P R O G R A M M E
Thank you for being here with us tonight at The Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, the first Christian church built in Singapore in 1835. Being a freshly-formed chamber music group, we are very grateful for your support for and belief in us, and for the unique opportunity to perform music in a Singaporean National Monument like the Armenian Church. Having been bitten by the chamber music bug since our teens, we founded Duo Tarenna last year to explore a tiny slice of the vast string chamber repertoire. At the start of the pandemic, we began reading violin-viola duets out of convenience, which soon spiraled into a common interest in sharing our love for the vibrant and often little-known works written for this instrumental pairing. Our duo shares the belief that contemporary music is not really as shocking or incomprehensible as it may seem; it can be fun and enjoyable while being new. Tonight’s concert was conceived with the overarching theme - how far can we deconstruct and reassemble the string quartet? We invited our friends, violinist Joelle Chiam and cellist Tan Yan Chong, to join us in this collaborative exploration of little-known gems of the vast string chamber repertoire. As “parts + pieces” suggests, the concert is in two parts, consisting of several pieces featuring violin solo, duets, trios, and quartets. We also piloted a call for scores, and works by two young Singaporean composers, Xiao Wen and Isaac Lim, were selected to be performed tonight. We hope you enjoy the eclectic mix of contemporary and classical music! We are always looking for ways to connect with arts practitioners, based in Singapore and the greater Southeast Asian region - if you would like to collaborate with us, or have comments or feedback about the performance, do let us know after the concert in person or through the post-concert survey, or via our email at duo.tarenna@gmail.com. We hope to see you again in our future concerts, and enjoy the show!
With much love,
Joelle, Tiag Yi, Cindy and Yan Chong
Duo Tarenna + Friends 29 July 2022
F O R E W O R D
Tan Tiag Yi (b. 1997) is a violinist, composer and arts administrator. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Music with First Class Honours at St Anne’s College, University of Oxford in 2021, where he studied violin with Caroline Balding, composition with Professor Martyn Harry and orchestration with Dr. John Traill. A St Anne’s Camerata scholar, he performed in termly concerts with St Anne’s Camerata and other musical groups while at university. As a passionate performer of contemporary music, Tiag Yi was fortunate to receive a bursary to attend the 2021 Dartington Summer Music School & Festival, where he participated in violin masterclasses with Thomas Gould and chamber music coachings with members of the Leonore Piano Trio.
Tan Tiag Yi/Violin
As a composer, he was awarded First Prize at the 2021 Benslow Young Composers’ Competition (19-25 years category). Some of his other interests include photography, reading and racket sports.
Cindy Ow (b. 1999) is a research officer at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*-STAR. Under A*-STAR’s National Science Scholarship, she graduated with honours from Johns Hopkins University in 2021, with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a minor in Music. She took instrumental lessons with Rebecca Henry at Peabody Preparatory, and has performed with Hopkins Symphony Orchestra under Jed Gaylin since 2018. She was a member of the Homewood Chamber Music Seminar, where she was coached by Lior Willinger. Cindy is an alumna of Singapore National Youth Orchestra and a member of Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM). Previous teachers include Zhang Ying and Dr. Tan Wee Hsin.
Cindy Ow/Viola
In Fall 2022, she will be attending University of California, San Francisco to pursue a PhD in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology. While she is not in lab, she enjoys discovering new (and old) indie artists, watching films or visiting museums.
D u o T a r e n n a
Joelle Chiam/Violin
Tan Yan Chong/Cello
A fresh graduate of the Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance program at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Joelle has had the privilege of having been under the tutelage of Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng, violinists of the T’ang Quartet. Her early admission to the Conservatory at the age of 17 was made possible by her teachers Chua Lik Wuk, Tan Wee-Hsin and Lillian Wang. Joelle attended the Meadowmount School of Music during the summer of 2016 where she received instruction from Gerardo Ribeiro, and is grateful to have also studied with Almita Vamos, Ilya Kaler, Kam Ning, and Gil Shaham, among others. Joelle’s most recent engagements include performing a selection of Mozart’s sonatas in the Tang Tee Khoon Homegrown Series, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as soloist in Candlelight concerts. An active orchestral instrumentalist, Joelle has served as Concertmaster and Principal positions for the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Texas Festival Orchestra, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra. She also plays with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, and has qualified as a freelance violinist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Joelle loves dogs and will cuddle any willing pooch. Her other interests include spicy food, photography, and travel. Joelle plays a 1924 Gennaro De Luccia generously loaned by the Rin Collection. Tan Yan Chong is a cellist, music arranger and music educator-in-training. He started learning the piano at the age of 4 and picked up the cello at the age of 15, studying under Singaporean-based cellists such as Brandon Voo and Xu Zhong from Singapore Chinese Orchestra. He is currently studying under Chan Wei Shing from Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Yan Chong plays in both the classical and popular music scenes, performing for artists such as the A-Lin Sonar Concert in 2016 and film productions nominated in the National Youth Film Award titled “Scavenger”. An avid music arranger, his arrangements were performed both locally and overseas, including his arrangement of Dick Lee’s Home showcased by Changi Airport Group and others works that were performed at the Concert de Noël in 2017. Awarded a teaching scholarship in 2020, he is currently pursuing a degree at Nanyang Technological University, on the track to become a music teacher in the future. Currently, Yan Chong’s educational goals are to use music as a tool to inspire students and bring awareness to music cultures in schools and societies.
