PHOTOS FROM JOHANNA RUSANEN'S VOCAL MASTERCLASS @ YONG SIEW TOH CONSERVATORY

Another day at the conservatory, and another masterclass. This one was given by Finnish soprano Johanna Rusanen on 3 November, where four voice students performed their set-pieces. There cannot be a more friendly masterclass than Rusanen's. She addressed herself by her first name and got each student to share about the work they were performing. That was enough to break the ice.

All four performed short arias and songs, and they were very good to begin. All Rusanen had to do was to help them in various aspects of voice production, pronunciation and varying dynamics and shadings. She was most encouraging and when she went deeper into aspects of interpretation, she reassured that when a young artist was already excellent and confident in performing, a little more help is needed. That was done in the gentlest way possible. Here are the photos.

Tenor Ryan Ling sings
Ah! leve-toi, soleil!
from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette,
accompanied by Dr Choi Hye Sion

Rusanen describes what falling in love
sounds like in song.

Feel free to express yourself freely.

Huang Yanzi sings Voi che sapete
from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

A comic moment to share.

A little friendly advice.

Jonathan Santoso sang
Henri Duparc's chanson Phidyle.

Rusanen says Duparc songs are mini-operas.
Pianist Cecilia Thendean also received praise
for her playing of the detailed piano part.

Reaching the higher notes become easier now.

Dan Jiachen had just sung
S'altro che lacrime from
Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito

Hers is a most expressive voice.

Under Rusanen's guidance,
she is able to fully extend herself. 

Rusanen with the four students and
YST's new head of voice Thomas Allen.

I had previous seen Rusanen
perform at the 2015 BBC Proms.
On 6 November, she performs Sibelius and
Wagner with the Singapore Symphony.

LIVING THREADS / Performers(') Present / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory / Review

 

LIVING THREADS

Performers(‘) Present 2026

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

Conservatory Concert Hall

Thursday (22 October 2026)

The opening concert of the triennial Performers(‘) Present conference / festival organised by Yong Siew Toh Conservatory was an extraordinary event. It was refreshingly different, and one which included Singapore premieres of two rather unusual instrumental concertos conducted by Lien Boon Hua.

The 80-minute concert without intermission opened with the Green Tea Concerto (2021) by Japanese composer Dai Fujikura (born 1977). This 19-minute single movement concerto was originally written for traverso (baroque flute) and a small ensemble of strings and harpsichord. Eric Lamb was the excellent soloist on modern flute, with a virtuoso part that took ideas from Debussy’s Syrinx and Prelude to the Afternoon of the Fawn. 

That was just the start point for a journey of fantasy which was inspired by Fujikura’s family experience of planting and harvesting green tea. At points, the ethereal instrumental colour relived those of Toru Takemitsu’s chamber works. While strings and harpsichord (played by Chiu Pin-Hsin) spun a web of busy activity, Lamb’s flute solo remained steadfast and unfazed, symbolic of the resilience of the tea shrubs all through to the close of this exquisitely beautiful work.

There was a short 6-minute interlude by Balinese gamelan exponent Wayan Rachman on gender wayang, a one man gamelan metallophone tuned to the Pelog scale. The intricate blend of melody and counterpoint wrought by just two mallets was totally intriguing. It was little wonder how its sound so entranced composers like Debussy at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, and spawned new directions of musical composition.

Orientalism might have been the inspiration for the four-movement Piano Concerto (1983-85) by American composer Lou Harrison (1917-2003). This featured a much larger ensemble of strings, two harps, three trombones and percussion with the zaniest of piano solos helmed by Albert Tiu. This work was written for and premiered by Keith Jarrett no less, a far cry from his solo jazz musings. The music is tonal and modal, with the ensemble tuned to some antique (Kirnberger II) system, which hovered between C major and G major.

The first two movements were extended sonata movements, the first sounding a lot like Chinese music with heterophony from the accompanying instruments. Tiu obliged with resolute octaves and lots of scurrying around the scalic notes. The piece de resistance was its second movement, titled Stampede. Riot (bringing to mind the recent events in France) was more like it, with repeated crashing forearm clusters and further flourishes from octave-long cluster felt-lined board. It was for most part a pitched battle between piano and Christian Borres on drums while others fell silent.

The third movement seemed almost apologetic, its hymn-like countenance was like a prayer, easily the most beautiful moments of the concerto. The finale was short-winded, with piano accompanied by tinkling percussion for a happy and joyous (no longer riotous) close. The audience erupted with loud enthusiasm for all the performers, a sign that new music that is accessible and intelligible will always be welcomed.

TRANSCRIPTION + CELLISSIMO / The Philharmonic Chamber Choir + Cellos of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory / Review

 

TRANSCRIPTION

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (15 October 2026)

CELLISSIMO

Cellos of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday (16 October 2026),

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 October 2026 with the title "Transcriptions centre voices and cellos in two enjoyable concerts".

