SCO30 OPENING GALA / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

 

SCO30 OPENING GALA

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (18 July 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 July 2026 with the title "Singapore Chinese Orchestra 30th anniversary gala celebrates early Nanyang music".

The programme of Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s 30th anniversary opening gala concert, led by principal conductor Quek Ling Kiong, was kept secret from all who attended up to the moment it began. The works had been selected based on audience feedback, a sample of what they wanted to hear most.

Photo: Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Photo: Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Surprising was the fact that most of the music was less than totally familiar or populist. Instead it was representative of repertoire SCO performed during its early years when led by conductors like Hu Bingxu and Xia Feiyun. The Overture from Shang Yi’s The Dagger Society Suite, arranged by Sim Boon Yew, opened the show. Resplendent suonas backed by percussion fronted this celebratory number from the 1989 folk-dance opera.

Ma Shenglong and Gu Guanren’s Fisherman’s Song of the Eastern Seas was a symphonic poem relating the toils, trials and tribulations of fisher-folk. Its conjoint sections depicted dawn with an evocative dizi solo, the outward journey with lyrical songlines, a proverbial storm to be weathered, before the emphatic triumph of a bountiful harvest.

Academy Award winner Tan Dun’s Yellow Earth followed with similarly programmatic content. The highly cinematic music opened dramatically with Raining From The Sky, lots of percussion, a plangent suona solo and vocalisations from the musicians. Gate Crashing the Bridal Chamber was suitably raucous, while Desiring Intimacy saw dizis and erhus expressing sensuousness in the highest registers. Coming back down to earth was Stone-Slab Waist Drum, with martial and ceremonial music dominated by percussion again.

Peng Xiuwen’s The Sixth Month: A Night in Pasir Ris from Twelve Months Suite opened the second half, in a scene of nocturnal tranquility interrupted by Malay and Indian dance rhythms, with Chan Mali Chan being alluded to. Whoever thought sleepy Pasir Ris during the 1980s to be this festive in an early example of Nanyang music?

Photo: Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Lo Leung Fai’s Winter opened with snowy flurries represented by string prestidigitation, a perpetual motion that also depicted gently falling snowflakes. A big tune first heard on dizi was worked to a plethoric climax before a resumption of virtuoso fiddling for a brilliantly festive finish.

Former SCO composer-in-residence and Cultural Medallion recipient Law Wai Lun’s Admiral of the Seven Seas was a prime example of Nanyang music at its finest, with two movements closing the concert on buoyant spirits. The Voyage of explorer Zheng He (Cheng Ho) deftly depicted adventure on the high seas, with broad melodies ornamented by cries of seagulls. The Vow, recounting the marriage between a Malay sultan and Chinese a princess, good reason to bring out all the gamelan scales, a chorus of suonas and drumming at full pelt.

Attended by Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, on whose watch SCO turned professional from its humble beginnings as the People’s Association Chinese Orchestra, the playing was full-blooded and celebratory. The obligatory encore of Hua Hao Yue Yuan (Full Moon Blossoms) by Huang Yi Jun merely capped off the importance and significance of SCO’s three illustrious decades as “the people’s orchestra”.

TITAN SCULPTORS / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

 

TITAN SCULPTORS

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (6 June 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 June 2026 with the title "SCO pays tribute to artists in dulcet blend of art and music". 

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s closing gala concert conducted by Quek Ling Kiong, was a tribute to four of the nation’s sculptors who were Cultural Medallion recipients, a harmonious union of visual art and music. Opening with Liu Changyuan’s Vibrant Life from Light (his Fifth Symphony), this kinetically charged toccata dominated by percussion was accompanied by many projected images of Singapore’s outdoor sculptures dotting the urban landscape.

In SCO composer-in-residence Wang Chenwei’s Samsui Women, repeated notes of a Cantonese tune heard on plucked strings symbolised the sweat and toil of the lady labourers who literally built Singapore. Lin Gao’s zhonghu and concertmaster Li Baoshun’s gaohu added to the music’s poignancy before Ping Hu Qiu Yue (Autumn Moon On Calm Lake) and Rasa Sayang were heard, a spiritual meeting of their Chinese homeland and Nanyang.

