Qin Li-Wei plays Four Seasons • Alpine Symphony Programme Booklet

CONTENTS

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Concert Information

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Message from OMM

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Message from YST

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About OMM

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Artist Bios

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Programme Notes

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Upcoming Concerts

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The Music Makers

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OMM Management

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Our Donors

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Support Us

CONCERT INFORMATION

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QIN LI-WEI PLAYS FOUR SEASONS • ALPINE SYMPHONY Sun 28 Aug 2022 5pm Esplanade Concert Hall Orchestra of the Music Makers Chan Tze Law, Conductor Qin Li-Wei, Cello Astor Piazzolla (arr. Desyatnikov & Shin) The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, arranged for Cello and Strings (WORLD PREMIERE) Richard Strauss An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64

Concert duration: ~ 2h, inclusive of 20min intermission Photographs and videos will be taken at the event, in which you may appear. These may be published in OMM’s publicity channels and materials. By attending the event, you consent to the use of these photographs and videos for the foregoing purposes

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A

warm welcome from all of us at OMM! This evening’s performance marks OMM's return to our full-scale symphonic potential after more than 2 years of navigating ever-changing COVID-19 measures. It has not been an easy journey for everyone, and we are glad that you are here with us for this milestone.

OMM is also very happy to welcome over 30 promising young students from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM) to perform with us as part of this evening’s musical collaboration, for their learning and development. OMM has been fortunate over the years to have like-minded organisations such as YSTCM in our community, who have been supportive of our work and come alongside us to pursue artistic excellence and use music to contribute positively to society. Like how individual musicians of the orchestra work together in order to make a symphony possible, it is through community collaborations like these where we can come together to achieve something more than the sum of our parts.

Looking ahead, OMM has exciting plans in the pipeline for our 15th anniversary next year and beyond, including our production of Das Rheingold as part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, and restarting of community projects like our orchestra camp which had to be scaled down for the last 2 years. We thank you for your support thus far and if you believe in our work and enjoy our performances, do consider supporting OMM (www.orchestra.sg/support-us) to help us to do better. We look forward to seeing you at our future projects, and we have much more in store for you!

Lee Guan Wei, Daniel Acting Board Chairman, Orchestra of the Music Makers

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ur heartiest congratulations to the Orchestra of the Music Makers on this evening’s musical celebration, from the seasons of Buenos Aires to Bavarian pastures and Alpine peaks. Indeed, even as international travel is still regaining its gait, today’s programme offers a thrilling journey across lands!

YST students and alumni have been active in OMM for years now. This concert marks the next step for the collaboration between YST and OMM, with over 30 of our students joining the orchestral forces for Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. We are delighted to be working with OMM, and for students to expand their exposure to repertoire as well as the community.

This evening’s soloist Prof Qin Li-Wei (Head of Cello Studies) is of course no stranger to local classical music audiences, and we look forward to hearing Jonathan Shin (’15 / YST Artist Fellow) display his artistry on the OMM stage once again.

As YST approaches our 20th anniversary in 2023, we continue to forge ahead by creating richer student growth opportunities and community connections. Today’s collaboration is an exciting beginning for further initiatives to come, and we look forward to the musical adventures ahead!

Prof Peter Tornquist Dean, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

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ORCHESTRA OF THE MUSIC MAKERS We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.

— Arthur O’Shaughnessy, “Ode” The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) is a Singapore-based symphony orchestra established in 2008, comprising over 140 highly-trained volunteer musicians. Although many have chosen careers outside of music, our musicians are dedicated to the high standards of music-making and community work which OMM stands for. Under the mentorship of Chan Tze Law, a leading Singaporean conductor and Vice-Dean of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, OMM has become an integral part of Singapore’s classical music scene and has gained international repute.

Over the years, OMM has continued to challenge expectations by taking on works of epic proportions. Following the successful performances of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Bernstein’s Mass in 2017 and 2018 respectively, OMM presented the long overdue Singapore Premiere of Wagner’s Die Walküre in January 2020 to critical acclaim.

OMM was among the most active arts groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, organising 16 digital productions, live performances, and outreach events from August 2020 to December 2021. Recordings of these digital productions have also been featured at the Expo 2020 Dubai, as well as on the Singapore Airlines Inflight Entertainment System.

Orchestra of the Music Makers Ltd. is supported by the National Arts Council under the Major Company Scheme for the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.

WEBSITE: WWW.ORCHESTRA.SG

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FACEBOOK: @ORCHMUSICMAKERS

INSTAGRAM: @OMM.SG

CHAN TZE LAW CONDUCTOR

Chan Tze Law is Music Director of Singapore's Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and the award-winning Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM). In 2018, he received the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore’s Artistic Excellence Award for his numerous contributions to the Singapore music community.

