AMORE! / Singapore Lyric Opera

This is really very early in the year for a concert by the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO). Singapore's oldest opera company brought out its A list of singers for this recital of opera's most popular bleeding chunks - arias, duets and ensembles. At its helm was Artistic Director soprano Nancy Yuen, flanked by Spanish tenor Israel Lozano (undoubtedly SLO's best Pinkerton), relative newcomer Taiwanese mezzo Jo-Pei Weng and veteran Korean baritone Song Kee Chang. The orchestra was provided by pianist Boris Kraljevic.

Amore! was the title of the concert, but it was Nancy who clarified that most of the concert was not just about love, but friendship. Friendzone! would not have been a catchy or marketable title so Amore, it was. In nearly 100 minutes without intermission, the audience was treated to some of opera's best and most beloved highlights. Here are the photos from a most enjoyable early evening.

The concert opens with a familiar duet:
the Flower Duet from Delibes' Lakme
from Nancy Yuen and Jo-Pei Weng.

Why do we think of British Airways
whenever this duet is sung?

It's the men's turn:
Israel Lozano and Song Kee Chang
in the duet Au fond du temple saint
from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.

Un voce poco fa from
Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

Rosina & Figaro's duet Dunque io son
from The Barber of Seville.

Mimi's aria Si, mi chiamano Mimi
from Puccini's La Boheme.
A Nancy Yuen speciality.

O soave fanciulla
from Act One of La Boheme.

Act 3 ensemble Addio dolce svegliare
from La Boheme

Aria Per me giunto... Io morrow
from Verdi's Don Carlo

Mira o Norma from Bellini's Norma

La donna e mobile
from Verdi's Rigoletto

Rigoletto & Gilda's duet
Eil sol dell'anima la vita e amore 

The Quartet Bella figlia dell'amore
from Verdi's Rigoletto

The final ensemble Im feuerstrom
from Strauss' Die Fledermaus

Agustin Lara's Granada

Salvatore Cardillo's Core n'grato (Ungrateful Heart)

Denza's Funiculi Funicula

Di Capua's O Sole Mio

Encore time: Brindisi (Drinking Song)
from Verdi's La Traviata.

Bravissimi! Take a bow!

AN EVENING OF OPERA HIGHLIGHTS NOT TO MISS: AMORE! BY SINGAPORE LYRIC OPERA

 

Love opera and its most passionate moments? Enjoy favourite arias, duets and ensembles in Amore! with Singapore Lyric Opera’s A-list of soloists including artistic director soprano Nancy Yuen, Spanish tenor Israel Lozano, Taiwanese mezzo-soprano Jo-Pei Weng and Korean baritone Song Kee Chang. They will be partnered by Boris Kraljevic on the piano.

Highlights from these operas (sung in original languages):

DELIBES Lakme

BIZET The Pearl Fishers

ROSSINI The Barber of Seville

PUCCINI La Boheme

VERDI Don Carlo

BELLINI Norma

VERDI Rigoletto

J.STRAUSS Die Fledermaus

Popular songs including Granada, Core ‘ngrato, Funiculi Funicula and O Sole Mio.

AMORE!

Singapore Lyric Opera

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday, 25 January 2026 at 5 pm

Get your tickets here:

Amore! – Celebrating Opera’s Passionate Moments | SingaporeLyricOpera

Nancy Yuen & Israel Lozano

MOZART'S THE MAGIC FLUTE / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

 

MOZART’S THE MAGIC FLUTE

Singapore Lyric Opera

Saturday (20 December 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 December 2025 with the title "Well-rounded cast shines in SLO's The Magic Flute".

Singapore Lyric Opera’s pre-Christmas production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute seemed awfully late in the year but it was worth the wait. Incidentally, it was with this opera that SLO, then known as Singapore Lyric Theatre, made its 1991 debut at the now-repurposed Kallang Theatre in a semi-staged production.

In the latest iteration, British stage director Harry Fehr opted for an update to the near present, with an ageing Brotherhood needing fresh blood in the form of the opera’s hero Tamino. This did little to disguise the whole enterprise as Freemasonry in all but name.

Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812), the German actor-playwright / librettist and original Papageno who commissioned the opera, and Mozart were freemasons themselves. The opera with its story of chivalry, bravery and rituals, and music of solemnity and pageantry, was a celebration of the secretive cult, then outlawed by the Habsburgs.

The set and lighting design by Dorothy Png, costume design by Gianti Giadi favoured mostly black and white with very little shades in between. The industrial-looking set, while austere and forbidding, deftly separated the cast as “upstairs and downstairs”, a dichotomy between powers-that-be and those whom they look down upon as they seek to manipulate and control.

