series proved uncannily synergistic.

Both Richard Strauss and Bela Bartok
composed these masterpieces in their relative youth.

Strauss was the master of orchestral opulence, and his tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1896) had it all. Is there any classical work with a more recognisable opening two minutes? His famous depiction of Sunrise opened with a low rumble from Koh Jia Hwei’s pipe organ, ushering in the iconic three-note motif (C-G-C) on Jon Paul Dante’s solo trumpet and an orchestral outburst in glorious C major.

Such an arresting opening gambit could have rendered the rest of the 33-minute work superfluous, but Lintu’s clear-headed direction ensured this first of climaxes to be part of a series of coherently connected episodes. While reveling in big moments, many moments of chamber music-like intimacy also stood out.

The journey of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Ubermensch (Superman), pondering his yearnings and celebrating his achievements, also found a pivotal role for SSO’s new concertmaster Andrew Beer, whose ecstatic violin solo in the great waltz of the Tanzlied (Dance Song) was another high point. The orchestra responded with much immediacy, responsive to every dynamic shift in the music’s ebb and flow all through to a retiring but fulfilling close.

Photo: Jack Yam

While Strauss exulted in great aspirations of mankind, Bartok’s only opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, composed in 1911 but premiered in 1918, probed the underbelly and unmentionables of the soul. This highly effective concert-staging was sung in the Hungarian with Bela Balazs’ original libretto, with a spoken prologue voiced by famous Hungarian conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy.

Photo: Jack Yam

There were sinister undertones to this “Once upon a time” introduction, heralding an hour-long psychological drama plumbing the deepest and darkest recesses of human ambition. Chinese bass-baritone Shenyang portrayed the eponymous villain with a cool and unflappable mien meant to be inscrutable. Opposite him was British mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston as newest bride Judith, displaying a tour de force of contrasted emotions – overbearing love, extreme vulnerability and inquisitiveness with a penchant for self-destruction.

Photo: Jack Yam

The pair of opposites were well-matched, their emotional tug-of-war accompanied by music of intricate detail best appreciated in a live performance rather than in recordings. This was Bartok’s orchestration at his most Romantic, preceding a more recognisable brutalist style of later years. A huge climax was reached at the opening of the fifth door, a revelation of Bluebeard’s immense wealth and territory, with stentorian chords in glorious C major - a most Straussian moment.

Photo: Jack Yam

The unfolding tension was acutely matched by Gabriel Chan’s deft lighting design and the audience engaged by English surtitles (expertly operated by Michael Huang). Most of all, the very positive audience response for sophisticated programming choices such as this bodes well for the concert seasons under Lintu’s helm to come.

HANNU LINTU INAUGURAL SERIES: GIL SHAHAM & MAHLER 5 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

HANNU LINTU INAUGURAL SERIES:

GIL SHAHAM & MAHLER 5

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Friday (17 July 2026)

Esplanade Concert Hall

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 20 July 2026 with the title "Hannu Lintu makes his mark in inaugural concert with the Singapore Symphony".

Until today, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has had just three music directors in its 47-year history – Choo Hoey, Lan Shui and Hans Graf. Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu was introduced this evening as its the fourth music director. A towering physical presence with a hint of a wizened smile, he made his presence felt immediately.

Lintu’s inaugural concert programme consisted wholly of 20th and 21st century works, opening with the world premiere of Après l'Odyssée by Singaporean composer Tan Chan Boon (born 1965). The École Normale-schooled Tan is Singapore’s most prolific symphonist, and this nearly 20-minute-long commission is the first movement of his yet to be performed Seventh Symphony. 

His models are anachronistically Romantic, with Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss coming to mind, not least the pastoral opening string melody backed by cascading woodwind chords. The movement’s title After The Odyssey was premised on the feeling of relief and uneasy calm after his Sixth Symphony (L’Odyssey, recounting the Covid-19 pandemic). Its breezy beginning was qualified by a fugal treatment of its second subject. Tension ensued with the introduction of brass and percussion, gradually building to a fulsome climax before receding in a quiet close that portends hope for the future. A performance of the symphony in full is keenly anticipated.

American violinist Gil Shaham made a welcome return to Singapore with the Asian premiere of Nomad Concerto by American composer Mason Bates (born 1977). Conceived in four movements, this deliberately exotic yet gratifyingly tonal work imagines an assemblage had Ravel been requested to expand his rhapsodic Tzigane and throw in some New World jazz for good measure. 

Photo: LG Lim

Shaham’s virtuosity defined its first two movements, Song of the balloon man and Magician at the bazaar, casting a spell as an itinerant entertainer journeying through Eastern Europe to the Middle East. The mystically desolate slow movement Desert vision: oasis quoted a Jewish song before the rocking syncopations of Le jazz manouche, à la Django Reinhardt as Bates’ own programme notes reminds, brought down the house. The ensuing cheers ensured that the Magician movement, with its John Williams’ Harry Potter moments, was encored.