Chan's performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with OMM and Sing50 concerts with the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and Lang Lang were named “Best Concerts of 2015” by Singapore's Sunday Times. The West Australian lavished praise on his performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring “Tze-Law (Chan) did wonders from the podium. It was a tour de force.”

In 2020, Chan conducted OMM in Singapore's first ever production of a Wagner Ring Cycle opera Die Walküre to international acclaim. Chan’s performance of Elgar’s The Music Makers in 2017 was also described by Classical Voice America as having “breathtaking walls of sound and intimate moments of haunting beauty”.

Chan has appeared with major orchestras in the Asia Pacific region and with soloists including Joshua Bloom, Fiona Campbell, Warwick Fyfe, Deborah Humble, Lee Hyon, Caitlin Hulcup, Lang Lang, Ng Pei-Sian, Melvyn Tan, Albert Tiu, Qin Li-Wei, Virgillio Marino, Daniel Sumegi and Igor Yuzefovich. Concerts and CD recordings conducted by Chan have been broadcast on Australia's ABC Classic FM, UK's BBC Radio 3 and featured on Singapore Airlines’ Krisworld In-flight Classical Music selection.

As a pedagogue, Chan is Vice-Dean and Associate Professor of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, and is widely credited for his founding role of the conservatory orchestra and New Music Ensemble. Chan was also the founding chief conductor of the Australian International Summer Orchestral Institute. He has given masterclasses in conducting at the Peabody Institute, USA, and the Royal Academy of Music, London as well as lectures on leadership in conducting at the Senior Management Programme of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. In 2019, he served on the selection committee of the Oxford Conducting Institute International Conducting Studies Conference.

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QIN LI-WEI CELLO

As one of the most sought-after cellists of his generation, Chinese Australian Qin Li-Wei has appeared all over the world as a soloist and as a chamber musician. After being awarded the Silver Medal at the 11th Tchaikovsky International Competition, Qin won First Prize in the prestigious 2001 Naumburg Competition in New York.

Highlights in recent seasons include debuts with the London Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, Czech Chamber and Brussels Chamber Orchestras. In recital and chamber music, Qin is a regular guest at the Jerusalem, Rheingau and MecklenburgVorpommern Music Festivals, and the Lincoln Centre Chamber Music Society, New York, with musicians including Daniel Hope, Nobuko Imai, Mischa Maisky and Peter Frankel.

He has recordings on Universal Music/Decca with the Singapore Symphony, on Sony Classical with Shanghai Symphony, and on ABC Classics with London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Qin was invited to join the BBC 'New Generations' scheme in 2001, and in 2002 received the Young Australian of the Year Award. Other major invitations included appearances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (New Zealand Symphony), 2012 London Olympics, Davos World Economics Forum (Basel Symphony) and recently the Fortune Global Forum 2017 Opening Ceremony.

Prior to teaching at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, National University of Singapore, Qin was a professor of cello at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He is also a guest professor at Shanghai and Central Conservatories in China. As artistic director, Qin successfully founded the annual Qingdao International Cello festival in 2018.

Qin plays a 1780 Joseph Guadagnini cello, generously loaned by Dr and Mrs Wilson Goh.

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JONATHAN SHIN ARRANGER

Jonathan Shin performs extensively as a pianist, and composes and improvises across multiple genres and styles. His music has been described as “supremely confident and comfortable in its own skin.”

He began composing professionally at 22. In 2015, his musical Viva! la Singapura was produced. The following year saw the premiere of his first commissioned work, the song cycle The Other Merlion and Friends, where it was critically reviewed as “probably the most compelling and worthwhile new work from any Singaporean composer in recent years.” Jonathan won the Longy School of Music Orchestral Composition Competition in 2017 and was awarded the Emerging Artist Award in 2019 by the St. Botolph Club.

Photo by Willie Lyou

Jonathan has been commissioned by many orchestras in Singapore, such as the Orchestra of the Music Makers, for whom he has written Siginnah!, a concerto for quintet and orchestra; a concert overture The Night Bazaar; and Folk Games for string orchestra. Resound Collective commissioned his 1819 Suite for the Singapore Bicentennial celebrations, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has performed his City Arising and Folk Games. His chamber operettas The Bright-Eyed Otter (libretto by Theophilus Kwek) and At One Time (libretto by Felix Cheong) won their commissions by New Opera Singapore. A third operetta, Hamlet Private Investigations Inc., will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in January 2023 by the Boston Opera Collaborative.

