A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE - TRADITIONS IN BLOOM / Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

 

A YOUNG PERSONS GUIDE – 

TRADITIONS IN BLOOM

Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Sunday (8 March 2026), 4 pm

Singapore is literally growing orchestras by the year, and in this concert, one got to witness what happens in the nursery. The children of the Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (SYPO) were joined by Year 3 orchestral pedagogy students of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in an hour-long concert that served as a harmonious classroom lesson for both students and their parents.

SYPO players stand up to be counted.

The SYPO students dressed in hong bao red t-shirts formed the bulk of the strings, while YST students in black occupied the principal seats and almost all the woodwind, brass and percussion sections. Together they made a joyous noise, conducted by YST alumnus Luo Wei.

The concert begin with familiar strains of the Chinese New Year favourite, Mao Yuan’s Joy of Spring (Xin Chun Le), with just the strings of SYPO. There was a rawness to the sound, but that was overshadowed by the sheer enthusiasm invested in the playing. It just got better with the older students joining in for the two popular works influenced by folk music.

Liu Tie Shan and Mao Yuan’s Dance of the Yao People needs little introduction, as it was performed in SYPO’s last concert as well as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural concerts in 1979. Beginning slow, it soon gathers in pace. The main theme recurs as in a rondo, but gets faster and more voluminous with each run. Woodwind solos shine as the dance is ornamented, and very soon the merry-making erupts through all the ranks. It was a joyous reading, and one can say that the sound generated has already surpassed that of the SSO during its early years.

Photo: Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

Roughly the same formula was repeated in Georges Enesco’s Romanian Rhapsody No.1. The slow opening involved solo clarinet and oboe in a call and response routine, and very soon the strings join the fray. If the Chinese dance was vigorous, this one was energy multiplied manifold, and there is always a thrill hearing cascading strings move through the orchestra, with rising strings emerging at the other end. The final dance was an exciting hora, bringing the enjoyable piece to a virile close.

The major work in the concert was Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, also known as Variations on a Theme by Henry Purcell, the subject being the Rondeau from Abdelazer. The showpiece involved all the sections of the orchestra, as well as impressive solos from each of the instruments. Narration was provided by engaging host Lai Chong, and cartoon visuals were projected on the large screen above. For the many parents in the audience, there was now no excuse for mistaking one instrument from another, besides learning how an orchestra functions.

The students created a big sound for the tuttis, while the many tricky solos were handled with ease by the conservatory students. The closing fugue was a tour de force of virtuosity, and there was no shortage of spirit and verve as the work wound to a suitably rousing and rowdy conclusion. 

It has been a pleasure to witness these young musicians at work under the uniting baton of Luo Wei. While only a fraction of them will become professional musicians in the long run, there is little doubt that all of them will become lovers of music for life.

Photo: Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

Photo: Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

SYMPHONY OF NATION. HARMONY OF YOUTH / Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

 

SYMPHONY OF NATION / 

HARMONY OF YOUTH

Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (20 August 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 August 2025 with the title "Singapore Youth Philharmonic off to raw but promising start".

The Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (SYPO) made its debut as recently as last year, and in a very ambitious SG60 celebratory concert, attempted to fly before it had barely started walking. Joined by 31 members of the China Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, a very big orchestra assembled and conducted by Luo Wei had a fair share of stumbles but ultimately stood up tall to be counted.

Photo: Andy Tan

Amilcare Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda, recently performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in its Disney Fantasia concert, opened the evening. The young musicians took a little time to warm up but soon had a good feel of its dance rhythms, provided a rousingly animated start.

There were two world premieres of works by Singaporean composers. Solace (Op.10) by 20-year-old national serviceman Chia Ren Cher dwelled on ruminations of troubled youth, with a neo-Romantic feel reminiscent of Russian composers like Alexander Glazunov and Anatol Liadov. Brimming with ideas, the work featured difficult passages for woodwinds and brass with many pushed to the limits of abilities. Despite the rawness of playing, there is much to suggest Chia is a compositional talent mature beyond his tender years.

Young Artist Award recipient Chen Zhangyi’s Istana Woodneuk opened with ceremonial drumming on Malay hand-held frame drums, a work celebrating the derelict 90-year-old palace off Tyersall Road once owned by the Sultan of Johore. Major solos by cellist Fong Tze Meng and violinist Kaleb Toh representing Sultan Ibrahim and his Scottish bride Helen played like a movement from a double concerto, remembering a romance that did not last.

Closing the first half was Liu Tieshan and Mao Yuan’s Dance of the Yao People, based on ethnic music by indigenous tribes in China’s Guangxi province. It received a suitably boisterous reading. More significantly, this was originally performed at the Singapore Symphony’s inaugural concert in January 1979 led by its late founding conductor Choo Hoey. One legacy of Singapore’s musical pioneers is why this nation has so many good young orchestras today, including the SYPO.

Playing for some 50 minutes, one wondered whether the young musicians could weather the storms of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.3 in E flat major (Op.55), also known as the Eroica Symphony. Under Luo’s taut direction, the performance was a very encouraging if not a totally polished one.

Photo: Andy Tan

From the manner of its punched-out opening chords, one knew this was going to be a serious account, as the tension and urgency that came after so proved. The second movement’s funeral march carried the weight of the entire symphony, and while it dragged a little, the most lucid moments were provided by excellent solo oboist Hu Qiuzi.

The Scherzo bristled with energy, with the trio of French horns in the Trio beginning promisingly but losing steam midway through. The finale’s variations on the dance from Beethoven’s own ballet The Creatures of Prometheus were well held together with busy counterpoint taken in its stride. SYPO will no doubt have many fine concerts ahead, and they have only just begun.