Red Balloon Series: Rock in 60 Minutes

ROCK IN 60 MINUTES 31 JANUARY 2019 ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL JACOMO BAIROS, CONDUCTOR NICK OMICCIOLI, ELECTRIC GUITAR PAUL CESARCZYK, ELECTRIC GUITAR

Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is wellloved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore.

The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings. The SSO has collaborated with such great artists as Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Diana Damrau, Martha Argerich, Lang Lang, YoYo Ma, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham.

The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. The mission of the Group is to create memorable shared experiences with music. Through the SSO and its affiliated performing groups, we spread the love for music, nurture talent and enrich Singapore’s diverse communities.

JACOMO BAIROS, CONDUCTOR Portuguese-American conductor Jacomo Bairos is the 17th Music Director for the Amarillo Symphony as well as Co-Founder and Artistic Director for Miami’s Nu Deco Ensemble; a virtuosic and eclectic, 21st-century chamber orchestra. Imaginative and profoundly dedicated to young musicians and living composers, Bairos is recognised as a new emerging voice of classical music performance, with trailblazing, relevant, and compelling performances that speak to society today.

The wide range of Bairos’ artist collaborators include famed pianists Jeremy Denk, Garrick Ohlsson, and Anne-Marie McDermott. Bairos also closely collaborates with some of today’s most groundbreaking and eclectic artists such as Academy Award-winning composer Bryce Dessner, Jacob Collier, Seu Jorge, Kishi Bashi, Bilal, Aaron Diehl, Grammy Award-winning soul-singer Gregory Porter, Cory Henry, and Jon Batiste. Since 2014, Bairos has worked closely on many projects and collaborations with multi-platinum singersongwriter Ben Folds.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Bairos is an accomplished and award-winning tubist, having given masterclasses and concerts with major festivals and orchestras around the world. He has held principal positions with orchestras in America and Spain, and from 2004-2007 Bairos was principal Tuba for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Bairos is also a teacher, practitioner of Vipassana and Transcendental Meditation, and works and mentors with underserved children throughout the South Florida region.

NICK OMICCIOLI, ELECTRIC GUITAR Nick Omiccioli is an American electric guitarist and composer making his debut with the Singapore Symphony. As a composer, Nick’s music has been performed by some of the leading ensembles of today such as Alarm Will Sound, The Berkeley Symphony, l’Orchestre de la francophonie, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and Nu Deco Ensemble.

I am a rocker and metalhead in a classical musician’s world. Rather than seeing myself as a composer that writes rock-inspired classical music, I see myself as a composer that writes classical-inspired rock music. The orchestra is my rock band and the music I compose encompasses a diverse range of styles.

As a guitarist, Nick picked up the instrument after he heard Metallica’s eponymous album The Black Album for the first time.

Nick has recently performed with the classical music comedy duo Igudesman & Joo and is currently recording an album of his favorite works by J.S. Bach for solo electric guitar.

Bryce Dessner’s St. Carolyn by the sea is not your traditional concerto. Rather than flashy figures and endless streams of notes, the electric guitars are woven into the fabric of the orchestra with reverb-drenched melodic canons and chorale-like suspended harmonies.

PAUL CESARCZYK, ELECTRIC GUITAR Paul Cesarczyk is a classical guitarist with a passion for the new.

His diverse career encompasses repertoire for both the traditional instrument as well as the electric guitar, the mandolin and banjo.

He has collaborated with well-known new music ensembles such as Speculum Musicae and has worked alongside contemporary greats such as George Crumb, notably on the composer’s Grammy-winning 70th Birthday Album. Paul has performed solo recitals at the New York University Contemporary Music Festival and the Thailand International Composition Festival.

No stranger to genre-bending repertoire, Paul performed Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint at the Long Island Guitar Festival in 2003. Paul has given world and European premieres of works by Narong Prangcharoen and Surat Kemaleelakul and has lectured extensively on the contemporary guitar in Thailand.

On performing the music of Bryce Dessner, Paul writes:

Bryce’s atmospheric and emotionally engaging music manages to be both approachable and artistically profound. The electric guitar functions here not as the extraverted instrument we expect but in a much more subdued and subtle way. The most important challenge has been to shape the poignant and lyrical phrases with color and meaning.

[FUSE] Nick Omiccioli [fuse] (2014/15) was commissioned by the Mizzou International Composers Festival for Alarm Will Sound and received its premiere in July 2014. Originating from a sixteen-bar blues form, [fuse] is influenced by a number of pop music genres, including rock, heavy metal, funk, and disco. These styles are brought to life through the drum set, which gives the piece its singular character.

