Rachel Walker Principal Oboe
Concert Programmes
11 & 12 Apr 2025
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel
18 Apr 2025
SSO Gala: Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy
For the enjoyment of all patrons during the concert:
Please switch off or silence all electronic devices.
Please minimise noises during performance. If unavoidable, wait for a loud section in the music.
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf
– Rachmaninoff and Ravel
Fri & Sat, 11 & 12 Apr 2025
Esplanade Concert Hall
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf
– Rachmaninoff and Debussy
Fri, 18 Apr 2025
Esplanade Concert Hall
No photography, video or audio recording is allowed when artists are performing.
Non-flash photography is allowed only during bows and applause when no performance is taking place.
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Cover photo: Rachel Walker © Sloth Creatives
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
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 with its 44week calendar of events.
In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is well-loved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore through its school programmes. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings. In 2021, the SSO clinched third place in the prestigious Orchestra of the Year Award by Gramophone. In 2022, BBC Music Magazine named the SSO as one of the 23 best orchestras in the world.
In July 2022, the SSO appointed renowned Austrian conductor Hans Graf as its Music Director, the third in the orchestra’s history after Lan Shui (1997-2019) and Choo Hoey (1979-1996). Prior to this, Hans Graf served as Chief Conductor from 2020.
The orchestra performs over 60 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans alltime favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season. The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-ofthe-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works, as well as outreach and community performances take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the Home of the SSO.
Beyond Singapore, the SSO has performed in Europe, Asia and the United States. In May 2016, the SSO was invited to perform at the Dresden Music Festival and the Prague Spring International Music Festival. This successful five-city tour of Germany and Prague also included the SSO’s second performance at the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2014, the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received praise in major UK newspapers The Guardian and The Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions. In the 2024/25 season, the SSO performed in Kyoto as part of the Asia Orchestra Week, as well as a three-city tour of Australia.
The SSO has released more than 50 recordings, with over 30 on the BIS label. Recent critically acclaimed albums include Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights (Chandos) and Scriabin – Poems of Ecstasy and Fire (BIS). With Singaporean violinist Chloe Chua, the SSO has recorded the Four Seasons, as well as the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, and a Mozart Violin Concerto cycle with Hans Graf to be released by Pentatone Records in the 2024/25 season. The SSO also leads the revival and recording of significant works such as Kozłowski’s Requiem, Ogerman’s Symbiosis (after Bill Evans) and violin concertos by Robert Russell Bennett and Vernon Duke.
The SSO has collaborated with such great artists as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Joe Hisaishi, Neeme Järvi, Hannu Lintu, Lorin Maazel, Martha Argerich, Diana Damrau, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Gil Shaham and Krystian Zimerman.
The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the Singapore International Piano Festival and the biennial National Piano & Violin Competition.
The Group’s vision is to be a leading arts organisation that engages, inspires and reflects Singapore through musical excellence. Our mission 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 our diverse communities.
Hans Graf conductor
Quantedge Music Director, Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Armed with a spirit of musical curiosity and discovery, creative programming and his commanding presence on stage, Austrian conductor Hans Graf has raised orchestras to new heights while winning audiences young and old alike. With Hans Graf, “a brave new world of music-making under inspired direction” (The Straits Times) began at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, as Chief Conductor in the 2020/21 season, and Music Director since the 2022/23 season.
Graf was formerly Music Director of the Houston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Basque National Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. He is a frequent guest with major orchestras worldwide including the orchestras of Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Vienna, Leipzig Gewandhaus, DSO Berlin, Dresden, Royal Concertgebouw, Oslo, Hallé, London, Royal Philharmonic, Budapest Festival, St Petersburg, Russian National, Melbourne, Sydney, Seoul, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Bavarian, Danish and Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestras. Graf has led operas in
the Vienna State Opera, Munich, Berlin, Paris, Strasbourg, Rome and Zurich. In 2014 he was awarded the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis for Strauss’s Die Feuersnot at the famed Vienna Volksoper, where he returned in 2021 to lead Rosenkavalier.
