PHOTOS FROM THE 32ND SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL

The 32 Singapore International Piano Festival (2-5 July 2026) has come and gone. And what an adventure that was. For all who love the piano, for its infinite variety of repertoire and possibilities, this was a refreshingly different and liberating experience. The theme of the concert pianist as composer, transcriber and improviser threw up a diversity of piano music one would never have thought could actually be programmed.

Never had so many pianists (six) played their own music, either original works or in improvisations. For the first time, the music of Arnold Schoenberg and John Adams appeared in a pianofest recital. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue made its belated pianofest debut, as did an entire book of Liszt's Annees de pelerinage. The music of women composers, Lili Boulanger, Alexina Louie and Churen Li were heard. Also for the first time, there were late night concerts, which ended near midnight. 

Da new boss

For all these firsts and superlatives, we have 5th artistic director Albert Tiu to thank, for his spirit of curiosity, innovation and adventure. Piano playing from "outside the box" has been a credo of his, and long may that continue, or at least for the next five years. Here are the photos, in chronological sequence, taken from my camera and LG Lim's smartphone.

Thursday (2 July 2026)

Conrad Tao loved the idea that Gershwin and
Schoenberg were tennis kakis, while
Rachmaninov fancied Art Tatum's playing.

Concert pianist or punk rocker?

There are no pianists more elegant
than Churen Li.

Friday (3 July 2026)

Oops, wrong photo!
That's Karen Aw and Lee Tan Ni
from the SLO Madama Butterfly
production next door in Victoria Theatre.

Hyung-ki Joo gets much more work
now that Igudesman is far away.

The only time in PianoFest history
where the pianist gets to sing, whistle,
pluck and strike piano strings.

The only time in PianoFest history
where the artistic director and pianist from
another recital get to gatecrash.

The totally original origami
folded programme (by Jonathan Lim)
of Jonathan Shin's recital.

Jonathan Shin's programme included
Shin, Mozart, Boulanger, Ge, Muhly,
Yoshimatsu, Andres and Parks. 

Saturday (4 July 2026)

After Jon Kimura Parker's masterclass.

Sunday (5 July 2026)

Sean Chen being totally absorbed
in his playing.

His transcription of the slow movement
from J.S.Bach's Violin Sonata No.3
was totally delectable.

Can one get more eclectic than
Jon Kimura Parker playing
Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, 
Adams, Louie, Parker, Chick Corea,
Oscar Peterson and Sir Elton John?

Little wonder he is smiling!

Albert Tiu, Sean Chen and their wives.

Pianomaniac shows JKP
photos from 1984.

By golly, those guys look like us!

Sean Chen is a perfect role model
for young pianists.

No.2 and No.5
(but this is not a SPECTRE meeting)

SIX PIANO RECITALS NOT TO MISS: 32ND SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL

 

32ND SINGAPORE

INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL

2-5 JULY 2026

Under the visionary curation of new Artistic Director Albert Tiu, the Singapore International Piano Festival receives a new lease of life. The overriding theme of this year’s festival is the pianist as composer, transcriber and improviser. These disparate qualities of a piano virtuoso have long been forgotten, as one needs to go far back into history to encounter personalities like Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Ferruccio Busoni, Sergei Rachmaninov and Percy Grainger to realise what modern day performers have lost.

Yes, we do have pianists like Marc-Andre Hamelin, Stephen Hough and Gabriela Montero with us, but Albert Tiu has unearthed six pianists (including two Singaporeans) who live with this ethos, a throwback to the “Golden Age of piano playing”. Four full-length recitals at Victoria Concert Hall and two late night recitals at the Play Den of The Arts House beckon, a chance to listen to repertoire spanning the baroque to modern day, and illuminating piano-playing with new ears.

Here are the recitals and some highlights

Thursday 2 July 2026, 7.30 pm

Emigres and Friends

CONRAD TAO

includes original compositions, Ravel Sonatine, Schoenberg Klavierstucke Op.33, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Thursday 2 July 2026, 10 pm

Echoes and Refractions

CHUREN LI

includes original compositions, Ravel Ondine & Mendelssohn-Liszt On Wings of Song

Friday 3 July 2026, 7.30 pm

Dreams and Nightmares

HYUNG-KI JOO

includes original compositions, Ravel Gaspard de la nuit & La Valse, J.S.Bach Partita No.1

Friday 3 July 2026, 10 pm

Restless Natures

JONATHAN SHIN

includes original compositions, Mozart Fantasy in D minor, Lili Boulanger Deux Morceaux

Sunday 5 July 2026, 3pm

Music and Magic

SEAN CHEN

includes original compositions, Rameau Gavotte, Dukas-Chen The Sorceror’s Apprentice, Liszt Italie from Annees de pelerinage

Sunday 5 July 2026, 7.30 pm

Structure and Spontaneity

JON KIMURA PARKER

includes original compositions, Mozart Sonata K.311, Beethoven Appassionata Sonata, Ravel Jeux d’eau, John Adams China Gates

Tickets available at SISTIC:

Singapore International Piano Festival | Singapore Symphony Orchestra

CODA - THE FINAL NIGHTMARE MUSIC / Igudesman & Joo / Review

 

CODA – THE FINAL NIGHTMARE MUSIC

Igudesman & Joo

Victoria Concert Hall

Tuesday (10 June 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 12 June 2025 with the title "Music comedy duo call it a day".

After entertaining concertgoers for some 21 years, the British musical comedy act of Igudesman & Joo has decided to call it a day. The Singapore leg of its farewell tour by Russia-born violinist Aleksey Igudesman and British-Korean pianist Hyung-ki Joo was a two-hour show without intermission. It, however, felt much shorter than that.