The piece starts with a crescendo on a single clarinet pitch that is ignited by a whipping glissando in the strings. This dramatic gesture imitates the initial spark created when lighting a match.

Like a fire burning through a wick, [fuse] is unrelenting and burns through its path with confident determination. [fuse] is a workout for the clarinets with fast, interlocking figures functioning as the backbone for the entire piece. This work was conceived while the composer was in residence at Copland House in Cortlandt Manor, New York as a recipient of the Copland House Residency Award.

NIGHT-CLUB Guillaume Connesson French composer Guillaume Connesson’s music stretches the boundaries of current compositional trends. He integrates multiple genres into his works, from jazz to pop to disco and more.

Connesson has enjoyed several residencies, recently with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre National de Lyon, and has received numerous honors, including the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Prize (1999) and Victoire de la Musique’s Composer of the Year (2015).

In Night-Club (1995), Connesson reinterprets funk and disco rhythms beneath energetic, unpredictable melodic phrases, conjuring an almost cinematic scene for the listener. The work is one movement divided into three distinct sections, beginning with a spirited entry to the nightclub and progressing to an uninhibited haze of dancing and drinking by the conclusion. It’s a densely orchestrated piece, with character and color that reveals Connesson’s precision as an orchestrator and curiosity as a composer.

ST. CAROLYN BY THE SEA (CONCERTO FOR 2 ELECTRIC GUITARS) Bryce Dessner Bryce Dessner is an American composer, guitarist currently based in Paris. He is known to many as a guitarist for The National, a Grammy award-winning rock band founded by his twin brother, Aaron. Dessner also performs with Clogs, a quartet formed in the late 90’s with his classmates at Yale that weaves together disparate influences into a blend of folk, jazz, rock, Americana, and modern composition. Dessner is one of the most sought-after younger generation of American composers with commissions by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Metropolitan Museum of Art (for the New York Philharmonic), and many others.

St. Carolyn by the Sea, commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, is based on the 1962 Jack Kerouac novel, Big Sur. Dessner creates an evocative soundscape based upon the surreal hallucinations and mental and physical deterioration of Kerouac’s fictional alter-ego Jack Duluoz. “When I wrote the piece I was in a state of emotional trauma”, admits Dessner. “It has a slight romantic intensity about it and it does shift states. It starts in this kind of sweet longing and then it moves into the more aggressive section and it has, obviously, a kind of triumphant ending.”

G-SPOT TORNADO DOG BREATH/UNCLE MEAT PEACHES EN REGALIA Frank Zappa, American Composer, fl . 1940-1993

EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE/JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE Radiohead | arr. Sam Hyken Over the last two decades, critically acclaimed English band Radiohead has transformed from a more standard alternative rock outfit to incorporating experimental and electronic styles. Its music challenges norms and draws on a diverse set of influences; singer Thom Yorke has stated that the band is “constantly absorbing music”, which is apparent across all its albums.

Everything in Its Right Place is the first track on Radiohead’s fourth album, Kid A (2000). It is soaked in minimalism, utilizing synthesizer and digitally manipulated vocals to create a foreboding, disquieting ambiance. The stress Yorke experienced on tour for the band’s 1997 album OK Computer inspired the lyrics. Jigsaw Falling into Place comes from Radiohead’s seventh album, In Rainbows (2007), and falls more in the pop-rock vein than Everything, with its driving drum beat, active bass line, and escalating tension.

According to Yorke, the song is about going out on the town and drinking the night away, not necessarily for fun but to forget your regrets. American composer Steve Reich was inspired to create Radio Rewrite based on these two Radiohead songs — his first attempt at reworking western pop music.

HUMANS VS. ROBOTS Daft Punk | arr. Sam Hyken The elusive French electronic music duo Daft Punk (Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) rose to popularity in the late 90’s with their combination of synthpop, techno, rock, disco, funk, and house music. Daft Punk emerged from the French house music scene to become international stars in dance music and mainstream pop. The helmet-clad retro-futurists void being filmed or heard speaking and rarely make media appearances, but when they do, embody robot personas in efforts to keep the idea of mystery alive in an era devoid of such protections.

