VCH Presents Lite! Jin Ta & Friends

JIN TA & FRIENDS 30 July 2017 Victoria Concert Hall

FOR THE EMPEROR 11 & 12 August 2017 7.30pm I Victoria Concert Hall Two nights of string quartets fit for a king, by Haydn and Mozart, pinnacles of the Neo-Classical era. The central hymn from Haydn’s Emperor Quartet was the national anthem of Austria for a time, while Mozart’s Prussian Quartets, written with the Prussian King’s interest in the cello in mind, were published two weeks after his premature death.

“If Mozart had written nothing but his violin quartets and the Requiem, they alone would have been sufficient to make him immortal.” – HAYDN Musicians of the SSO Tickets: $20 Concessions: $15 www.sistic.com.sg

OPEN REHEARSAL 12 August 2017 I Sat I 10am - 12pm Open to Friends of the SSO and ticketholders

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JIN TA & FRIENDS Jin Ta, flute Liu Jia, piano Guennadi Mouzyka, double bass Mark Suter, percussion Pei-San Chiu^, flute Samuel Phua*, saxophone

Gary Schocker The Further Adventures of Two Flutes and Piano^ 12’00 Astor Piazzolla Tango-Études Nos. 1 and 2 (with Percussion arrangement) 10’00 Henry Mancini Medley for Days of Wine and Roses, Charade and Moon River Russell Peterson Trio No. 2 for Alto Saxophone, Flute and Piano* 11’30 Mike Mower Sonata Latino 17’00

Go green. Digital programme booklets are available on www.sso.org.sg.

Scan the QR code in the foyer to view a copy.

6’00

JIN TA flute

Jin Ta joined the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flutist in 1998.

A graduate of the University of Michigan and the New England Conservatory, his teachers included Zhu Tong De, Keith Bryan, Leone Buyse, Fenwich Smith and Paula Robison. Jin Ta was the First Prize winner in the Boston Pappoutsakies Memorial Foundation Competition, the Memphis Young Artist Competition, and the 2000 Haifa International Flute Competition in Israel.

He was also a prize winner at the Flute Talk Competition and the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition. Jin Ta has toured extensively all over the world. His recordings of works by FaurĂŠ, Poulenc and Ibert, among other composers, can be heard on the Taiwanese label, NewArt.

L IU JI A piano

A full-time instructor and piano accompanist in the faculty of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Liu Jia was the official pianist of the 1st Singapore International Violin Competition and she has performed as soloist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as well as major orchestras in China, including the China Film Symphony and Beijing Symphony Orchestra.

Liu Jia has worked as an accompanist with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and Singapore Lyric Opera, among others. Active in the chamber music scene, Liu performs regularly in the SSO Chamber Series and extensively in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory with local as well as world-renowned musicians. A graduate of China’s Central Conservatory of Music, she was born in Beijing, into a family of professional musicians.

G UE NN A DI MO UZ Y K A double bass

Guennadi Mouzyka was born in Vladikavkaz, Russia. He studied double bass in Moscow with well-known teachers: V. Shulepina, M. Fokin G. Favorsky and E. Kolosov. He started his career as solo bassist for the Moscow Region Chamber Orchestra in 1979. Upon graduation with Honours from Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire in 1982, he worked for renowned Russian orchestras – The USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra under G. Rozhdestvensky and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was the Sub-Principal double bassist.

With these orchestras he performed in many countries in Europe, America and Asia. Mouzyka joined the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1992 and currently holds the position of Principal Double Bass.

MARK SUTER percussion

Percussionist Mark Suter appears internationally as a chamber musician and collaborative artist. Suter’s diverse background has led him to collaborate with an eclectic array of musicians and ensembles. Suter has toured and performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Cuban latin jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera, Brazilian guitarists the Assad Brothers, New York City Ballet, Essential Music, Persian kemancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider, Dance Brazil and the Indian cross-cultural ensemble Hum. Since 2000, Suter has been a member of the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma. Suter appears on all five of the ensemble’s albums – Silk Road Journeys, Beyond the Horizon, New Impossibilities, Off the Map and A Playlist Without Borders. Their newest recording, Sing Me Home was released in April 2016.

P E I - S A N C HIU flute

Flutist Pei-San Chiu hails from Taiwan and made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2012 as the First-Prize winner of the Alexander & Buono International Flute Competition.

She has given recitals in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Brazil and United States.

Chiu has been serving as the Principal Flute of the Lexington Philharmonic since 2013. Lexington Herald-Leader described her playing “with character and vitality”, “Pei-San Chiu reasserting her status as the Philharmonic’s secret weapon.” She has also performed with Evansville Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Chiu completed her Doctoral of Music degree under Thomas Robertello at Indiana University, where she was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Jacobs School of Music.

Chiu is currently an Assistant Professor of Flute at the Tunghai University, Taiwan.

S A MUE L P HU A saxophone

Samuel Phua (b. 1997) is one of Singapore’s youngest emerging saxophonists.

He is the recipient of NAC Arts Scholarship (Undergraduate) 2017, and recently graduated from the School Of The Arts, Singapore with the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme. There, he studied classical music under Leslie Wong and jazz under Fabian Lim. As a soloist, Samuel has performed with several of Singapore’s top orchestras and bands. He has performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Wind Symphony, Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra of the Music Makers (2013).

