VIVA CONCERTI: WHERE THE TWAIN SHALL MEET / Niu Niu with Metropolitan Festival Orchestra / Review

 

VIVA CONCERTI:

WHERE THE TWAIN SHALL MEET

Niu Niu (Piano) with

Metropolitan Festival Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Tuesday (27 October 2026), 7.30 pm

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 October 2026 with the title "Pianist Niu Niu pulls off eight concertos with soul and no showboating".

Experiencing eight concertos in a single evening is the musical equivalent of feasting at an international buffet – a guarantee of indigestion. Yet there was method in the madness of this mammoth undertaking by the Chinese former child prodigy pianist Niu Niu (Zhang Shengliang).

Viva Concerti was the fundraiser for the 20th anniversary of VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer whose chairperson is Mrs Jennifer Yeo, herself a fine amateur pianist. Supported by the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra conducted by Chan Tze Law, the first half was crafted like some Romantic mega-concerto of three movements.

The first movement of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with all its majesty accompanied by crunching piano chords opened the show. Niu Niu announced himself as a highly musical and sensitive soul, whose virtuoso feats are accomplished without extraneous gestures or showboating.

Those tired of self-serving antics by pianists pandering to popular appeal will find him a refreshing change, as he lets the music speak for itself. In the Romance from Fryderyk Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, lyrical sensibilities ruled, backed by silky-smooth orchestral strings.

Its sublime conclusion in the key of E major segued seamlessly into the finale of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, which also opens in the same key. Here, the tendency to milk the big melody was hard to resist but allied with a superior technical arsenal for a spectacular close, such quibbles were rendered irrelevant.

The second half opened with the Butterfly Lovers Concerto by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, in an abridged version with Niu Niu making his fiddling debut on a 1753 G.B.Guadagnini violin from the Rin Collection. A slender tone and sounding over-cautious made this his least successful outing.

It was back to keyboard swashbuckling for the dramatic but short first movement from Franz Liszt’s First Piano Concerto, which in E flat major became the perfect prelude to the joyously romping Rondo of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, also called the Emperor.

So far, Niu Niu had been mostly strait-jacketed by classical forms and norms, and he made a spectacular departure with the only work performed in its entirety - George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Piquant harmonies in various passages soon gave way to long stretches of free improvisation, fleshing out the work to brilliant effect. That alone was worth the price of entry.

The eighth and final concert was the finale, Defend The Yellow River, from the Yellow River Concerto composed by a committee of six from Beijing’s Central Philharmonic Society. All the tropes and cliches from earlier concertos came to a flag-waving, tub-thumping and jingoistic head.

Niu Niu’s three encores included the delightful Beautiful Garden by Jennifer Yeo (composed as a 19-year-old) performed with orchestral accompaniment, his own bossa nova-filled Sunny Day and an outlandish improvisation of Nessun Dorma from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot. After such keyboard riches, none shall sleep indeed.

All photos by courtesy of 

VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer.

NIU NIU PREVIEWS GALA CONCERT FOR VIVA FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER

For its 20th anniversary celebration, Viva Foundation for Children with Cancer is presenting a fundraising gala concert on 27 October 2026 at Esplanade Concert Hall entitled Viva Concerti: Where The Twain Shall Meet. The concert features Chinese former child prodigy pianist Niu Niu performing eight piano concertos with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra conducted by Chan Tze Law.

Jennifer Yeo, Chairman of Viva Foundation
gave the opening address. An accomplished
pianist herself, she has performed with the SSO
to raise funds for the orchestra.

On Wednesday 2 September, Niu Niu gave a preview of this concert by performing a piano recital at Viva Hub, Novena Medical Centre. His programme of popular keyboard classics included an 8-minute mash-up of the eight piano concertos to be performed.

For the record, movements from the eight concertos to be performed include:

1. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1

2. Chopin Piano Concerto No.1

3. Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2

4. Butterfly Lovers Concerto

5. Liszt Piano Concerto No.1

6. Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5

7. Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

8. Yellow River Concerto

At the age of 12, Niu Niu became the
youngest pianist to record all the Chopin Etudes.

Niu Niu was a student of the legendary
Leslie Howard besides being a Juilliard alumnus.

Niu Niu will also perform the violin (from the Rin Collection) in an abridged version of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, his debut in a violin concerto.

His recital opened with Wang Jianzhong's transcription of Ren Guang's Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon. Also included in were Tchaikovsky's March from Nutcracker (transcribed by Mikhail Pletnev), Liszt's La Campanella, Rachmaninov's 18th Variation from the Paganini Rhapsody, Gershwin's I Got Rhythm and the first movement from Franz Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. 

Niu Niu accomplished this feat of virtuosity and bravura on a Cristofori grand piano which valiantly withstood more multitudes of notes than it had ever endured. As an encore, he let down his hair in an original composition Sunny Day, delighting in infectious bossa nova and samba rhythms.