In 1995, Daft Punk crashed into the mainstream when they released Da Funk in 1995. The instrumental single reached the top 10 on pop charts in France and the UK and appeared on their highlyanticipated debut Homework in 1997. Daft Punk became the top dance-pop act in the world following the release of Random Access Memories in 2013 which included their most popular hit, Get Lucky. The track features vocals by Pharrell Williams and guitarist Nile Rodgers. Hyken’s arrangement includes some of Daft Punk’s most popular tracks including Giorgio by Morodor, and Get Lucky.

Programme Notes by Nick Omiccioli and Kristin Shafel

SSO MUSICIANS FIRST VIOLIN

CELLO

Igor Yuzefovich1 Concertmaster, The GK Goh Chair Lynnette Seah2 Co-Concertmaster Kong Zhao Hui* Associate Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han Fixed Chair Cao Can* Chen Da Wei Duan Yu Ling Foo Say Ming Gu Wen Li Jin Li Cindy Lee Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe

Ng Pei-Sian Principal Yu Jing Associate Principal Guo Hao Fixed Chair Chan Wei Shing Song Woon Teng Wang Yan Wang Zihao* Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er

SECOND VIOLIN Michael Loh Associate Principal Hai-Won Kwok Fixed Chair Nikolai Koval* Chikako Sasaki* Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Wu Man Yun* Xu Jue Yi* Ye Lin* Yeo Teow Meng Yin Shu Zhan* Zhang Si Jing* Zhao Tian*

VIOLA Zhang Manchin Principal Guan Qi Associate Principal Gu Bing Jie* Fixed Chair Marietta Ku Luo Biao Julia Park Shui Bing Tan Wee-Hsin Janice Tsai Wang Dandan Yang Shi Li

DOUBLE BASS Yang Zheng Yi Associate Principal Karen Yeo Fixed Chair Olga Alexandrova Jacek Mirucki Guennadi Mouzyka Wang Xu

FLUTE Jin Ta Principal Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal Roberto Alvarez Miao Shanshan

PICCOLO Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal

OBOE Rachel Walker Principal Pan Yun Associate Principal Carolyn Hollier Elaine Yeo

COR ANGLAIS Elaine Yeo Associate Principal

CLARINET

BASS TROMBONE

Ma Yue Principal Li Xin Associate Principal Liu Yoko Tang Xiao Ping

Wang Wei Assistant Principal

BASS CLARINET

TIMPANI

Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal

Christian Schiøler Principal Jonathan Fox Associate Principal

TUBA Hidehiro Fujita Principal

BASSOON Wang Xiaoke Principal Liu Chang Associate Principal Christoph Wichert Zhao Ying Xue

CONTRABASSOON

PERCUSSION Jonathan Fox Principal Mark Suter Associate Principal Lim Meng Keh Lim Xing Hong^ Zhu Zheng Yi

Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal

HARP HORN Han Chang Chou Principal Gao Jian Associate Principal Jamie Hersch Associate Principal Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal Hoang Van Hoc

Gulnara Mashurova Principal

PIANO Shane Thio^

CELESTE Nicholas Loh^

TRUMPET Jon Paul Dante Principal David Smith Associate Principal Lau Wen Rong Sergey Tyuteykin

KEYBOARD Nicholas Loh^ Shane Thio^

ELECTRIC BASS TROMBONE

Brandon Wong^

Allen Meek Principal Damian Patti Associate Principal Samuel Armstrong

MANDOLIN Joel Woods^

*1 With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments.

Igor Yuzefovich plays an instrument generously loaned by Mr & Mrs G K Goh

2 Lynnette Seah performs on a J.B. Guadagnini of Milan, c. 1750, donated by the National Arts Council, Singapore,

with the support of Far East Organization and Lee Foundation. ^Musician on temporary contract Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.

Behold! The SSO presents the Irish Queen of Games Music, Eímear Noone, in a grand musical party of Video Games Classics! The award-winning composer and conductor, responsible for such fan favourites as “Malach” from World of Warcraft, will be joined by the Singapore Symphony Youth Choir & Friends in a journey of fantastic tunes from the rich worlds of World of Warcraft, Skyrim, Final Fantasy and Tetris. When past and present collide, the fate of all worlds hangs in the balance.

Eímear Noone, conductor Victoria Songwei Li, soprano Jade Tan, mezzo-soprano Singapore Symphony Youth Choir & Friends Wong Lai Foon, choirmaster

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R E D B A L L O O N . O R G . S G Background photos: Alexander Popov, Victor Rodriguez, Alexandru Acea, Steven Ramon