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

While no outright Masonic symbols were visible, the symbolism provided by the clearly-displayed gears and cogs of machinery was obvious. The gulf between the men and women, attired in business suits and housemaid costumes, was as stark as the divides between authority and servility, senility (evident by an inordinate number of walking canes) and youth, good and evil, all evident in this clever production.

Tamino, Papageno
with the Three Ladies.
Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

What about the singing and acting? Tamino played by Peruvian tenor Oscar Ruben Alarcon Ore was fresh and youthful, but the show was stolen by Korean soprano Renata Hann’s Pamina, who stood tallest as a paradigm of virtue and innocence. The comic relief was provided by Korean baritone Edward Kim as the bumbling bird-catcher Papageno, much later joined by British soprano Kezia Robson’s Papagena as his longed for partner.

Papageno & Papagena
Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

Joyce Lee Tung's Queen was scary!
Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

The Queen of the Night’s imperious coloratura was helmed by local soprano Joyce Lee Tung, who never disappointed in her portrayal of villainy opposite her geriatric nemesis Sarastro, ably sung by Austrian baritone Benedikt Berndonner. The smarmy Monostatos (Kee Chun Kiat) and the conniving Three Ladies (Cherie Tse, Lin Renyue and Rebecca Chellappah) completed the well-assembled main cast.

The story-telling took the form of singing in German and conversation in English, all made easier with effective surtitling in both English and Chinese. The SLO Chorus (Terrence Toh, chorusmaster) was its usually buzzing self, always aware and alive to the action. All this would come to nought if not for Mozart’s sparkling and life-affirming music, composed within his final year, performed with love and attention by the SLO Orchestra conducted by Joshua Tan.

This has been an extraordinarily productive year for SLO, with this and April’s very successful take on Bizet’s Carmen. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly has been projected for July next year. All eyes and ears point to a revitalised SLO to come.

BIZET'S CARMEN / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

 

BIZET’S CARMEN 

Singapore Lyric Opera 

Victoria Theatre 

Friday (25 April 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 April 2025 with the title "Stripped down Carmen buoyed by pleasing leads".

When the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) last mounted a production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen in 2011, times were very different. It was then the only opera company in Singapore with a proven track record, but its primacy has diminished with the rise of younger opera companies which have been equally serious in their missions. 

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

For its 35th anniversary year, SLO fell back on this old favourite as its only major production. Directed by Nancy Yuen as a semi-staged opera, it was decidedly low budget but had high production values. Accompanied by SLO Chamber Orchestra conducted by Joshua Tan, the music came first before all else, and this was what truly mattered. 

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

The Singapore debuts of three French singers, Mathilde Ortscheidt in the titular role, Samy Camps as Don Jose and Edwin Fardini as Escamillo, were instant hits. Ortscheidt’s Carmen, standing out in her bright red outfit, was the real thing – attitudinous and seductive. This was in marked contrast with the brow-beaten Don Jose, whose pathos was well portrayed by the heavily-tattooed Camps. 

Carmen’s famous Habanera, about a bird that refuses to be constrained, and Jose’s Flower Song were the easily recognisable solo arias to which the opera successfully pivoted around. Their chemistry sizzled, pitting Carmen’s contempt opposite Jose’s haplessness. 

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

In between them, Escamillo was the coolest dude in flared pants, and one has seldom encountered a more laid-back version of the Toreador’s Song thought possible. In this production set in Singapore of the 1960s, he was a boxer operating in one of those amusement Worlds, rather than a bullfighter. 

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

Nostalgia ruled, and one will be tickled by the period costumes, reminiscent of those worn by the cast and extras of local television series Growing Up. Crowd scenes involving the SLO Adult and Children’s Chorus (Terrence Toh, Choirmaster) were good fun, especially spotting the Ah Bengs, Ah Lians, samsengs (hoodlums) and matas (police) among them. 

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

The close of the second act, with all the singers heroically proclaiming their independence (a la Les Miserables), seemed a tad puzzling. Who and what were they trying to be independent of? The British, Malaysia or the ruling political party? It was something worth pondering, given the proximity of the looming General Elections. 

While the French threesome shined, they were well-supported by a cast of Southeast Asian and local singers. Filipina soprano Nerissa De Juan was a rare find as the virtuous Micaela, while Cherie Tse (Frasquita) and Priscilla Fong (Mercedes) lit up the stage as Carmen’s sidekicks. 

Photo: Singapore Lyric Opera

The third act’s card-playing scene involving the three ladies was particularly poignant, laying out their divergent fortunes. Two will discover love and lucre, while Carmen will find only death, a premonition for the final act to come. Kee Chun Kiat (Remendado), Edward Kim (Dancaire), Jermyn Leong (Captain Zuniga) and Li Yizhe (Morales) completed a close to perfectly-assembled ensemble. 

There were minimal sets, but that was part and parcel of this production, and all power to the SLO.