SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL BAND FESTIVAL CLOSING CONCERT / SAF Central Band / Review

 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

BAND FESTIVAL 2026

CLOSING CONCERT

SAF Central Band

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Sunday (26 July 2026)

The closing concert of the 10th Singapore International Band Festival was given by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Central Band, opening with the National Anthem, Zubir Said’s Majulah Singapura. Conducted by ME4 Koh Kai Jie (Associate Director), this preceded the concert’s opening work, Kelly Tang’s Three Portraits for Wind Band which he also led.

In three continuous movements, the opening Fanfare was martial and heroic, a wholly apt portrayal of patriotism with National Day not far away. Excellent intonation and tightness of ensemble distinguished this and the works to come. The Chorale that followed was none other than Singapura (I much prefer the alternative with David Lim’s words Thee I Honour, Thee I Adore over the sappy Sunny Island, Pretty Flowers version), wordless for once and subjected to a variation or two. The closing March relived the pomp and circumstances of Elgar, with Percy Grainger and John Williams thrown into the mix, bringing the work to a stirring close.

More modern in feel was American composer David Gillingham’s Heroes, Lost and Fallen, now led by ME5 Ignatius Wang (Director). Beginning quietly with bells, piano and xylophone producing tinkling sonorities, this slow introduction soon led into music of wider emotional range and orchestral colour. The narrative recounted conflicts with struggles, sacrifice, loss and remembrance, as wars in service of the nation tend to do. The alternation of calm and violence also provided moments for reflection before closing in reassuring C major, a harbinger of hope and harmony.

Next was Percy Grainger’s Colonial Song as arranged by R.Mark Rogers. Pianists who know this as a solo piece often find its introduction difficult to find its voice, but no such worries for the winds, which sound far richer than a keyboardist can hope for. The big tune carried by tenor saxophone and later trumpet is one of the best original melodies Grainger wrote, its glorious climax representing the benign face of the empire on which the sun never set.

CPT Jose Toranza, Assistant Director of the world-renowned “The President’s Own” US Marine Band, guest conducted in John Philip Sousa’s Solid Men To The Front, one of the March King’s less well-known marches relative to The Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis or Washington Post. It was nevertheless a rousing, almost jazzy and foot-tapping reading with suitable bluster fully in sync with the earlier martial works about heroes, bravery and selflessness (something which the current POTUS has never known and will never know).

The hour-long concert closed with Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome, in an idiomatic wind transcription by Yoshihiro Kimura led by conductor Wang. For this, the SAFCB was joined by ten members of the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra, Japan’s oldest wind band. Respighi was one of music’s greatest orchestrators, and even if strings were absent here, the final outcome was no less gripping due to the sheer ebullience and responsiveness of the players.

The opening Pines of the Villa Borghese bristled with the bustle of children’s games, a carnival of mischief, followed by the more sober Pines of the Catacombs, where clarinet and trumpet solos provided moments of pensiveness. Koh Kai Jie’s piano part ushered in Pines of the Janiculum, its haunting beauty matched by the song of nightingales (the first instance of recorded sounds making an appearance in a classical work). It was left for the inexorable march of Roman armies in Pines of the Appian Way to close the concert on an energised and spirited high. Singapore’s finest professional wind orchestra has done it again.

IN HARMONY 43 / SAF Central Band with Boston Brass / Review

 

IN HARMONY 43

SAF Central Band

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (25 April 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 April 2026 with the title "Well-drilled SAF Central Band shows versatility in concert".

Some of the best things in Singapore are free, and one of these are concerts by the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band. Directed by Military Expert 5 (ME5) Ignatius Wang, its latest concert opened as it always does with Majulah Singapura, the national anthem by Zubir Said. It is a rare occasion when an audience is heard singing with pride, leading the way for a programme of music mostly from the Americas.

Ron Nelson’s Aspen Jubilee was a celebratory work composed for the 40th anniversary of Aspen Music Festival, with winds and brass blazing a high decibel-laden path. Its rousing opening and close were contrasted with a slower central section where soprano Joyce Lee Tung’s wordless vocalise beautifully wafted over the instrumental throng.

Following that ice-breaker, Henry L. Dorn’s Never Forgetting was a study of melancholy, with muted brass and bowed percussion prefacing poignant solos from oboe, saxophone and finally flute. Its elegiac tone reflected intense contemplation and eventual peaceful resolution.

Closing the first half on a spirited high was James M. David’s Pulsing Onward subtitled “A California Pastorale”, three continuous movements with neoclassical references in their titles but inhabited with Latin beats and vibes. Pacific Coast Canons was fast and exuberant, contrasted with the brass chorales of Sierra Sarabande before Golden Gate Toccata exulting in the bright lights of San Francisco.