+ F r i e n d s
Xiao Wen is a JC2 student studying in Hwa Chong Institution (College). She started to take an interest in composition in 2018, and participated in the Young Composer’s Academy organized by Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (YST) and Ministry of Education (MOE). Currently, she is enrolled in the Young Artist Programme (Composition) in YST, and is privileged to have been under the tutelage of Peter Edwards, Associate Professor and Head of Composition at YST, and Martin Jaggi. Xiao Wen picked up the piano at age three, followed by electone at age seven, and has never looked back since. She has competed in eight editions of YAMAHA Electone Festival (2011-2015, 20172019) and clinched the Grand Prix Award (equivalent to first prize) in the Junior Section 1 category (2014), Junior Category (2015), Junior 3 Category (2017, 2018, 2019). She has also represented Singapore at the Asia Pacific YAMAHA Electone Festival in 2015 (Taipei) and 2018 (Indonesia). Other than classical and contemporary music, Xiao Wen also enjoys pop music. In 2018, she wrote her first pop song and received first prize in the Songwriting (Creative) Category at the 4th Xin Kong Xia National Schools Xinyao Singing and Songwriting Competition. Subsequently, she has also participated in the 2019 and 2021 editions of SG:SW I Write the Songs Nationwide Mandarin-Pop Song Writing Festival, with performed at the Top 48 Showcase in 2019, and entering Top 10 finals in 2021.
《雨树》
Xiao wen/Composer
《平行轨道》
《自己》
Isaac Lim is an 18-year-old composer and has been studying composition under the tutelage of Ms. Chua Jon Lin for four years. He was introduced to composition in 2018 by Singaporean songwriter Dawn Fung and has since composed for various projects for Vocal Associate’s Festival Choruses as well as for the Singapore Chinese Orchestra as part of their recent Composer’s Workshop. Isaac has experience in performing as a chorister and solo tenor in Vocal Associates and as a cellist in Macpherson Philharmonic Orchestra and in various small string quartets and ensembles. Isaac’s other musical achievements include a grade 8 in piano, cello, singing, and music theory.
Isaac Lim/Composer
C O M P O S E R S
6.45PM
part 1: grooves Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) Duo for two violins op.258 I. Gai II. Romance III. Gigue Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) Scherzo for viola and cello Margeret Sutherland (1897-1984) Divertimento for String Trio I. Andante II. Allegro III. Quasi Menuetto IV. Allegro con Brio Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) Grotesque for viola and cello Judith Weir (1954-) Atlantic Drift for two violins Xiao Wen (2004-)
ここまで ‘for now’
I. what’s the time? II. wave, waves, waved
P R O G R A M M E
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) Duo for two violins Op.258 (1945) I. Gai Written mostly at a dinner party for friends, Milhaud’s convivial II. Romance duo takes inspiration from earlier periods of music. The first III. Gigue movement is an 18th-century sonata form in miniature, while the final movement uses a well-known 17th-century dance. Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) Scherzo for viola and cello (1934)
By the early twentieth century, the scherzo was an oft-used alternative to the more stately minuet for one of the inner movements of a symphony. Literally meaning ‘joke’ or ‘sport’ in Italian, the fast-paced scherzo is usually filled with surprises, as is the case here in Hindemith’s stand-alone work.
Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) Divertimento for string trio (1958) I. Andante II. Allegro The pioneering Australian composer Margaret Sutherland was III. Quasi Menuetto an important figure in her country’s cultural life. Apart from IV. Allegro con Brio being one of the first women composers to come to prominence in modern Australia, Sutherland was a tireless advocate for Australian composers at home and abroad. Her Divertimento pays a slight nod to its 18th-century precedents, alternating between slow and fast movements and featuring an elegant neo-classical minuet. Nonetheless, more contemporary influences are also discernible in her work. The second movement, for instance, is in a rollicking 5/4 metre with an infectious rhythmic groove.
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979)
Rebecca Clarke was an important violist and composer for
Grotesque for viola and cello (1918)
the viola in her day. In 1916, she moved from Britain to the United States following a fallout with her family. She supported herself by performing and wrote this Grotesque alongside a companion piece Lullaby for herself to perform with cellist May Mukle during a tour of United States. This playful piece has extensive use of harmonics and pizzicati, which are combined with various forms of bowing to create surprising shifts in colour.
Judith Weir (1954-) Atlantic Drift for two violins (2009)
Forming the centrepiece of British composer Judith Weir’s eponymous set of violin duets, Atlantic Drift pays tribute to the long history of musical exchange between the British Isles and North America. Drones and the use of open sonorities locate this piece as being influenced by traditional or perhaps even fiddle music, although Weir’s use of metrical irregularity imbues this piece with an inimitable sense of flux.