The preview concert was followed by a sumptuous buffet dinner for all who attended, the photos of which I will not include here.

VIVA CONCERTI:

WHERE THE TWAIN SHALL MEET

NIU NIU PLAYS 8 CONCERTOS

Tickets from $20-1000 

are available at SISTIC:

VIVA Concerti : Where the twain shall meet

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2025: GRAND FINAL / Review

 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

PIANO COMPETITION 2025 

GRAND FINAL 

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall 

Sunday (19 January 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 January 2025 with the title "Singapore International Piano Competition levels up with stellar global competitors".

It is a strange but true fact that there has not been a major international piano competition in Singapore since the Rolex International Piano Competition in 1989. The Singapore International Piano Competition, now in its fifth edition, has been operating under the radar for the past few years, organised by the China-based Global International Musicians Association (GIMA) which has otherwise no imprint here. 

Jury members included
Xiaohan Wang (Artistic Director), Danwen Wei,
Adam Gatehouse, Piers Lane, Gesa Luecker,
Noriko Ogawa, Katarzyna Popova-Zydron
& Albert Tiu.

The competition, however, took a massive leap this year by attracting an international cast of young pianists, judged over multiple rounds by an august international jury (comprising well-known concert pianists and pedagogues) and culminating in a final concerto round with a full symphony orchestra. Judging by the playing in earlier rounds, the standard has never been higher, with 20 pianists from ten Asian and European nations whittled down to just three for the final showdown. 

The Metropolitan Festival Orchestra conducted by Chan Tze Law did the accompanying and the final outcome was nothing less than satisfactory. For someone as young as Leyu Xu from China, at 16 and the most junior competitor, it must have been a daunting task. 

Her nerves mostly served her well in Sergei Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, where she matched the orchestra blow-for-blow. Overcoming the most technically difficult variations with relative ease, the chordal climax of the famous 18th Variation became the glorious pinnacle of her performance. Momentary desynchronisations with the orchestra near the final hurdle threatened to derail the proceedings but she held up well to the end. 

Quite unusually, there were two performances of Sergei Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto in G minor (Op.16). This is regularly essayed in high level piano competitions but not often heard in concert because of its ferocious technical demands. That competition warhorses, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s First and Rachmaninov’s Second and Third Concertos, had been expunged from the prescribed repertoire might have also explained this anomaly. 

Already a seasoned soloist, 26-year-old Russian Philipp Lynov provided the requisite Slavic brooding for the opening slow movement. The gigantic cadenza which entered most surreptitiously was gradually built up with ever-escalating intensity to its monstrous climax of sweeping arpeggios and crashing chords. 

The machine-gun rattling in the Scherzo and myriad grotesqueries of the Intermezzo were very well negotiated before the finale’s tempestuous onslaught of percussive violence. 

This would have been the winning performance if not for 20-year-old Tianyou Li from China replicating the same heroics but in a more nuanced reading which better contrasted darkness and the light of day. 

While Lynov focused fully on the unremitting tragedy, Li’s performance was one that provided glimmers of hope amid a cataclysm. It was this hope that made the difference. And it also helped that the orchestra was performing the concerto for a second time in the evening, hence a better-oiled outing. 

The jury voted to award third place to Xu, second to Lynov and the crowning first to Li, who also won the prize for the best performance of J.S.Bach. A very bright musical future beckons.

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2025 TAKES PLACE THIS WEEK!

 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

PIANO COMPETITION 2025 

Believe it or not, the first significant international piano competition in Singapore since the Rolex Piano Competition in 1989 is finally taking place. 

The little-publicised Singapore International Piano Competiton, organised by China-based Global International Musicians Association (GIMA) and now in its 6th edition, takes place this week. 

Wang Xiao Han, a Cliburn laureate
is the Artistic Director of the competition.

Featuring an international cast of competitors and international jury, this is the first edition which involves a professional symphony orchestra accompanying three finalists in complete concerto performances, which makes it rather special. 

Xu Leyu, who is now 16,
is one of 20 participants.
(Picture taken in 2019)

The 20 selected participants come from China (6), South Korea (4), Taiwan (2), Poland (2) and one each from Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Israel/USA, Hungary and Italy. The top prize is USD 30,000 and includes a concert tour in Asia.

The Preliminary and Semi-Final rounds take place at the School of the Arts (SOTA) Concert Hall from 14 to 17 January while the Grand Final on Sunday at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory on Sunday 19 January. 