His current projects include a collaborative composition of a large choral symphony, as well as a full-scale opera. Jonathan is presently pursuing his doctoral studies in composition at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Prof. Kevin Puts.

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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS AT YST

Looking Back, Moving Forward As YST turns 20 next year, we reflect on two decades of growth and continue to forge ahead in our artistic and educational mission.

Join us as we begin the musical celebration.

Voyage Festival • 26-27 Aug Orchestral Institute: Richter & Sibelius • 3 Sep Ones to Watch: Verona Quartet • 7-8 Sep LEAD! with Sibelius Academy & HEM Geneva • 18 Sep Calefax Quintet [ • 28-29 Sep Project Re-imagining: Ho Chee Kong & OpusNovus • 8 Oct Orchestral Institute: Pärt, Britten & Elgar • 14 Oct Albert Tiu, Qian Zhou & Qin Li-Wei in Trio • 27 Oct Boston Brass • 11-12 Nov Singapore International Violin Competition • 1-14 Dec

Learn more

bit.ly/ystspotlight

PROGRAMME NOTES Man is the story-telling animal, and through the history of humanity, many of our stories have revolved around nature. From the passage of the sun and the changing seasons, to the immensity of the mountains and oceans, mankind has created myths and legends to attempt to understand, honour, and celebrate nature in its sublimity.

Words are not the only way we can tell a story, however — composers have depicted the natural world in music too, whipping up orchestral thunderstorms or sound paintings of heaving oceans. Many have also written about their emotional resonance with nature, be it the joy of spring after a particularly bitter winter, or the languid stillness of a warm summer day.

In the two works you will encounter today, composers Piazzolla and Strauss both sought to describe their emotional responses to nature through music, with the former employing the agility of a string ensemble, and the latter harnessing the sonic grandeur of one of the largest orchestras you are likely to ever experience live.

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ASTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992)

THE FOUR SEASONS OF BUENOS AIRES (LAS CUATRO ESTACIONES PORTEÑAS) arranged for Solo Violin & String Orchestra by Leonid Desyatnikov, and adapted for Solo Cello & String Orchestra by Jonathan Shin

I. Buenos Aires Summer (Verano Porteño) “Last of all”, Interlude after Vivaldi

II. Buenos Aires Autumn (Otoño Porteño) III. Buenos Aires Winter (Invierno Porteño) “First Warmth”, interlude after Vivaldi

IV. Buenos Aires Spring (Primavera Porteña)

Illustrations by Merriley Sim

A bandoneon player since childhood, Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla is most famous today for his reconceptualisation and development of the traditional Argentinian tango.

Known as Tango Nuevo (New Tango), this new artistic movement in both dance and music combines edgy dissonances and counterpoint with expansive melodies, overlaying the traditional framework of the tango rhythm. One of his most popular concert works, The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires is written in precisely this fashion.

Piazzolla first wrote Verano porteño (Buenos Aires Summer - in Argentine usage, the adjective porteño refers to Buenos Aires), for his Quintet in 1965 as incidental music for a play, but it became very popular as a standalone piece. Over the next 5 years, Piazzolla wrote three more “Seasons”, and his Quintet first performed the complete set of four tangos in May 1970.

In the late 1990s, Violinist Gidon Kremer commissioned his friend Leonid Desyatnikov, to arrange Piazzolla’s Seasons for violin and string orchestra. Desyatnikov creatively linked Piazzolla’s Seasons to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, sprinkling musical quotations from Vivaldi’s (Italian) Seasons into his arrangement. Taking Kremer’s lead, OMM has commissioned Singaporean composer Jonathan Shin in 2021 to adapt this for solo cello and string orchestra.

Soloist Qin Li-Wei has also taken the liberty of asking Jonathan to include two Vivaldiinspired interludes within the set, in celebration of the creative lineage of both Desyatnikov and Vivaldi.

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SUMMER (VERANO PORTEÑO) Piazzolla’s Summer opens with growling dark harmonies as a sultry tango takes form, softening briefly into effusive but short-lived sentimentality. The tango kicks back in with dissonant grunts, rhythmic snaps and swooping glissandos in the string instruments. Desyatnikov’s quotation of Vivaldi’s Winter gives a deft nod to the cruel ironies of the seasons, reminding us that when Buenos Aires basks in the summer sunlight, Vivaldi’s Venice lies frozen in the throes of winter.