Xiao Wen (2004-) ‘for now’ for string quartet (2022) I. what’s the time? II. wave, waves, waved
ここまで
ここまで (for now) explores the range of human emotion
after a huge disturbance in one’s regular routine, turning one’s worldview upside down. The music aims to portray the process in stages of the immediate aftermath, during the recovery and lastly coming out of the experience more matured and accepting. The use of different timbres and unconventional harmonic material hopes to tap into listeners’ deep emotions and help them relate, on one level or another, to this piece, and come along on this journey which eventually will end, and the music stops for now. The programme note for ‘for now’ is reproduced with the kind permission of Xiao Wen. Copyright © Xiao Wen 2022.
8.00PM part 2: lines Isaac Lim (2004-) Threads Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798) Duet for two violins, Op. 4 No. 6 II. Allegro III. Gigue Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Elegie for solo violin Elliott Carter (1908-2012) Canon for three equal instruments - In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Baryton Trio in C major, Hob.XI:101 III. Fuga a 3 soggetti in contrapunto doppio Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) Double Fugue for string quartet
P R O G R A M M E
Isaac Lim (2004-) Threads for string quartet (2022)
Threads pulls its main inspiration from the name of Duo Tarenna’s project: Parts and Pieces. Each instrument is its own piece, sometimes standing alone as a single thread, sometimes intertwining with others, and sometimes weaving together to form a single piece of cloth. Each thread has its own colour, each conveying a different emotion, and often a thread’s colour will shift, changing the overall tapestry’s emotion, even if only subtly. Occasionally, all the threads will change their colours together, changing the tapestry drastically from a light and feathery impressionist painting, to a solemn English renaissance landscape, to a bold and angry modern artwork, and finally to a pastel minimalist canvas. The programme note for Threads is reproduced with the kind permission of Isaac Lim. Copyright © Isaac Lim 2022.
Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798) Duet for two violins Op. 4 No. 6 II. Allegro III. Gigue
While perhaps best known today as the subject of a pastiche piece by violinist Fritz Kreisler, Gaetano Pugnani was also an important violinist of his day. He concertised widely across Western Europe and taught notable violinists of the next generation, such as Giovanni Battista Viotti. Both the second and third movements of the sixth duet make use of contrapuntal devices. The second movement has the musical material treated in strict canon in the opening, a technique that is unused in the rest of the Op. 4 collection. The third movement uses predominantly the looser technique of imitation, with the themes passed frequently between the two violin parts.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Elegie for solo violin (1944)
Stravinsky wrote his Elegie in memory of violinist Alphonse Onnou of the Pro Arte Quartet, an important string quartet that championed contemporary works of its day, including those of Stravinsky. This wistful piece has a clear ternary form, with an atmospheric opening section followed by an emotional central fugal section. The opening section then returns to close the piece.
Elliott Carter (1908-2012) Canon for 3 - In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky (1971) Following the death of Stravinsky in 1971, David Drew, editor of the contemporary music journal Tempo, commissioned a number of leading composers to write pieces in his memory. As his contribution, Carter wrote the Canon for 3. While use of canon was not specified in the commission guidelines, Carter found its use particularly apt given that Stravinsky himself had written some commemorative pieces in this form. This intricate and sombre piece interweaves the different canonic lines seamlessly, creating a gently pulsating texture.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Baryton Trio in C major, Hob.XI:101
Written for his patron Prince Nicklaus Esterházy, Joseph Haydn’s baryton trios were the most intensively cultivated
III. Fuga a 3 soggetti in contrapunto doppio
genre of his early career. Lasting a mere two minutes, this miniature fugue from the Baryton Trio Hob.XI:101 is written in double (or invertible) counterpoint. In double counterpoint, the fugue subject can be played both above and below its countersubject, allowing the texture of a piece to be varied while maintaining unity of the musical material. Although Haydn’s baryton trios are often described as accompanied solo music for the baryton, the parts are very much equally important in this movement. It will be performed in an arrangement for string trio (violin, viola, cello).
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) Double Fugue for string quartet (1931)
Left unpublished until after Khachaturian’s death, the Double Fugue was written to be the first movement of an unfinished string quartet. In a manner similar to Beethoven’s Große Fuge (‘Great Fugue’), Khachaturian’s work has two fugue subjects, which are presented successively and then combined in counterpoint. The density of thematic material in the work led Khachaturian to remark that ‘there was too much polyphony in it, too much motion in the parts’. Nonetheless, it clearly presents an alternative perspective on a composer too often hailed purely for his nationalist leanings.
Duo Tarenna + Friends would like to thank: Gevorg, Paul, and The Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator for coordinating tonight’s show smoothly; Lieu Kah Yen, Wu Chin Ying and Jorim Jireh Sim for assisting with concert production; Issac Lim and Xiao Wen for trusting us to give life to your compositions and for being a joy to work with; Leslie Tan and Chan Wei Shing for coaching us; Charles Lee for volunteering to be our audio engineer; Vox Camerata and Tan Yan Chong for lending us equipment; Brandon Chew, for volunteering to be our quartet's photographer; People who made our musical education possible, our families and friends who always supported our musical endeavours; And you, for coming tonight!
A c k n o l e d g e m e n t s
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