Preliminaries on Tuesday (14 January), Wednesday (15 January) at SOTA Concert Hall featuring solo repertoire up to 45 minutes 

Entry for the Preliminary round is FREE 

by registration at SISTIC:

https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/lite_2025sipcpreliminary 

Semi-Finals on Thursday (16 January) 

and Friday (17 January) at SOTA Concert Hall 

featuring solo repertoire up to 60 minutes and a major violin sonata (choice of Brahms Op.108, Cesar Franck and Richard Strauss) and encore (choice of Paganini, Elgar or Kreisler) with Chinese violinist Ning Feng 

Tickets for the Semi-finals ($30) 

available at SISTIC:

https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/lite_2025sipcsemifinal 

The Metropolitan Festival Orchestra
led by Chan Tze Law
partners the three finalists.

Grand Final on Sunday (19 January) 

at Yong Siew Toh Concert Hall 

with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra 

conducted by Chan Tze Law 

featuring a major piano concerto by Mozart (Nos.20, 22 & 25), Beethoven (Nos.4 & 5), Chopin Nos.1 & 2), Schumann (A minor), Brahms (Nos.1 & 2), Rachmaninov (Nos.1, 4 & Paganini Rhapsody), Ravel (G major) and Prokofiev (No.2). 

Tickets for the Final ($30) 

available at SISTIC:

https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/lite_2025sipcfinal 

Do not miss this rare and special event!

MOVEMENTS IN TIME: ARTWORKS FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY / Metropolitan Festival Orchestra / Review

MOVEMENTS IN TIME
ARTWORKS FROM
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
Metropolitan Festival Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (24 June 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 26 June 2023 with the title "Kelly Tang's new work lights up classical scene".

It is a well-known fact that Singaporean composers do not often get commissions to write substantial works of music. Other than the Singapore Chinese Orchestra which has an ongoing composer-in-residence programme, no major musical organisations here commissions major new works with any regularity. Token gestures just will not do.  

The Music Commissioning Series
was the brainchild of Michael Tay.

 

This is set to change with the new Music Commissioning Series initiated by the Foundation for The Arts and Social Enterprise founded by Michael Tay, Singapore’s former ambassador to the Russian Federation. The Foundation’s first commission was Movements In Time: Artworks From The National Gallery by Cultural Medallion recipient Kelly Tang. Delayed by the pandemic and hindered by the composer’s debilitating stroke, the work finally received its world premiere by the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra conducted by Chan Tze Law.

Conceived as an orchestral suite of seven movements, the 35-minute work was inspired by artworks including paintings, prints and a sculpture by five Singaporean visual artists. Similarities to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition were minimal, as Tang’s pieces were more substantial, some of which may be performed as separate works on their own.

 

With the brief opening Fanfare, dominated by brass, Tang crafted something akin to a film theme, quasi-heroic while nailing his colours to the mast. His idiom was highly accessible, slickly crafted but without leaving his comfort zone. The first artwork, The Idealist, was based on Chua Mia Tee’s famous Epic Poem of Malaya (1955), depicting a standing speaker and his rabble-rousing oration. There was a Socialist-Realist feel, predictably patriotic in character about it.

 

Quite different was Mystery, inspired by Simryn Gill’s Standing Still #28 (2000-2003), a chromatogenic print depicting dereliction and urban decay. Its cautiously traipsing steps suggested something sinister afoot, possessing a similar unease as Mahler’s single-movement Piano Quartet. Following a short Interlude was Contemplation, an oasis for strings which reflected upon Eng Tow’s Bowls (1979). This eminently repeatable movement also included a slightly agitated central fugal section before closing with solo trumpet and solace in G major.

 

The most dissonant movement was Enigma, after Han Sai Por’s Extinction Series 12 (2009), with its tension ratcheted to a martial high before a haunting balm with solo flute and harp to conclude. The final Dance, inspired by Voices of the Soul (undated) in batik by Tzee (Sakarsi Said), celebrated with ethnic clapping rhythms which provided for a suitably festive ending. The ensuing ovation also saw its last pages encored by the orchestra.

 

Over the next ten years, it is hoped that the Series sees that rarest of Singapore’s musical entities – the symphony – be further explored. Tan Chan Boon’s six symphonies await to be premiered, while the late Leong Yoon Pin’s two symphonies are ripe for re-assessments. The splendid Metropolitan Festival Orchestra under conductor Chan are just the people to do it.

 

The concert opened with the first recipient of the Foundation’s Prodigy Fund, 11-year-old Mikkel Myer Lee performing a short Chopin programme including the Third Ballade and a selection of Preludes (Op.28). He was excellent. 

This was followed by a documentary film about the recording of Russian composer Vladimir Martynov’s Utopia Symphony (formerly titled Singapore: A Geopolitical Utopia), commissioned by Tay in 2004, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Abbey Road Studios in 2019. The classical music scene in Singapore has received the biggest boost in years, and long may this continue

Conductor Chan Tze Law
holds aloft the score of Kelly Tang's
Movements in Time.