Hans Graf’s extensive discography includes all symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, the complete orchestral works of Dutilleux, and the world-premiere recording of Zemlinsky’s Es war einmal. Graf’s recording of Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony won the GRAMMY and ECHO Klassik awards for best opera recording. With the Singapore Symphony, Graf has recorded the music of Paul von Klenau, Józef Kozłowski’s Requiem, an upcoming Mozart Violin Concerto cycle with Chloe Chua, and Stravinsky Concertos with violinist He Ziyu and pianist Alexei Volodin.
Hans Graf is Professor Emeritus for Orchestral Conducting at the Universität Mozarteum, Salzburg. For his services to music, he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government, and the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Republic of Austria.
© BRYAN VAN DER BEEK
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy | 18 Apr 2025
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel |
Behzod Abduraimov’s performances combine an immense depth of musicality with phenomenal technique and breathtaking delicacy. He performs with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, and his critically acclaimed recordings have set a new standard for the piano repertoire.
The 2024/25 season sees Behzod performing with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony and Toronto Symphony. Elsewhere, he performs with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
In August 2024, Behzod marked the tenth anniversary of his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He returned to California in November 2024 to Cal Performances in Berkeley and Walt Disney Concert Hall presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also regularly appears at Carnegie Hall.
Behzod’s highly praised recordings have won numerous international awards including the Choc de Classica and Diapason Découverte. Shadows of My Ancestors, his second recital album for Alpha Classics, features works by Ravel, Prokofiev, and Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova.
Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1990, Behzod began the piano aged five as a pupil of Tamara Popovich at Uspensky State Central Lyceum in Tashkent. In 2009, he won first prize at the London International Piano Competition with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. He is Artistin-Residence at the International Center for Music at Park University where he studied with Stanislav Ioudenitch.
Behzod Abduraimov piano
Eudenice Palaruan studied at the University of the Philippines College of Music, majoring in composition and choral conducting. He took further training in choral conducting at the Berliner Kirchenmusikschule, Germany. He graduated doctor of musical arts at St. Paul University Manila.
He was a singer, resident composer/arranger, and assistant choirmaster of the Philippine Madrigal Singers. In addition, he performed with the Berlin Spandauer Kantorei, the World Youth Choir, and sang countertenor with the Berlin Monteverdichor.
In addition, he was the principal conductor of the San Miguel Master Chorale. For years, he has been the resident conductor of the International Bamboo Organ Festival, where he performed and recorded significant selections of Latin-American baroque music. With his active involvement in the choralization of Philippine and other Asian indigenous music, he premiered a substantial volume of new Asian choral works. In addition, he was often invited to give lectures on non-Western vocal aesthetics.
Eudenice also arranges for the SSO choruses and the SSC community outreach programmes. In addition, the SSO choruses have premiered new choral works written by local composers and arrangers in Singapore under his direction.
He taught composition and choral conducting in institutions such as the University of the Philippines College of Music, the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, and St. Paul University College of Music and the Performing Arts. In addition, he teaches at the Singapore Bible College School of Church Music and directs the SBC Chorale. Eudenice is often invited to adjudicate in international composition competitions and give masterclasses in choral conducting.
Eudenice Palaruan
Choral Director
Singapore Symphony
Chorus
Celebrating Choral Excellence
For over four decades, the Singapore Symphony Chorus (SSC) has been bringing together passionate and talented choristers from all walks of life to celebrate the best of symphonic music-making, and to create music that moves, transcending language and culture.
More than just a choir, the SSC is a warm and vibrant community for lifelong social connections beyond the stage. Seasoned performers at the Victoria Concert Hall and the Esplanade, the
chorus’s committed group of singers come together week after week to hone their artistry and volunteer their time to deliver some of the most challenging choral classics to the highest standards.
Led by world-class conductors including Okko Kamu, Lan Shui, Lim Yau, Masaaki Suzuki and Sofi Jeannin, the chorus has amassed an impressive repertoire such as Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, Britten’s War Requiem, and Bach’s St John Passion, amongst others, since its founding in 1980.
With their dedication towards presenting outstanding performances, the SSC is the pinnacle of choral excellence in Singapore and a testament to the power of music and how it connects people across cultures and generations.
Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director
Ellissa Sayampanathan Assistant Choral Conductor
Shane Thio rehearsal pianist
Ng Sheh Feng Choral Associate
Wong Yang Kai Choral Associate
Energetic and full of dynamism, the Singapore Symphony Youth Choir (SSYC)’s choristers embody a zeal for artistic growth that inspires and pushes boundaries.