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir led by Lim Yau performed an excellent programme of choral transcriptions. These are reworkings for choir of music that was originally conceived for other instruments. The evening opened with Elgin Neils’ transcription of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, originally for high voice and piano. Over choral accompaniment, its familiar wordless solo line was first sung by sopranos and later passed on to the other singers.

Just as effective and haunting was Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei, a vocal setting of his ubiquitous Adagio for Strings. The music, usually associated with mourning, took on new dimensions as a plea for mercy in sung Latin, rising to a passionate climax rarely matched by the original for string quartet.

The true rarity was Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending transcribed by Paul Drayton. This version retained the ethereal solo violin part, performed with refinement and perfect intonation by Zhu Zunzun. The wordless choral accompaniment which began the work later gave way to words by George Meredith, who lent the work’s avian inspiration.

Zechariah Goh’s Abandoned Qin not a transcription per se, but beautifully captured the spirit of Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s lament (“I can play but who will listen?”) about younger generations forsaking the old for the new and trendy. A song of regret in Chinese, it also incorporated onomatopoeic sounds of the ancient plucked instrument.

Late German composer Clytus Gottwald was responsible for four transcriptions, Olivier Messiaen’s Louange a l’eternite de Jesus (Praise to the Eternity of Jesus) from Quartet for the End of Time being the most striking. Its lofty spirituality was gloriously expressed by the 39 singers, who completed the evening with further music by Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf.

There were transcriptions aplenty too at the concert by Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s cello studio in a programme conceived by visiting professor Swiss-Taiwanese cellist Wen-Sinn Yang of Munich Conservatory. Opening with J.S.Bach’s solo Cello Suite No.1 in G major, Yang exhibited a lovely tone unafraid of vibrato all through its six dance movements.

He was the soloist for Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto in E flat major in Yang’s own arrangement for cello quartet. One simply did not miss the full orchestra here, or the solo French horn, as his three partners (students and alumnus of the Conservatory) all contributed to a score that matched the searing intensity of the Russian’s 15 string quartets.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Yang simply emoted in the slow movement of hand-wringing pathos, later upping the ante for the cadenza before launching into the Klezmer-like rave of its finale. The laser-sharp focus shared by all four players clearly gripped the audience, which had unknowingly but enthusiastically greeted the unofficial world premiere of this special transcription.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

The concert got lighter while the stage became more crowded in the second half with Joseph Haydn’s Divertimento in D major (originally for cello trio) arranged by Werner Thomas-Mifune for cello orchestra. Its four movements were those found in serenades, its melodies delivered with a fullness and richness of tone on 19 cellos.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Thomas-Mifune also arranged for five cellos a Carmen Fantasy on beloved themes from Georges Bizet’s opera. This brilliant showpiece, which included the Habanera, Toreador’s Song and Bohemian Dance was contrasted by Antonin Dvorak’s slower and nostalgic Slavonic Dance (Op.72 No.2) as arranged by Lothar Niefind.

A full ensemble of 22, including the Conservatory’s head of cello Qin Li-Wei, went full pelt in three German Schlager songs (hit pop songs) of the 1930s arranged by Carl Clemente. An uproarious encore, Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann’s Mambo, threw tapping on wood and shouts into the enjoyable musical melee.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM WEN-SINN YANG'S CELLO MASTERCLASS @ YONG SIEW TOH CONSERVATORY

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music is fortunate to have visiting world-class musicians conduct masterclasses for their students. On 13 October, the Swiss-Taiwanese cellist Wen-Sinn Yang was present to deliver invaluable advice and tips to three young and excellent cellists. It was a pleasure to share in this experience, when an older and wiser musician imparts knowledge and wisdom, not just technical details but also historical background to music and practical tips on performing and practising from a busy and illustrious performing life. 

After Zhu Ruoning performed the whole of
Debussy's Cello Sonata with pianist Liu Jia,
Yang worked on her pizzicato technique.

Practical advice was freely shared.

The students performed whole sonatas and movements of important repertoire works. The master was rich with praise and encouragement, and showed how they could further refine their art. He gave more time than was actually scheduled, and going way past 10 pm, the students and audience were still lapping it up. That's how masterclasses should be, a time for sharing between artists and colleagues.  

Alan Assenbay was next with the
first movement from Kodaly's Solo Sonata.

Among Yang's advice was for the 
performer to strictly follow the score
and the composer's own directions.

Doing what you want comes later,
after you have become famous!

Yang challenged Ren Zhiyi to perform the
1st movement from Dvorak's Cello Concerto
from memory. She did so wonderfully.

He got her to be more sensitive to
the orchestra's part, and to listen intently.

She was later congratulated for having
given her first performance of the work.

A photo moment to remember.

Part of Qin Li-Wei's cello studio attended
the masterclass. The others were presumably
busily practising for their upcoming concert. 

The review of the Cellissimo concert with Wen-Sinn Yang held three days (16 October) later may be found here:

pianomania: TRANSCRIPTION + CELLISSIMO / The Philharmonic Chamber Choir + Cellos of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory / Review