As a chamber musician, Samuel co-founded the Xin Saxophone Quartet and plays the tenor saxophone. He is an active member of the Maha Bodhi School Alumni Band ever since he graduated in 2009, and is a member of the Asian Contemporary Ensemble. He has been a regular performer at the annual Singapore Saxophone Symposium since it’s inception in 2011. He was also featured in the television documentary Under 18, shown on local channel, OKTO.

G ARY SC HOC KER ( b. 195 9 ) The Further Adventures of Two Flutes and Piano 12’00 Reportedly “the most published living composer for flute”, the American flutist-composer-pianist Gary Schocker has written sonatas and chamber music for most orchestral instruments, as well as several musicals, of which Far from the Madding Crowd and The Awakening won several awards in the UK and America.

The Further Adventures of Two Flutes and Piano comprises three short movements – the swinging Jungle Charleston, the flowing Rain Train, and the hyper-excited waltz, Whoosh!

ASTO R P IAZZOL L A (1921 – 19 9 2 ) Tango-Études Nos. 1 and 2 (with Percussion arrangement) 10’00 Astor Piazzolla’s lasting legacy lies with the development of the Tango Nuevo (New Tango) – edgy dissonances and counterpoint mixed with expansive melodies and salon-jazz harmonies, all layered over the traditional tango dance rhythm.

The Tango-Études blend the traditional concert étude with the New Tango – full of technical challenges, yet holding their own in a concert setting. There are multiple arrangements available (even for violin and saxophone) and this performance features the solo flute with accompanying percussion.

The Tango-Étude No. 1, marked Decidé (Decisively), is built strongly upon the tango rhythm, and the Tango-Étude No. 2 is, in contrast, more melodically driven. Marked Anxieux et rubato (Anxiously and with rubato), it is also the longest étude in the set of six with an ambiguous yet heavily ornamented main theme contrasted with a more sentimental middle section.

HENRY MAN CINI (1924–19 9 4 ) Medley for Days of Wine and Roses, Charade and Moon River 6’00 Henry Mancini won four Academy Awards, twenty Grammy Awards and numerous others for his compositions for film and television. Most will know his Pink Panther Theme and the song, Moon River, which was composed for the Audrey Hepburn-headlined Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Mancini developed a close working relationship with the singer and songwriter Johnny Mercer, with whom he wrote the three songs featured today.

The songs in this medley were written across a span of three years. Moon River was the first to be released in 1961, and was a hit from the beginning.

There is a famous story here, where a Paramount Pictures executive suggested that the song be replaced, only to be met with violent opposition from Hepburn herself, protesting, “over my dead body”. Days of Wine and Roses and Charade were written for films of the same names in 1962 and 1963 respectively, but while they each also received widespread popularity, neither seemed to approach the universal appeal of Moon River.

RU S SEL L PETERSON (b. 19 6 9 ) Trio No. 2 for Alto Saxophone, Flute and Piano 11’30 Saxophonist, bassoonist, composer and arranger Russell Peterson was born in 1969, and wrote a Trio for Viola, Alto Saxophone and Piano, which he premiered with Kate Hamilton and Jay Hersberger in 2010. Soon after in 2011, he rearranged the Trio for the forces you will hear today – alto saxophone, flute and piano.

Written in three short movements, the first evokes memories of Piazzolla’s Tango Nuevo, followed by the central, lyrical moderato in which the instruments sing and ruminate. The quicksilver final movement pushes the saxophone to its limits with virtuosic runs and dazzling fingerwork.

MI KE MOWER (b. 1958) Sonata Latino 17’00 Flutist and composer Mike Mower studied classical flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London before branching out to leading jazz ensembles and performing with rock artists. He has written for a diverse range of groups and artistes, including numerous big bands, Sir James Galway, and even the Eurovision song contest.

The Sonata Latino was written in 1994 for Kirsten Spratt and Elizabeth Mucha. The composer wrote that “they asked for a piece in South American style so I [incorporated] various Latin rhythms”, and that he tried to capture the spirit of a “contemporary latin/jazz improvising duo at a gig”. Written in three movements, the Salsa Montunate draws from the Cuban and Venezuelan Salsa, while Rumbango mixes the Columbian Rumba and Argentinean Tango. Mower then ends the piece by combining the Brazilian Bossa Nova with the Venezuelan and Columbian Merengue style in the concluding Bossa Merengova.

Programme notes by Christopher Cheong

NEW NOTES IN THE PIPELINE 6 August 2017 4pm The King of Instruments takes centre stage with new compositions by Singaporean composers Chok Kerong and young contemporaries Chen Zhangyi and Phoon Yu. Disquiet, Chok’s work specially commissioned for the Klais Pipe Organ, will feature organist Margaret Chen with a string ensemble conducted by Ang Shao-wen. Composer-organist Phoon Yu will present an original piece that brings together the thrilling combination of organ and trumpet.

Ang Shao-wen, conductor Margaret Chen, organ Phoon Yu, organ Lau Wen Rong, trumpet FREE ADMISSION

Doors open half an hour before the concert.

Suitable for ages 5 and above. No admission for infants-in-arms.

VCH Tour: 3pm | Registration: 2.30pm

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