Cy Twombly's Petals of Fire.
Honestly, the music sounds better
than the art looks.

American-Chinese composer Zhou Tian’s short but brilliant Petals of Fire was inspired by American painter Cy Twombly’s abstract painting of the same title. The most modernistic work on the programme, it relived the violent dissonance and chinoiserie of Bela Bartok’s ballet Miraculous Mandarin and climaxed with the transcendent radiance of Olivier Messiaen. All four works were Singapore premieres which showcased the impressive versatility of this young and well-drilled ensemble.

Then it was time for the band’s guests, the five-member Boston Brass formed by founding member Jeff Conner and Jose Sibaja (trumpets), trombonist Domingo Pagliuca (trombone), Chris Castellanos (French horn) and William Russell (tuba), to join the fray. 

Formed in 1986 and renowned for its mix of virtuosity and humour, the quintet opened with the riotous Galop from Dmitri Shostakovich’s satirical operetta Moscow Cheryomushki, setting the tone of lightness and mirth for the rest of the show. Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla’s Verano Porteno (Summer) from the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, arranged by Sibaja, delighted with its comedic timing, whoops and slides.

With the bigger band in support, Rick DeJonge’s Sounds of Cinema was an enjoyable summation of all the tropes and cliches of movie music scoring that makes the silver screen great without actually quoting any familiar tunes. Other than a hilarious cadenza for tuba, it sounded very like John Williams except it was not. That was its play on the imagination, and ultimate musical magic.

Closing the highly enjoyable evening was Cuban composer Ernesto’s Lecuona’s Malaguena, lushly arranged by Bill Holman, and a brilliant encore by the Boston Brass of Duke Ellington’s Caravan. Watch out for SAF Central Band’s next free concert at Esplanade Concert Hall on 30 May.

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL BAND FESTIVAL 2024 GALA CONCERT / SAF Central Band / Review

 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

BAND FESTIVAL 2024 

GALA CONCERT 

Singapore Armed Forces Central Band 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Sunday (28 July 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 July 2024 with the title "SAF Central Band celebrates wind instruments at gala concert".

It is not a well-known fact that the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band is Singapore’s third largest employer of professional musicians, after the Singapore Symphony and Singapore Chinese Orchestras. It may even be considered Singapore’s national wind orchestra, as it represents the state in international diplomatic events and regularly performs overseas concerts. 

Its latest concert was the marquee event of the 9th Singapore International Band Festival involving 66 wind ensembles from Singapore, Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Major repertoire works by four American composers were led by three conductors, Philip Tng, Tan Aik Kee and Ignatius Wang, all who hold the rank of Military Experts (ME) in the armed forces. 

SAF Central Band conductors (from L):
ME6 Philip Tng, ME5 Tan Aik Kee
& ME5 Ignatius Wang

Repertoire for wind orchestras occupies a separate parallel universe from that of symphony orchestras, and with rare exceptions, none the twain shall meet. It would, however, be a grave mistake to underestimate wind works, typically involving woodwinds, brass and percussion (strings being conspicuously absent), which are no less demanding to perform and master. 

How often does one hear the National Anthem, Zubir Said’s Majulah Singapura, in concert? That set a rousing mood, followed by Flying Jewels by James David (born 1978) conducted by ME6 Tng. This scherzo-like symphonic poem reveled in mercurial pace and pulsatile beat, representing the soaring passage of birds and aircraft. At its heart was a French horn aria, which resounded with pride and nobility. 

Conductor ME5 Tan led in two works, the first being Chaconne (In Memoriam...) by Ron Nelson (1929-2023), a funereal procession with minimalist progressions. The chime of tubular bells opened accounts. Two percussionists on marimba provided insistent ostinatos, later replaced by woodwind entreaties and brass chorales. A gradual crescendo of sound soon enveloped the hall, reminiscent of Estonian composer Arvo Part’s well-known Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. 

Traveler by David Maslanka (1943-2017) was far more exuberant. Its brassy beginning, jazzy vibe, and turbulent rhythms suggested one hurtling through space and time, but this forward movement proved illusory, with a series of solos intervening before winding down to a quiet end. Travelling also means knowing when to call it quits, when one finds peace. 

The concert’s longest work was the Third Symphony (The Tragic, Op.89) by James Barnes (born 1949), which spanned 40 minutes over four movements. Conductor ME5 Wang provided a helpful preamble which made the work’s themes more accessible to the full-house audience. Composed in response to the death of his daughter, its first movement in C minor was a heart-wrenching expression of grief, with a Beethovenian Fate motif heard obsessively on the timpani. 