In Wang’s Winds of Affinity, Lee Jun Cheng and Ng Wei Xuan on dizis were a pair of well-balanced soloists. Playing on flutes of different registers were the aural reference to the late Ng Eng Teng’s iconic Mother and Child sculpture which stands in front of National Gallery. The tight bonds between both unions can never be severed.

For Phang Kok Jun’s Symphonic Floras, the gentle sound of tuned percussion and plucked strings suggested a leisurely walk through a tropical rainforest. The weathering of monsoons depicted by increasingly vigorous orchestral rhythms saw how the kernals of Han Sai Por’s Seeds eventually germinate into full-grown trees.

The late Chng Seok Tin lost her eyesight after complications from a fall in 1988, and rhetorical questions such as "Why Me?" and "Where is Love?" were posed in Luo Maishuo’s Compassion. The music’s more modern idiom reflected the darker and contemplative complexion of Chng’s works, with Xu Zhong’s poignant cello solo central to the ethos that “love and faith endure, even when time cannot be turned back”.

New York-based Koh Cheng Jin’s First Generation received its world premiere, the only work that exactly matched the title of the sculpture it was inspired by. The artwork in question is Chong Fah Cheong’s much-beloved tableaux of five boys frolicking on the banks of Singapore River. Strings dominated its opening, a lively work which quoted two popular melodies – Singapura and Ach, Du Lieber Augustin, better known here as The More We Are Together.

Both the sculpture, which stands by Cavenagh Bridge and Fullerton Hotel, and the music capture the spirit of a more innocent age now lost to time.

The concluding work, four movements from Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto, adapted from the score of Academy Award winning Ang Lee movie, seemed almost superfluous. This, however provided an opportunity to showcase the virtuosity of associate principal gaohu Zhou Ruoyu on two huqins.

The movie’s main title finally accompanied images of Singapore’s 139 Cultural Medallion recipients over the decades, including two SCO conductors and three composers-in-residence, a tribute to artists who have indelibly enriched Singapore’s cultural life.

RHAPSODIES OF SPRING 2026 / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

 

RHAPSODIES OF SPRING 2026

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (31 January 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 February 2026 with the title "Singapore Chinese Orchestra kicks off festive celebrations with crowd-pleasing fare".

In typical festive style, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra led by principal conductor Quek Ling Kiong pulled out all the stops for its annual Chinese New Year concert. Quite predictably, Li Huanzhi’s very popular Spring Festival Overture in Sim Boon Yew’s orchestration opened the evening, its celebratory strains never failing to rouse the spirits.

Conductor Quek Ling Kiong
with emcees Yixin & Qi Qi.

What came after that was deliberately scripted, with the Singapore premiere of Liu Chang’s Vires (Huan Ge), a yangqin concerto with SCO member Ma Huan as soloist. Given the coming Year of the Horse (Ma in Chinese), it seemed only apt to cast her (her name is literally “horse happiness”) in the leading role and she did not disappoint.

The work was a rhapsody on Guangxi folk song Rowing and Drifting, beginning serenely before a wallow of melting lyricism. As these virtuoso works go, contemplation eventually gives way to dance and a show of scintillating prestidigitation.

A show of the orchestra’s prowess came in Gu Guanren’s Spring Suite, five picture postcard views of the arriving season in the far reaches of China. A dizi solo distinguished Azalea Blooms, while a woodblock provided the rapid-fire hoofbeats for Sturdy Steeds Gallop.

The mimicry of bird song greeted Early Spring at Miaoling, while cinematic colour depicted broad vistas of Lush Green Meadows and Rivers. Finally, an infectiously vibrant Central Asian dance melody brought Grand Festival at Tianshan to a raucous close.

The second concertante work featured Zhang Shuo on guanzi in Kuan Nai-Chung’s Clouds from The Carefree Journey, a work of philosophical inspiration. Its plaintive quality, with a timbral quality resembling a saxophone, provided the short movement based on a shepherd’s song with precious moments for quiet introspection.