AUTUMN (OTOÑO PORTEÑO) Autumn opens somewhat spryly with a slightly ominous tinge. The solo cello takes centre stage with a crackling cadenza which soon gives way to bleak rumination. An extroverted reprise of the opening tango then makes way for a leaping, bounding passage for solo violin that recalls the cello’s expressive song. The ensemble comes back with energetic rhythms and percussive string slaps, before abruptly falling away.

WINTER (INVIERNO PORTEÑO) The solo cello introduces a melancholic and longing song which the violin soon joins in dialogue. This song alternates with cadenzas and the all-pervasive tango rhythm driven by the orchestra. Traces of Vivaldi’s Summer make an appearance in this movement, with the solo cello quoting melodic fragments over the tango rhythm, while the orchestra recalls Vivaldi’s furious descending scales. Over this, the solo cello soars with Piazzolla’s wintry air, this time transformed into an anguished emotional outburst. After a brief rumination and duet with a solo violin, recollections of Vivaldi’s own frosty song wraps Piazzolla’s Winter up snugly by the fireplace.

SPRING (PRIMAVERA PORTEÑA) Opening with a fugue carried by the principal strings, the Argentinean Spring is certainly a spiky affair, with the solo cello surging forward — almost improvising — over a strong tango rhythmic ostinato. A more subdued and somewhat bittersweet middle section recalls the coda of Piazzolla’s Winter, before the music is rejuvenated. The tango kicks in again, the strings swing with sultry slides, all exulting in the joy of Spring.

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RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)

AN ALPINE SYMPHONY (EINE ALPENSINFONIE) MOUNTAIN HIKE

When he was fifteen years old, Richard Strauss went on a hike up the Heimgarten, a 1790-meter-tall mountain in Bavaria. Most unfortunately — or perhaps fortunately, for us who will benefit from the travails of the young Strauss — the group got lost on the way up, and got caught in a storm on the way down. He wrote about the experience,

“

Recently we made a great hiking party to the top of the Heimgarten, on which day we walked for twelve hours. At two in the morning we rode on a handcart to the village, which lies at the foot of the mountain. Then we climbed by the light of lanterns in pitch-dark night and arrived at the peak after a five-hour march. There one has a splendid view [of lakes, mountains, glaciers, and so on].

Then we hiked down the other side to Lake Walchensee, but we took a wrong trail and had to climb around in the midday heat for three hours with no path … Lake Walchensee is a beautiful lake, but makes a melancholy impression since it is enclosed by forests and high mountains …

[On the way from there to Lake Kochelsee] a terrible thunderstorm overtook us, which uprooted trees and threw stones in our faces. We hardly had time to find a dry spot before the storm broke. Lake Kochelsee, a very romantic and beautiful lake, made huge waves so that it was impossible to even think about crossing it. After the storm had passed we had to settle for walking all the way around the lake, whether we wanted to or not.

On the way the rain came again and that is how we arrived in Schlehdorf, after a breakneck march (we did not rest for a single moment)—tired, soaked to the skin—and spent the night; then the next morning we rode as calm as could be in the hay wagon to Murnau. The hike was interesting, unusual, and original in the highest degree.

”

After arriving safely home, the budding composer “described the whole hike on the piano... [in the style of] huge tone paintings and smarminess à la Wagner”.

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MASTER OF HIS CRAFT This formative teenage experience aside, Strauss was swiftly developing as a composer.

Beyond climbing mountains, he spent his formative years playing in the Wilde Gung’l Orchestra – an amateur orchestra in Munich which still exists today – which his father conducted. Later, he would cite his years performing with the Wilde Gung’l as allowing him to learn the craft of orchestration on a practical level.

By the turn of the 20th century, Strauss had become one of the most important German composers of his day, and a master of the symphonic poem — a form of orchestral music written to depict stories, moods, and visual imagery. He also (possibly hyperbolically) claimed to be able, if required, to describe a fork and knife with his music. Some of his most famous compositions in that form include Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote and A Hero’s Life (Ein Heldenleben). In 1900, after writing A Hero’s Life, he began thinking about writing one more symphonic poem, which would “begin with a sunrise in Switzerland”, and which then morphed into a four-part Symphony.

Upon completing A Hero’s Life, however, Strauss’s interest in purely instrumental music rapidly cooled, and he turned his considerable musical talent to shaking up the post-Wagner operatic world, with Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION After making two youthful attempts, Strauss stayed away from writing Symphonies. He was content to leave that to his friend Gustav Mahler who was making huge waves with his ground-breaking works, and he even conducted some of Mahler’s Symphonies from time to time.