Photo: Julia Wesely

The duo reminisced about how they met as 12-year-olds at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where they gave the premiere of Igudesman’s First Violin Sonata, after both had too much to drink. They recreated that scene with a rave and nightmare, probably laying the inspiration for their famous A Little Nightmare Music show.

I&J’s modus operandi is taking the mickey out of all-too-serious classical music. This requires sound knowledge of history, traditions, repertoire and performing styles to parody dead composers and slaughter sacred cows. All this with a knowing and irreverent mix of popular culture.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a particularly susceptible victim. Whoever thought of conflating the opening theme of his Symphony No.40 in G minor with Monty Norman’s bass-heavy James Bond Theme? What about playing the Turkish Rondo in A major (the original is in A minor) and making it sound even more Oriental? That takes technique and not a little virtuosity.

The dour Russian Sergei Rachmaninov was also ripe for ribbing. Fritz Kreisler’s Preghiera (Prayer) is a transcription of the slow movement from Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, which was ripped off in Eric Carmen’s All By Myself. This morph from Rach to Carmen was kind of predictable but not Joo’s singing which turned it into a total weep fest. Breaking up is hard to do.

Photo: Leslie Theseira

The advent of YouTube saw I&J’s Rachmaninov Had Big Hands turn into a huge viral hit. The final two chord-laden pages of his Prelude in C sharp minor (Op.3 No.2) were played with an armful of wooden blocks fitted with hammers at the right intervals. This routine never gets tired.

Charles Gounod had already turned Johann Sebastian Bach’s Prelude in C major (The Well Tempered-Clavier) into an Ave Maria with a melodic line. To watch this duo transform that into Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango takes another level of genius.

Photo: Leslie Theseira

The concert had to end sometime, and the epic piece to close was I&J’s “original” and extended version of Beethoven’s Fur Elise, a set of variations which quoted more Beethoven (sonatas and symphonies non-exempt), Mozart, Brahms, Franck, Wieniawski and melodies from The Godfather, Addams Family, Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic, X-Files and Johann Pachelbel’s Canon sung with audience participation.

Their encore was an indication of music’s future, a play on Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive, with smart selections from Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, Michel Legrand’s I Will Wait For You, Joseph Kosma’s Autumn Leaves, Charles Fox’s Killing Me Softly and most poignantly, When I Am Laid In Earth from Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas.

Their final witticism was, “Mozart died a poor man, but look at me,” sung to the Beatles’ Let It Be. A standing ovation was the only plausible outcome.

Always mugging for the camera.
Did Igudesman do something to his hair?
Must try that sometime myself!

UPBEAT / Igudesman & Joo / Review

UPBEAT

Igudesman & Joo with the

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra

Conservatory Concert Hall

Saturday (17 November 2018)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 19 November 2018 with the title "Fun with comical and classical mash-ups."

The musical comedy duo of violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-ki Joo have been delighting audiences, live and on YouTube, for years. Coming across much better in the flesh, their two-hour-long gig was enhanced by the connivance of the excellent and totally sporting Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra.

Musical jokes tend to be a little too sophisticated for casual audiences, more often suited for cued-in listeners than being outrightly hilarious. Igudesman and Joo however found a happy medium by adding a little slapstick to their schtick but stuck to being seriously good musicians.

Whoever thought they could both sing or conduct? They took turns leading the orchestra in An Austrian In America. The 5-movement spiel was to mash up classical tunes by Austrian greats with American standards. The Overture saw Strauss’ Die Fledermaus Overture mixed with Old Folks At Home, Simple Gifts and Yankee Doodle. Schubert Loves America muddied Die Forelle (The Trout) with, well, America.

Oh My Darling Johann Strauss had Wiener Blut bloodied with Clementine, sounding like La Valse gone horribly wrong. And no prizes of guessing what melodies got marching orders in Stars And Radetzky Forever. The audience also got their spot of synchronised clapping.

Speaking of audiences, there was a send-up to their bronchial members in the form of a concerto for coughing violinist. The soloist did not get to play a single note, but his respiratory affliction soon infected the conductor, orchestra and audience, resulting in a ca-cough-phonous conclusion.

“And a piece by Rachmaninov,” announced Igudesman, and that was the entire 1^st movement of the Second Piano Concerto. After its sonorous opening chords, Joo showed that the first few minutes could easily be faked as the orchestra’s tutti soared with the big tune. As it turned out, he could also play the tricky solo bits as well, and fairly convincing too.  

Among the best spoofs was the baiting of Richard Wagner, the vilest anti-Semite among composers. The idea of turning his Ride Of The Valkyries and Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin into a riot of Klezmer and Kalinka was a brilliant riposte to the boor of Bayreuth. At its climax, Igudesman sporting a Darth Vader mask proclaimed, “I am your... bride!”

In the same vein were uproarious orchestrations of that pesky Nokia ringtone (originally a waltz for guitar by Tarrega) in the styles of Mozart, Brahms, Schoenberg and culminating in a battle between conductors where Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Dvorak tussled for the right to conclude the work. Beethoven (his Ninth Symphony) won.

There was even a spot for young Singaporean guitarist Kevin Loh to share the limelight, alongside original compositions by the duo. The fun had to end sometime, and it was to the strains of Zorba The Greek, Sabre Dance and Chariots Of Fire. It should be concluded that Igudesman & Joo are the best comedians among musicians, and the best musicians among comedians.   

  

Darth Voyder sticks it up to Richard Wagner,
"Up yours, goy!"