LIMITED TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE: BEETHOVEN 3 & 4 WITH RE:SOUND (DENNIS LEE PIANO SERIES)

Abigail Sin: BEETHOVEN 3
Lin Xiangning: BEETHOVEN 4

NOT TO BE MISSED! Limited tickets are still available for re:Sound Collective's Dennis Lee Piano Series concert featuring Beethoven's Third and Fourth Piano Concertos performed by two of Singapore's finest young pianists. Abigail Sin will perform Piano Concerto No.3 while Lin Xiangning puts a shine on Piano Concerto No.4, with re:Sound led by its crack concertmaster Yang Shuxiang. In addition, the fabled strings of re:Sound will also perform Beethoven's Cavatina from String Quartet Op.130.

The inaugural event of this concert series is named in memory of Penang-born concert pianist Dennis Lee (1946-2023) whose performing legacy has enriched the musical life of Singapore and Malaysia for the past five decades. Let's make this special concert a full house!

Passionate playing from 
the strings of re:Sound

Saturday 11 July 2026

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory 

Concert Hall, 7.30 pm

Tickets available at:

The Resound Collective Dennis Lee Piano Series

MIKKEL MYER PLAYS BEETHOVEN PIANO SONATAS PART III / PRODIGIOUS 2026 / re:Sound / Review

 

BEETHOVEN:

THE COMPLETE 

32 PIANO SONATAS - PART III

MIKKEL MYER LEE, Piano

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (23 May 2026)

PRODIGIOUS 2026

re:Sound

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (24 May 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 May 2026 with the title "More mature piano-playing from Mikkel Myer Lee; Cathy Chen Xi, 12, impresses".

The third instalment of 13-year-old Mikkel Myer Lee’s Beethoven piano sonata cycle played to a full-house at Esplanade Concert Hall. It comprised four sonatas, two each from the German composer’s Early and Middle periods. Opening with Sonata No.2 in A major (Op.2 No.2), there was a palpable sense of maturity since his last Beethoven recital in December 2024.

Photo: Zoan Guan Ziwen

Appearing more relaxed, he had less of a tendency to rush the fences. Articulation was as clear as before, while phrasing and placement of accents showed he understood Beethoven’s idiom well. The astute omission of repeats also ensured a breezy account through its four movements. In the “facile” Sonata No.20 in G major (Op.49 No.2), he displayed fluency and buoyant spirits while not underselling the work’s value as a teaching piece.

Photo: Zhang Xiaochen

In two mature sonatas, his true mettle was revealed. Sonata No.26 in E flat major (Op.81a), or Les Adieux, has such difficult passages that would slay pianists triple his age. He took these well within his stride, its arch-like programme of the farewell, absence and return of Beethoven’s beloved patron Archduke Rudolf being very well-characterised.

Photo: Zhang Xiaochen

The most challenging work was Sonata No.23 in F minor (Op.57), the mighty Appassionata, where a big brawny sound was demanded. Here, Lee’s diminutive stature became a limitation, but he made up by being never short on nuance, wits and endurance, tiding him through three gruelling movements. 

His encores of the slow movement from Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata and Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words (Op.53 No.2) were also rapturously received by the noisiest and most ill-disciplined audience in recent memory.

Photo: Zoan Guan Ziwen

In Lee, Singapore has its answer to Russia’s Evgeny Kissin and UK’s Benjamin Grosvenor, the most significant piano prodigies of the past four decades.

Photo: Yong Junyi

Somewhat less unwashed was the audience that greeted 12-year-old violinist Cathy Chen Xi, 1st prizewinner of the 2025 Hengqing International Mozart Competition (Zhuhai), in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.4 in D major (K.218). Although partnered with the professionals of re:Sound who towered over her, she was more than able to hold her own.

Photo: Yong Junyi

She played with the ensemble in the tuttis, and in her solos, she emerged with a clear and pristine voice. Her tone was pure and unwavering, and her intonation immaculate. An unfailing singing line was maintained through all three movements, only asserting herself in cadenzas, which were very impressive as well.

The finale’s graceful little dance exuded pure joy and its rustic interlude with drones that simulated bagpipes provided delightful contrasts. In Chen, we have another violin prodigy who could become the next Chloe Chua.

Photo: Yong Junyi

This concert also provided opportunities for over 20 young musicians from the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and other schools to perform alongside Singapore’s top chamber orchestra. String players were placed side-by-side with pros for 20th century Polish composer Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa, a minimalist showcase that opened with just three instruments and then expanded to a full-voiced ensemble. The build-up of sonorities to a final shout was simply spectacular.