Comprised of a myriad of vibrant personalities aged between 17 and 28, the cool collective welcomes like-minded singers to share their journey of youthful passion for symphonic choral music-making, alongside the national orchestra! Performing regularly at the Victoria Concert Hall and the Esplanade, the SSYC is a group of dedicated singers who enjoy coming together to explore some of the most challenging and beloved choral works across styles and genres.
Since 2016, SSYC has had the privilege of performing under the baton of renowned conductors such as Lan Shui, Hans Graf, and Stephen Layton. Their repertoire boasts of musical highlights including Scriabin’s Prometheus, Puccini’s La Bohème, Tallis’s Why Fumeth in Fight, Faure’s Requiem and
Singapore Symphony Youth Choir
Inspiring Choral Passion
recordings of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.
With the unique opportunity to learn from world renowned musicians and be part of a community that inspires passion, all while creating a professional sound, SSYC is a social journey to reimagine classical music and choral excellence.
Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster
Ellissa Sayampanathan Assistant Choral Conductor Evelyn Handrisanto rehearsal pianist
The Choruses
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel 11 & 12 Apr 2025
Singapore Symphony Chorus
Soprano
Karen Aw
Josephine Budiana
Janice Chee
Chia Gin Gin
Elizabeth Daniel
Vivien Heng
Selina Kwek
Rachel Lam
Sun Lee
Aidah Lim
Liang Xinyu
Ng Bee Kay
Sarah Santhana
Andrea Yenny Sjah
Nelia Soelistia
Stacey Wang Espera
Vivienne Tan
Sarah Tang
Sachiko Tomimori
Gladys Torrado
Wang Yu-Ann
Alto
Grace Angel
Chan Mei Yoke
Joy Chen
Marie Amelie McKeand
Dorothy Lee-Teh
Wendy Lim
Lin Wei
Shoumin Low
Sharon Low
Sylwia Mirucka
Ng Beng Choo
Ng Sheh Feng*
Natividad Solaguren
Ena Su
Ratna Sutantio
Elsie Tan
Tan Seow Yen
Wang Jiunwen
Tenor
Jean-Michel Bardin
Jesse Cai
Chong Wei Sheng
Ivan De Jesus
Jeroven Marquez
Ronald Ooi
Samuel Pažický
Rac Roldan
Ian Tan
Ben Wong
Yek Kwan
Bass
Ang Jian Zhong
Winsen Citra
Arthur Davis
Andy Jatmiko
Ethan Jerzak
Paul Kitamura
Justin Lee
Jared Robertson
Leo Teo
Elliott Titcombe
Michael Walsh
Wong Hin Yan
Wong Yang Kai*
*Choral Associate
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel
11 & 12 Apr 2025
Singapore Symphony Youth Choir
Soprano
Cham Li Teng
Halyn Cho
Goh Chen Xi
Jocelyne Harefa
Emily Hia
Rachael Jong
Emma Lee-Goh
Teryn Rim
Samyukta Sounderamann
Carine Tan
Christabelle Tan
Janelle Tan
Jasmine Towndrow
Shuwen
Alto
Dieh Xin Xin
Megan Fung
Elizabeth Goh
Trinetra Kumarasan
Zoe Li
Tenor
Hann Lyang
Alfonso Yuji Cortez
Amos Pan
Stanley Yuan Chenye
Bass
Leonard Buescher
Chai Chang Kai
Matthew Chiang
Liu Felix
Loy Sheng Rui
Wong Zhen Wei
Daniil Trifonov
piano
Grammy Award-winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fonov) is a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. In 2024/25, he undertakes seasonlong residencies with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic, with which he tours to New York’s Carnegie Hall. He also opens the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra’s season, returns to the San Francisco Symphony and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, tours Europe with both the Montreal and Bamberg Symphonies, gives U.S. recital tours with a solo program and with violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and releases My American Story – North, his newest double album as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. His existing DG discography has been recognized with BBC Music’s Concerto Recording of the Year, multiple Grammy nominations, and the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018.
He has also been named Gramophone’s Artist of the Year, Musical America’s Artist of the Year, and a “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government, while his earlier honors include Third Prize in Warsaw’s Chopin Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv’s Rubinstein Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. Trifonov studied with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy | 18 Apr 2025
To recognize our donors’ continued support towards the national orchestra, we offer a more personalized way for you to make a mark in the Home of the SSO, with a dedicated plaque on your preferred seat at the Victoria Concert Hall.