Its brooding Mahlerian and quasi-Shostakovich dark mood would lighten with a brief John Williams-like Scherzo, full of vitriol and irony. The slow movement was a portrait of tenderness and intimacy, with a Brahmsian French horn solo and climax to ravish, clearly the symphony’s emotional core. The finale’s life-affirming march closed the work on a spirited high. Performed with conviction and passion, the band demonstrated the enormous range of wind orchestras and what they are fully capable of.

The SAF Central Band acknowledges
applause from the audience in the gallery seats.

IN HARMONY 41: COLOURS / SAF Central Band / Review

 

IN HARMONY 41: COLOURS 

SAF Central Band 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Sunday (21 April 2024) 

It’s been ages since I last attended a wind band concert. The Philharmonic Winds used to be my fix until it lost National Arts Council major grant funding sometime pre-pandemic. I was thus happy to be reacquainted with wind band music through the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band in its annual concert In Harmony. It's very well-attended 41st edition at Esplanade Concert Hall was led by director of music ME5 Ignatius Wang and renowned British conductor Douglas Bostock. 

I had been reminded that the SAF Central Band is Singapore third largest full-time professional orchestra, after the Singapore Symphony and Singapore Chinese Orchestras. Its history actually predates the other two, having origins as a British army ensemble dating from 1958, one year before Singapore achieved internal self-government. Its first band masters were British, but local conductors who led the outfit since were trained in the United Kingdom, graduates of the Royal Military Music colleges. All its members are professional musicians, and this concert was further augmented by some familiar names from the Singapore Symphony and local classical music scene. 

First timers to wind band concerts will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the repertoire – a parallel universe running alongside the classical scene – does not consist of just military marches or ceremonial music, but encompasses music worthy of any serious concert stage. This evening’s offerings were proof of that. 

The concert’s first half was led by the young and charismatic Ignatius Wang, looking spiffy in ceremonial military uniform with full regalia, mirroring the orchestra’s equally smart turnout. Zubir Said’s National Anthem Majulah Singapura opened the evening, followed by Kenneth Hesketh’s Masque (2000), which began life as a Scherzo for orchestra. Right away, the orchestra unfurled its wide range of colours with pin-point articulation and warmth of sonority. The dynamism and cinematic quality of this short overture was reminiscent of the best of John Williams. 

Frank Ticheli’s Lux Perpetua (2020) was next, a heart-felt elegy in memory of two close friends tragically lost in an auto accident. Fragmentary strains of tuned percussion in high registers are heard over a background of brass chorales straining to emerge. Emanating warmth at each turn, the music would gain in pace and volume, transforming into the blazing eternal light of its title, before a gentle and quiet close. The band’s radiant reading was a touching tribute. 

Spanish composer Ferrer Ferran’s Red Dragon (2008) opened with a crash not unlike the Danse Infernale from Stravinsky’s Firebird, following which would be the concert’s most dissonant music. Snarling brass with woodwind murmurings of disquiet colour this portrait of feral and brutish invincibility, as personified in the dragon. One will be forgiven for thinking that the driving rhythmic ostinatos bringing the work to a savage close would also be totally at home in The Rite of Spring. With this, the virtuosity of the players is undisputed. 

The second half was conducted by Douglas Bostock, a well-known figure in both international symphonic orchestral and wind band circles. David Bedford’s Sun Paints Rainbows on the Vast Waves (1984) fully exploited all possible timbres of the instruments by displaying a dazzling array of textures and figurations. Its idiom is somewhat minimalist, referring to the minute changes in spectral wavelengths as the music evolved, but also impressionist, bringing to mind the sound worlds of Debussy and Ravel. 

The orchestra was augmented with cellos, harp and piano in Philip Sparke’s A Colour Symphony (2014) which closed the concert proper. Here, colours represented in its five movements are equated with varied moods and temperaments. White opened with a horn solo, and the ensemble soon established a milieu of harmony and happiness with its reassuring musings. Yellow was scherzo-like and playful, its modal (verging on pentatonic) melody resembling a Vaughan Williams folksong arrangement. 

Blue was scored for woodwinds, harp and piano, a slow movement with a gospel vibe, not unlike chorales sung in small-town churches of heartland America. Red for brass and percussion was volatile and choleric, an incessant snare-drum beat providing the driving impetus. Finally, Green symbolising all that is good with Mother Earth gave this very accessible and enjoyable symphony a vibrant and vivacious conclusion. 

Bostock and the band had two encores up their collective sleeves. Derek Bourgeois’s joyful little Serenade, with pianist and harpist “goofing off” (all in good-hearted fun) until the final cadence, was followed by a delicious piece of Graingeriana in Philip Sparke's Garboldisham Jig from Four Norfolk Dances. 

This marvelously presented and very enjoyable concert, with tickets free of charge for all comers, was not just the perfect advertisement for wind band music, but for music itself.

All band leaders have a sense of fun!