Photo: Yong Junyi

In Franz Schubert’s Symphony No.5 in B flat major, modelled on Mozart’s symphonies, woodwinds were added, and the sound generated was further enhanced. This listener first heard this work performed in 1979 by a very young Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and can conclude that good teaching and guidance has made the young musicians of today sound even more polished, and thus more prodigious.

BAROQUE AND BEYOND / SSO Organ Series / Review

 

BAROQUE AND BEYOND

SSO Organ Series

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (18 January 2026)

Fact: I have not been a regular to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s organ series, often preferring to take long snoozes on Sunday afternoons. That is a grievous loss, as I realised this afternoon, having dragged myself out of bed to a very crowded Victoria Concert Hall. The offering was unusual as it featured re:Sound, Singapore only professional chamber orchestra, and Koh Jia Hwei, a pianist who had transitioned to become an organist. (Now she can say she has a bigger organ than her hubby, virtuoso pianist Lim Yan.)

Koh opened the 75-minute concert with a solo, J.S.Bach’s Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor (BWV.582) on VCH's Klais organ. Having heard this numerous times on CD recordings, one can only conclude that a live performance is an infinitely better experience. The opening bass notes are performed on the pedals, and when she hit the low C, one could actually feel the hall vibrate. The ensuing short variations on the ground bass theme were built incrementally with manuals, and when pedals joined in, the sonorities expanded to envelop the entire hall. At its climax, with all four limbs in hectic action, one could only marvel at what organists achieve which mere pianists only dream of. In a word, breathtaking.

Photo: Resound Collective

The string players of re:Sound then trooped in for Arcangelo Corelli’s most performed concerto grosso, the one in G minor (Op.6 No.8), popularly known as the Christmas Concerto. This featured Isaac Koh on chamber organ which functioned more like a continuo. Led by Yang Shuxiang, the strings played with cohesion and tautness, generating a vibrato and volume that was unafraid to tread on period instrument practice fingers and toes. Still not sure why the music is related to Christmas, but there was a pastorale filled with the sound of drones in its finale to close on a warm and happy high.

Photo: Resound Collective

The concert’s big work was Liechtensteinian composer Josef Rheinberger’s Organ Concerto No.2 in G minor (Op.177) with a return of Koh and an augmented re:Sound with brass (French horns and trumpet) and timpani. Rheinberger (1839-1901), like Karg-Elert, Gigout, Lemare, Widor, Bonnet and Buxtehude, is a name familiar only to organists, I suspect. Never previously heard this three-movement work, I was prepared to be surprised. Shock and awe were more the actual response, being caught unaware by both organ and ensemble in full throttle. The late-Romantic idiom with mild dissonance was familiar enough, its grand gestures Elgarian, and one of its themes even seemed to head in the direction of Nimrod before stopping short and pulling away. This movement garnered much applause, and that seemed almost appropriate given the buzz.

Photo: Resound Collective

The central slow movement in C major alternated organ solo with muted strings, but that soon built up a head of steam for a loud and stormy climax before receding to a quiet close. The finale replicated the opening’s busyness and raucousness, with punched out chords alternating between G minor and major keys. There should have been a big melody a la Saint-Saens, but there was still sufficient melodic interest to propel the movement to a glorious G major close.

Greeted with tumultuous applause from a full-house, the encore, although somewhat predictable (given the general tonality of the concert) but still highly enjoyable, was Bach’s Air on G string (from Orchestral Suite No.3), which is actually in D major. Strings alternated with organ solo, before coming together for a peaceable and sublime close. Looks like Sunday afternoons would never be the same again.

QIN LI-WEI RETURNS / re:Sound / Review

 

QIN LI-WEI RETURNS

re:Sound

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Saturday (30 August 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 September 2025 with the title "Cellist Qin Li-Wei and re:Sound deliver exuberant showcase of string techniques".

If there were a locally-based soloist who could be relied on to generate ticket sales and assure box-office success, that would be Chinese-Australian cellist Qin Li-Wei.

Blessed with innate communicative skills and apparent ease of execution, his third collaboration with crack chamber outfit re:Sound opened with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major (H.439). Composed in 1753 and straddling between the Baroque and Classical eras, this work is fast becoming as popular as Joseph Haydn’s two famous concertos.

In the intimate spirit of chamber music, Qin functioned as a third cellist in ensemble tuttis and when his solo arrived, a mellow but full-toned voice was revealed. Nimbleness and agility ruled in the first movement, later brooding in the introspective slow movement filled with sensitivity and feeling, which the Germans called Empfindsamkeit.

Its lingering beauty would later find culmination in a brief but soulful cadenza. The exciting finale reeled off like a fast danceable jig. With cello and accompanying strings in quickfire repartee, this made for an exhilarating end.