In 1911, Mahler’s sudden and premature death left Strauss so shaken that he could not speak for days. In his grief, Strauss’s mind turned to how Mahler had once remarked that “Strauss and I tunnel [in their artistic endeavours] from the opposite sides of the mountain. One day we will meet”. These treasured words would mingle with memories of a teenage hike up a mountain 32 years earlier, and the long-abandoned ideas of Swiss sunrises and longforgotten sketches eventually resulted in An Alpine Symphony. Strauss claimed — rather typically of early 20th-Century German ideals — that it represented the “purification through one’s own strength, emancipation through work, and the adoration of eternal glorious nature.”

Despite its title, An Alpine Symphony is more of a symphonic poem than a symphony, with 22 episodes, each given a descriptive title that charts the hiker’s journey up and down the mountain.

Strauss uses an incredibly lavish orchestra – including cowbells and a wind machine – with

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SECTIONS IN AN ALPINE SYMPHONY Nacht (Night) Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise) Der Anstieg (The Ascent) Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the forest) Wanderung neben dem Bache (Wandering by the brook) Am Wasserfall (At the Waterfall) Erscheinung (Apparition) Auf blumigen Wiesen (On Flowering Meadows) Auf der Alm (On the Alpine Pasture) Durch Dickicht und Gestrüppp auf Irrwegen (Lost in the Thickets and Undergrowth) Auf dem Gletscher (On the Glacier) Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Dangerous moments) Auf dem Gipfel (On the Summit)

remarkable finesse, illustrating each episode with vivid, aural detail. He remarked at the dress rehearsal, “at last, I have learnt how to orchestrate”.

INSTRUMENTATION An Alpine Symphony is scored for the following instruments: 4 flutes (3rd and 4th doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd doubling English horn) and heckelphone, 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet) and e-flat clarinet, 4 bassoons (4th doubling contrabassoon) 8 horns (4 horns double Wagner tuba), 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 2 tubas 2 sets of timpani, percussion (glockenspiel, cowbells, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, thunder machine, bass drum, triangle, snare drum, wind machine), 2 harps, celesta, organ, and strings (with a minimum of 18 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos, and 8 double basses) Strauss also requested that some woodwind instruments be doubled if possible.

Separately, there is an offstage band of 12 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones.

Vision (Vision) Nebel steigen auf (Mists rise) Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (The sun is gradually obscured) Elegie (Elegy) Stille vor dem Sturm (Calm before the storm) Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunderstorm, descent) Sonnenuntergnag (Sunset) Ausklang (Conclusion (of the journey)) Nacht (Night)

An Alpine Symphony was premiered in October 1915, but received little notice – the First World War was raging at the time, and was derogatorily referred to by critics as “cinema music” – which would probably be regarded as a compliment today! It ended up marking the end of an era for German symphonic works, with large scale, Romantic works going out of fashion after the end of the First World War. Indeed, Strauss’s biographer Michael Kennedy remarked that the Alpine Symphony might itself be understood as “a long farewell to the sumptuousness of the postWagnerian orchestra, and its final sunset before the return of night peculiarly apposite and affecting…

Strauss must have known that the world after the war would be a leaner, less extravagant place.”

The work has indeed survived such austere times and come into its own today, entering the core repertoire of many orchestras worldwide. It also contributed to a piece of technological history, when the recording of An Alpine Symphony by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic was used for the first test pressing of the prototype Compact Disc in 1980.

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

DID YOU KNOW? Richard Strauss enjoyed quoting themes from his other works. In this work, he instead pays homage to several famous pieces written by famous German composers, some more overtly than others. if you are familiar with them, see if you can spot some of these!

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Beethoven’s 5th Symphony

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Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture

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Bruch’s 1st Violin Concerto

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Mahler’s 6th Symphony

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Strauss’s own 2nd Symphony

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Wagner’s Das Rheingold

The events depicted in An Alpine Symphony unfold across approximately 12 hours in a day, from dawn to dusk. In the course of the 22 episodes (some of which are very brief and several seconds long), Strauss takes us on a hike, describing his “feelings at the sight of the magnificent beauties of nature”, but also some rather literal depictions of these sights – cowbells depict the bovine herds found grazing in alpine pastures, for instance. We come across all the natural features one might expect, such as streams, meadows, forests, and waterfalls; a brief encounter with a hunting party near the start (performed by 16 brass musicians in a separate part of the hall); and even a mythical creature – the Apparition – which is based on Alpine tales of water goblins, seen through the spray of the waterfall. There are dangerous moments too, when surmounting the glacier, and also a violent storm, complete with howling wind and thunder.