The only familiar music on show was Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, in a gripping performance that was long on drama but short on bombast. Jon Paul Dante’s excellent trumpet solo set the tone for a deliberately paced funeral march, yet there was never a moment where the narrative lagged. In the tumultuous struggle of the second movement, the marking mit größter Vehemenz (with greatest vehemence) was taken most literally, yet the earlier march’s driving impetus remained fresh in the subconscious. The central Scherzo’s French horn solo resounded like an exultant call from the abyss, heralding a celebration of some perverse joy, such was Mahler’s idea of irony.

There were no doubts in the Adagietto’s love message, delivered plain and without neuroses by gilded strings and harpist Gulnara Mashurova. In the attacca finale, an initial French horn fluff did little to dispirit the clever counterpoint Mahler wove into his satirical Wunderhorn song Lob des hohen Verstandes (In Praise of High Intellect), wittily closing the symphony on a blazing high. 

The orchestra responded with the acute awareness of a band guided by a fresh and uncompromising new leader who knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. Hannu Lintu has just ushered in an exciting and enticingly interesting new future for the Singapore Symphony in seasons to come.

Photo: LG Lim

Star Rating: *****

The original review may be found here:

Hannu Lintu makes his mark in inaugural Singapore Symphony concert | Bachtrack

SHOSTAKOVICH WITH LEONIDAS KAVAKOS & HANNU LINTU / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

SHOSTAKOVICH WITH

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS & HANNU LINTU

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (9 April 2026)

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 13 April 2026 with the title "Lintu, Kavakos and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra make the case for Shostakovich".

Has Dmitri Shostakovich become the new Rachmaninov in Singapore? There have never been more performances of Dmitri Shostakovich’s music in Singapore within such a short space in living memory. Two weeks ago, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra scaled his Eleventh Symphony with Eliahu Inbal conducting, and the First Piano Concerto followed with Yeol Eum Son’s brilliant fingers a week later. The Fifth Symphony will be heard from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestral Institute in two days’ time, and under SSO’s Music Director-Designate Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu, two blockbusters attracted audiences the size that would usually flock to Rachmaninov evenings.

Photo: Jack Yam

The Soviet era composer’s blend of 20th century modernism, dissonant but ultimately tonal, with communicative raw emotions identifiable with contemporary living, was what packed them in. Raw and gritty, as opposed to Rachmaninov’s lush and opulent, also found receptive ears. There was no virtuoso more suave than Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos for the First Violin Concerto in A minor (Op.99), composed in 1947. 

The opening Nocturne pitted low strings against the high line seamlessly established by Kavakos, whose clear and incisive tones sang out like a voice in the wilderness. The bitterness expressed, followed by lashings of vitriol in the Scherzo, where violin battled spiky woodwinds in a hammer-and-tongs struggle, would be suppressed until after Stalin’s death in 1953.

The concerto was clearly about a man against an oppressive totalitarian system, which the original dedicatee David Oistrakh fully understood. Kavakos, despite his cool approach, was never at odds with this, and the ensuing Passacaglia reinforced its gravity. There was a long pause for effect before the searing solo cadenza which launched inexorably into the finale’s Burlesque. In its frenetic pages, the baton flew off Lintu’s grasp, landing in front of Kavakos who returned it to the mirth of the audience. That was a brief moment of comic relief amid the flailing Klezmer-influenced mayhem which brought the concerto to a explosive close, greeted by a chorus of cheers. 

Kavakos’ encore of J.S.Bach’s Loure from Partita No.3 in E major (BWV.1006) provided the perfect balm for the frayed nerves that came before.

Shostakovich’s longest symphony, the Seventh or “Leningrad”, composed during the thousand-day Nazi siege of the city where a million souls perished, completed the evening. Should this be regarded as absolute or programme music, or propagandist hubris for a wartime cause? Lintu and his charges let the music speak for itself, with sound production being the primary agenda. To this end, four French horns, three trumpets and three trombones were placed in the gallery behind the orchestra for maximal projection... and it worked. Seldom has there been a more clear-headed performance of the music, with its themes well-delineated and never strained beyond incredulity. The battle depicted resistance not so much against Fascism but against the banalities of vulgarity.

That infamous first movement invasion theme (based on either Lehar or Tchaikovsky, later parodied by Bartok) and its ensuing crescendo was built up organically, and ratcheted to an ear-lacerating climax. Guo Siping’s plaintive bassoon solo provided the desolate denouement. After the exhausting half-hour mark, the central slow movements provided relief despite interludes of upheavals for contrast, and it was the finale which picked up from the opening movement’s exertions. The transition to C major at its conclusion provided the final redemption for the city which “Stalin destroyed and Hitler finished off”. 

Photo: Jack Yam

The 78 minutes was a journey well spent. If this show of passion and commitment cannot stir zeal and interest in Singapore for arguably the 20th century’s greatest composer, nothing else will.

Star Rating: *****

The original review on Bachtrack.com:

Lintu, Kavakos and the SSO make the case for Shostakovich | Bachtrack