This sold-out concert showcased two world premieres, the first being Li Nixia’s Thousands of Galloping Horses which despite its title had its fair share of slow music. Dissonance from bowed strings and percussion waiting to be stirred made the anticipation of action all the more acute. Then it was time to completely broke loose, the ultimate musical representation of a stampede with steeds headed on a war path.

The other first performance was A Meteor Across Time, a skit with music by Sulwyn Lok, scripted by Boris Boo and directed by Judy Ngo, featuring nine disc jockeys (yet another equine reference) from Mediacorp’s Capital 958 Chinese radio station. The comedy involved a time warp with two men swapping positions and getting into scraps in the Qin dynasty and present day.

Popular trending subjects like health products in aid of longevity, social influencers, sales targets and couples delaying to tie the knot were brought up amid quickfire dialogue and dizzying changes in plot.

Needless to say, all’s well that ends well in the story. Finally, the entire cast united to sing and clap out Tan Kah Yong’s arrangement of that ubiquitous and inescapable Lunar New Year earworm: Chen Gexin’s Gongxi Gongxi.

ANCIENT MOON, PRESENT LIGHT / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

 

ANCIENT MOON, PRESENT LIGHT

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (4 October 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 October 2025 with the title "Mid-autumn celebration with family friendly show".

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra led by associate conductor Moses Gay celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with an hour-long family concert filled mostly with short pieces, well-suited for children and those with limited attention spans. As to be expected, works which extolled the moon and with lunar-related titles were trotted out for an airing.

Photo: James Ng

Very brief was the Axi Moon Dance, arranged by Peng Xiuwen, based on courtship rituals of the Yi people. Its infectious rhythm and ear-worm of a tune spun over multiple short variations made for an invigorating start. Just as popular was Ren Guang’s Rousing Clouds Chasing the Moon, arranged by Law Wai Lun, with its unforgettable melody couched in a rustic setting.

A little more serious was SCO composer-in-residence Wang Chenwei’s Aspirations, a 2008 work commissioned by the Ministry of Education and written for young musicians to perform in an orchestral camp.

Its main melody had that exuberant National Day Parade vibe, and midway through the work, an obligatory fugato involving sheng, dizi, plucked strings, with bowed strings and yangqins later joining the fray. As music teachers always say, EGBDF, or “every good boy deserves fugues”.

Also imbued with the feel good factor was Vincent Liang’s May Life Be Eternal, as arranged by Sim Boon Yew. This was a happy recollection of festive family reunions, its feelings of warmth rolled out in a leisurely ambling pace.

Photo: James Ng

The concert’s only concertante work was Zhang Zhao’s Moon Song, the first movement from The Song of the Sun and Moon. Jonathan Ngeow, attired like some member of a boy band, was the zhongruan soloist.

Photo: James Ng

Impressionist hues filled its hushed and atmospheric opening pages, with Ngeow’s plucked strings singing a serenade. Building to an impassioned climax before receding into silence, the waxing and waning of the moon has seldom been better portrayed.

The evening’s longest work at some 20 minutes was Kuan Nai-Chung’s Instrumental Guide to the Chinese Orchestra, modelled after Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. The theme was the Jiangsu folksong Jasmine Flower, subjected to an extraordinarily well-written set of variations with solos for every instrument in the orchestra.

Radio disc jockey and host for the evening Karin Lim narrated in Mandarin, but there were English transliterations helpfully projected on a giant screen behind the orchestra. The variations began with the winds – distinguished with an implausibly long-held note by suona principal Jin Shiyi achieved by circular breathing – before moving to plucked strings, percussion, bowed strings and finally a grand tutti to close.

The very enjoyable concert had to come to an end, and the built-in encore was Huang Yijun’s Hua Hao Yue Yuan (Blossoms Under The Full Moon) as arranged by Peng Xiuwen. This rambunctious conclusion certainly had one in the right mood for mooncakes and tea.

Photo: James Ng