In the work, Strauss also included multiple, mostly subtle, homages to his illustrious predecessors, from

Illustrations by Valerie Ng, Nifty Media

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Beethoven to Brahms and Wagner. Most poignantly, he reserved a special place for a theme from Bruch’s beloved Violin Concerto which he described as “so very beautiful”, draped in symphonic splendour.

Amid a catalogue of magnificent moments, there are two stand-outs – the first is a spectacular musical view from the mountain’s Summit. The writer Alex Ross writes of this special moment in his book The Rest is Noise “the brass intone a majestic theme… at the same time, the violins sing a Mahlerian song of longing... The intermingling of Mahlerian strings and Straussian brass suggests the image of the two composers standing side by side at the peak of their art. Perhaps they are back in the hills above Graz, gazing down at the splendor of nature while the world waits for them below… The vision passes, as joyful scenes in Strauss tend to do. Mists rise; a storm breaks out; the climbers descend.” Perhaps, this was Strauss’s intensely personal way of memorialising his friend and fellow musical giant.

As for the second musical moment to look out for — the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan once remarked that he conducted this work for the sake of its sublime Epilogue.

The organ leads us into this reflective moment, where themes from the journey are recalled poignantly, first by the woodwind chorus, then the strings and the rest of the orchestra "in gentle ecstasy", before night falls.

“The final gesture has the violins presenting a dark echo of The Ascent theme, ending with a long downward glissando, as if the souls of the hikers remain perpetually on their mountain journey.” - Werner Pfister Programme notes by Christopher Cheong

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VARIATIONS Thursday, 6 October 2022 8:15pm Victoria Concert Hall

Music by Brahms-Tan Chan Boon* *World Premiere

Benjamin Britten Valentin Silvestrov C.P.E. Bach

Featuring Pavlo Beznosiuk, violin/leader Koh Jia Hwei, piano/soloist and re:Sound

Organised by

With the Support of

Venue Support

UPCOMING CONCERTS OMM Orchestra Camp 2022 Showcase Sun 11 Dec 2022 7.30PM SOTA Concert Hall

Francis Tan, conductor Cheryl Pandora, piano Viona Sanjaya, piano Cheryl Pandora and Viona Sanjaya are the winners of the 2022 YST Concerto Competition.

ERIC COATES - The Three Bears FRANCIS POULENC - Concerto for Two Pianos, FP 61 VASILY KALINNIKOV - Symphony No. 1 in G Minor

OMM Goes to the Movies 4 Sat 13 & Sun 14 Jan 2023 7.30PM Esplanade Concert Hall Chan Tze Law, conductor Featuring music from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and more

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THE MUSIC MAKERS Chan Tze Law, Music Director Seow Yibin, Associate Conductor Ignatius Wang, Assistant to the Conductor

MUSICIANS FOR PIAZZOLLA VIOLIN Zhao Tian, Concertmaster Wilford Goh, Assistant Concertmaster Kimberlyn Wu, 2nd Violin Principal Chikako Sasaki, Associate Principal Ang Dun Jie Foo Yue Ning* Chloe Goh Goh Ying Xiang Regan Ho Ho Yin Shan Jaslyn Lee Pauline Lee Lieu Kah Yen Jorim Jireh Sim* Thanatat Sriaranyakul* Tan Xin Jie* Tsumugu Misugi Adele Wee Zhang Mingying

CELLO James Ng, Principal Choo Vee Shen Charis Low Jasmine Sim Isaac Tah Tang Ya Yun DOUBLE BASS Julian Li, Principal Lee Mian Jun Alvin Liew Shohei Yoshihara*

VIOLA Wang Dandan, Principal Yeo Jan Wea, Associate Principal Shannon Chan* Calvin Dai Joan Fun Aaron Soh Samuel Tan

*Student from YST Conservatory of Music, of which several string musicians are playing on instruments on loan from the Rin Collection

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MUSICIANS FOR STRAUSS VIOLIN Wilford Goh, Concertmaster Zhao Tian, Assistant Concertmaster Kimberlyn Wu, 2nd Violin Principal Chikako Sasaki, Associate Principal Joanne Chan* Bryan Chung Foo Yue Ning* Chloe Goh Nathanael Goh Gum Seng Aung Du* Regan Ho Ho Yin Shan Joel Hoe Hoi Khai-Weing* Emer Hoong Keong Jo Hsi Koh Cheng Ya Jaslyn Lee Pauline Lee Li Jiaqi* Loi Si Xian Tsumugu Misugi Andre Ng Ng Ee-Jun* Jorim Jireh Sim* Thanatat Sriaranyakul* Chester Tan Natalie Tan Tan Xin Jie* Gary Teoh Adele Wee Xu Hongyun Liz Yeo Zhang Mingying