The Singapore premiere of 20th century French composer Jean Francaix’s Concert Variations for Cello (1950) was served like a 12-minute dessert after the main course. This was not strictly a set of variations, but witty and sometimes bluesy character studies alternating between fast and slow. Virtually an encyclopaedia of virtuoso cello and string techniques, it delighted in pizzicatos while a perpetual motion final variation closed the work on an exuberant high. Qin’s encore of the Gavotte from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No.3 in C major was also warmly received.

When Qin Li-Wei plays,
everybody listens.

A landmark set by re:Sound this evening was Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third Symphony in E flat major (Op.55), or Eroica Symphony, performed in Singapore for the first time without a conductor. Concertmaster Yang Shuxiang did the honours by leading from his violin. This reading was also remarkable for using valveless natural horns and trumpets, and baroque calfskin timpanis.

While the other musicians played on modern instruments, this performance with chamber orchestra came as close as possible to the spirit of music-making in Beethoven’s lifetime, some 200 years ago. While running for some 50 minutes, there was never hint of a drag. Distinguished by lithe and light textures, this was also the edgiest performance in living memory. Urgency and heroism in the first movement was contrasted by tragic gravitas of the second movement’s Funeral March. Surprisingly, this slow movement’s longueurs was a minute swifter, a case of relativity being upended.

Very exciting was the Scherzo, where the trio of natural horns played by Edward Deskur (founding Singapore Symphony Orchestra member), Alan Kartik and Xavier Tan faced the ultimate test in its Trio section. They blazed through fearlessly with lusty aplomb. The finale, built on variations on a dance from Beethoven’s ballet The Creatures of Prometheus, brought the enterprise to an unforgettably breathless close.

As an encore, the orchestra performed the memorable Scherzo completely from memory. For the record, it sounded even better the second time around.

Post concert photo:

Three fine pianists:
Natalie Ng, Lin Xiangning & Abigail Sin

PRODIGIOUS II / re:Sound / Review

 

PRODIGIOUS II 

re:Sound 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Sunday (4 May 2025)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 7 May 2025 with the title "Young soloists steal the show".

Ever wondered how prodigies like violinist Chloe Chua come about? The reasons are complex, but much of it has to do with young people having an early start, pure dedication and superior teaching. This second concert of re:Sound’s Prodigious series had five more talented young soloists performing concertos with Singapore’s only professional chamber orchestra. 

Opening the evening was Francesco Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso in D minor, or the La Follia Variations, a single movement based on an early Iberian theme later popularised in works by Franz Liszt, Fritz Kreisler and Sergei Rachmaninov. The concertino component showcased violinists Low Peng Yang (14 years old) and Andrei Slobodyanuk (12) and cellist Charlotte Tseng (14), backed by the ripieno section of eight players. 

The threesome began as part of the general ensemble, and then stood out as the variations unfolded. Low had the juiciest and most virtuosic solos, unchanged from the Arcangelo Corelli sonata which this concerto was based. Slobodyanuk and Tseng had more than supporting roles, complementing Low well. All three played with confidence and accuracy. 

Following that were two works where 25 young string players from various youth orchestras and school ensembles were placed side-by-side with the professionals musicians of re:Sound. The results were revelatory. Who would have expected the massed sonority in Czech composer Josef Suk’s Serenade for Strings (Op.6) to have been this smooth and homogeneous? 

The four-movement work is united by the opening movement’s congenial theme, and every recurrence evoked a sense of nostalgia. The overall string tone was one of warmth and largesse, with a togetherness well fostered by concertmaster Yang Shuxiang’s exemplary leadership. 

The second movement’s Waltz flowed with charm and lilt. The Adagio slow movement opened with Lin Juan’s cello solo, later blossoming in an exquisite central E major section with the work’s most passionate violin playing. The playful but tricky finale showcased what can be achieved at high speeds when people put their collective minds to it. 

Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Pelimannit (The Fiddlers) was played by re:Sound last year, and this reprise with 36 players had an even more festive feel. Based on 19th century Finnish fiddler tunes, the folksiness was milked for all its worth, with the imitation of punch-drunk musicians captured with full fervour. 

Photo: Joelcaptures

Another two young soloists, violinist Chua Suen Ern (11) and violist Kaden Khew (10) were spotlighted in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364). Despite their extreme youth, the authority both exuded in their solo parts had to be seen and heard to be believed. It was not just the sheer sureness in their mission that impressed but also the clarity and quality of sound they coaxed from their sub-sized instruments. 

The sublime central slow movement was distinguished by sweetness of tone, and the sheer sense of cohesion in the exciting finale drew the cheers. As the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s annual President’s Young Performers Concert highlights older youths, re:Sound Collective’s Prodigious series has become the new magnet for the very young and very talented.