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VIOLA Wang Dandan, Principal Yeo Jan Wea, Associate Principal Shannon Chan* Christopher Cheong Calvin Dai Joan Fun Thantakorn Lakanasirorat Hoyan Lam Ng Tze Yang Aaron Soh Samuel Tan Tan Shao Wen CELLO James Ng, Principal Saran Charoennit* Choo Vee Shen Lavinia Chu Eugene Chua* Sharon Ham Koh Xuan Wen Liu Chien-Wei* Charis Low Jasmine Sim Isaac Tah Tang Ya Yun Joel Tay Ophelia Toh DOUBLE BASS Julian Li, Principal Damien Chew Khee Yu Hang* Tizane Koh Lee Mian Jun Alvin Liew Richmond Lip Alwyn Loy Kevin Seah Shohei Yoshihara*

FLUTE Cheryl Lim, Principal Natasha Lee* Kelsey Tan* PICCOLO Alvin Chan Jasper Goh OBOE Tay Kai Tze, Principal Chan Chen Ng Wei Xiang* ENGLISH HORN Seow Yibin E-FLAT CLARINET Miao Kaiwen CLARINET Vincent Goh, Principal Chua Jay Roon* Benjamin Wong BASS CLARINET Daniel Yiau BASSOON Lim Tee Heong, Principal Stephen Mak* Shi Jia Ao* CONTRABASSOON Emerald Chee

HORN Benedict Chua, Principal Bryan Chong, Associate Principal Hoang Van Hoc, Associate Principal Alexander Oon, Associate Principal Joey Gao* Nigel Leong Lewis Lim Ong Hwee Ling Christopher Shen

TRUMPET Lau Wenrong, Principal Lim An Chun, Associate Principal Lee Jinjun Lim Jit Xin Nuttakamon Supattranont*

WAGNER TUBA Nigel Leong Lewis Lim Ong Hwee Ling Christopher Shen

BASS TROMBONE Jasper Tan

OFFSTAGE HORN Chloe Chai* Chiu Hsuan* Chua Jia Xuan Kalia Craig* Harsharon Kaur Chloe Lau Lee Yan Liang* Lloyd Petrola Linnet Sim* Xavier Tan Tsai Yi-Fang* Thanachock Udomphat*

TROMBONE Don Kow, Principal Hendrik Kwek Ng Jun Jie* Tan Weiboon

TUBA Tan Yao Cong, Principal Teng Siang Hong

TIMPANI Lim Xing Hong, Principal Orathai Singhaart* PERCUSSION Rei Lim, Principal Lee Yu Ru* Chloe Lim Miranda Ong Swee Sian Adam Sharawi* HARP Charity Kiew, Principal Madelaine Chong* CELESTA Lim Wan Qi ORGAN Joanna Paul

OFFSTAGE TRUMPET Kenny Ooi Nuttakamon Supattranont* OFFSTAGE TROMBONE Stefan Benčić* Reema Chatterjee

*Student from YST Conservatory of Music, of which several string musicians are playing on instruments on loan from the Rin Collection

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lee Guan Wei Daniel, Acting Chairman Jenny Ang Assoc. Prof Chan Tze Law Chay Choong Christopher Cheong Susan Loh Tan Peng Chin Toh Xue Qian Prof Bernard Tan, Advisor

PROJECT TEAM Christopher Cheong, Project Lead Michael Huang, Assistant Project Lead Nathanael Goh, Human Resource Lee Jinjun, Human Resource Kimberlyn Wu, Human Resource Neo Wei Qing, Finance Rayner Tan, Ticketing Toh Xue Qian, Audience Experience Wu Tianhao, Library Chan Chen, Marketing Joel Hoe, Programme Booklet

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OMM MANAGEMENT Programmes

Development

ARTISTIC PLANNING Christopher Cheong, Head Nathanael Goh Joel Hoe Michael Huang Lee Jinjun Miao Kaiwen Oliver Tan

SPONSORSHIP Chay Choong, Head Christopher Cheong Rei Lim Edward Neo Rayner Tan

HUMAN RESOURCE Nathanael Goh Lee Jinjun Rei Lim Estee Ng Chester Tan Kimberlyn Wu COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Andre Ng, Head Benedict Ng

BRANDING & MARKETING Michael Huang, Head Chan Chen Shannon Chan Chloe Goh

Corporate Services FINANCE Neo Wei Qing, Head Edward Neo Shi Jia Ao AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE Toh Xue Qian, Head Lam Hoyan Jorim Jireh Sim

LIBRARY & LOGISTICS Wu Tianhao, Head Lee Jinjun Edward Neo Tan Yao Cong TECHNOLOGY Chay Choong, Head Lam Yun En Tasya Rukmana

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Tickets from $20

OUR DONORS We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to our donors and partners for their generous support over the years. This has been instrumental in allowing OMM to pioneer and continue with many exciting musical and community initiatives, despite the pandemic.

OUR DONORS (2016 - 2021) $10,000 AND ABOVE

Howard Ng Su Chee

Anonymous (3)

Ian Rickword

Aileen Tang

Irwin Christopher Anthony

Choo Chiau Beng

Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple

Gail Lien Wang & Phillip Wang

Lee Guan Wei Daniel

Goh Yew Lin

Lee Jee Soo

Hong Leong Foundation

Loy Suan Mao Alwyn

JCCI Singapore Foundation

msm-productions

Lee Foundation

Narioka Kosaku

Lucky Square Pte Ltd

Ong Su Pin

Mind the Gap 200 - Mental Health Fund

Pang Peter Yu Hin

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd

Raveen Joseph Mathew

Will Oswald

Robert Tomlin The Group of Companies Pte Ltd (Sanity Coffee)

$5,000 AND ABOVE

Ya Kun International Pte Ltd

Anonymous (2)

Winston Kwek

Chia Sin Teck Christopher Cheong Bing Zhen

UP TO $1,000

Rhodium Resources Pte Ltd

Anonymous (7)

Tamagoh Productions Pte Ltd

Ai Ee Ling

Tan Kang Ming Joshua

Angela Koh Arend Amandus Schumacher

$1,000 AND ABOVE

Au Wee Ling

Anonymous (8)

Chay Choong

Arts Junior Montessori LLP

Diana Silva

Aw Yong Tian

Fabien Nicolas Deriaux

Bernard Yong Ching Phang

Francoise Mei

Elizabeth Fong Ei Lie

Goh Nianzhe Nigel

Fabian Jee

Ian Sheng Tan

Francis Liew

Ho Yin Shan

Guy Daniel Harvey Samuel

Huey Lin Teo

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Isa bin Amir Hamzah

Toh Xue Qian

Janice Leong Yoke Leng

Valarie Koh

Jaslyn Lee

Villangca Anna Lynn Jacinto

John Lillard

Vincent Wang

Jordan Yoong Jia En

Wong Mee Fong

June Sheren

Xia Hongwei

Kelvyn Chin Chong Keat

Xu Zhong Yu

Kenrick Lam

Yan Jia Yin

Koh Wei Ying Ann

Yu Mei

Kok Soke Wai (Guo Shu Hui)

Zhang Jiajia Mandy

Kwan Wei Meng William Lee Yu Hong Liak Yuan Ying Lim Choon Huat

In collaboration with:

Lim Huey Yuee Loh Shih Ying Low Chien Chong, Peter Melissa Mei Wan Kwee Melissa Ong Bao Xia Michael Huang Wei Cheng Murugaiyan Rajkumar Nagano Kei

With the support of:

Ng Mei Ling Ng Ruenn Sheng Nicholas Cheng Chee Keen Olivier Masson Ong Yong Lock Pan Yunxin Edna Peggy Tan Peh Xiang Hong Perumal Balamurugan

Special thanks to:

Rachael Chan Sue Hui

National Arts Council

Rayner Tan Renyi

School of the Arts Singapore

Shan Shao

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Siddharth Biswas

HSBC

Suwandi Leo

Yamaha Music (Asia)

Tan Chunrui

Voices of Singapore

Tan Phuay Miang

Furama Hotel International

Tan Tiong Gie Bernard

Singapore Press Holdings

Tan Wei Tong

Singapore International Foundation

Tan You Wei Teo Yi En Shawn

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SUPPORT US

COVID-19 has changed how we can experience music together in a safe manner. We are thankful for the rare opportunity to present to you live music once again.

Please consider giving us a donation as we rise to the challenge to continue to bring you meaningful programmes.

or visit WWW.ORCHESTRA.SG/SUPPORT-US

Orchestra of the Music Makers Ltd. (UEN: 201002361G) is an Institution of a Public Character (IPC) and donations are eligible for 2.5 times tax deduction.

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Enjoyed the concert?

Please spare 30 seconds of your time to complete this post-concert survey for us! This will help us improve on the quality of our future programmes.

WEBSITE: WWW.ORCHESTRA.SG FACEBOOK: @ORCHMUSICMAKERS INSTAGRAM: @OMM.SG

PROGRAMME BOOKLET DESIGNED BY LAM YUN EN