Selected seats are up for adoption in donation tiers of $8,000, $15,000, $25,000*
SUPPORT THE SSO
You help to secure the future of the national orchestra.
You enable the SSO to present more world-class performances at the Victoria Concert Hall.
You support SSO children’s programmes that nurture the next generations’ appreciation of the arts and culture.
For more details, please write to director_development@sso.org.sg Tax deduction of 2.5 times the value of your donation may apply (for tax residents of Singapore). *Patron benefits apply.
The Orchestra
Hans Graf
Quantedge Music Director
Rodolfo Barráez
Associate Conductor
Choo Hoey
Conductor Emeritus
Lan Shui
Conductor Laureate
Eudenice Palaruan
Choral Director
Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster
Ellissa Sayampanathan
Assistant Choral Conductor
First Violin
(Position vacant) Concertmaster, GK Goh Chair
David Coucheron Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster
Kevin Lin Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster
Kong Zhao Hui1 Associate Concertmaster
Chan Yoong-Han2 Assistant Principal
Cao Can*
Duan Yu Ling
Foo Say Ming
Jin Li
Kong Xianlong
Cindy Lee
Karen Tan
William Tan
Wei Zhe
Ye Lin*
Zhang Si Jing
Second Violin
Nikolai Koval*
Sayuri Kuru
Hai-Won Kwok
Renyu Martin Peh^
Margit Saur
Shao Tao Tao
Wu Man Yun*
Xu Jueyi*
Yin Shu Zhan*
Zhao Tian
Viola
Manchin Zhang Principal, Tan Jiew Cheng Chair
Guan Qi Associate Principal
Gu Bing Jie* Assistant Principal
Marietta Ku
Luo Biao
Julia Park
Shui Bing
Janice Tsai
Dandan Wang
Yang Shi Li
Cello
Ng Pei-Sian Principal, The HEAD Foundation Chair
Yu Jing Associate Principal
Guo Hao Assistant Principal
Chan Wei Shing
Christopher Mui
Jamshid Saydikarimov
Song Woon Teng
Wang Yan
Wu Dai Dai
Zhao Yu Er
Double Bass
Yang Zheng Yi Acting Principal
Karen Yeo Assistant Principal
Jacek Mirucki
Guennadi Mouzyka
Wang Xu
Flute
Jin Ta Principal, Stephen Riady Chair
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
Ma Yue Principal
Li Xin Associate Principal
Liu Yoko
Tang Xiao Ping
Bass Clarinet
Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal
Bassoon
Guo Siping Principal
Liu Chang Associate Principal
Christoph Wichert
Zhao Ying Xue
Contrabassoon
Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal
Horn
Austin Larson Principal
Gao Jian Associate Principal
Jamie Hersch Associate Principal
Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal
Bryan Chong^
Hoang Van Hoc
Trumpet
Jon Paul Dante Principal
David Smith Associate Principal
Lau Wen Rong
Nuttakamon Supattranont
Trombone
Allen Meek Principal
Damian Patti Associate Principal
Samuel Armstrong
Bass Trombone
Wang Wei Assistant Principal
Tuba
Tomoki Natsume Principal
Timpani
Christian Schiøler Principal
Mario Choo
Percussion
Jonathan Fox Principal
Mark Suter Associate Principal
Mario Choo
Lim Meng Keh
Harp
Gulnara Mashurova Principal
With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. Musician on annual contract.
Kong Zhao Hui 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.
Chan Yoong-Han performs on a David Tecchler, Fecit Roma An. D. 1700, courtesy of Mr G K Goh. Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.
Guest Musicians
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel 11 & 12 Apr 2025
First Violin
Sulki Yu Guest Concertmaster
Lim Shue Churn
Yew Shan
Second Violin
Bobirjon Eshpulatov
Yvonne Lee
Chikako Sasaki
Ikuko Takahashi
Wan Fangyuan
Viola
Patcharaphan Khumprakob
Erlene Koh
Yeo Jan Wea
Cello
Khachatur Khachatryan
Wang Zihao
Double Bass
Brendan Kane Guest Principal
Olga Alexandrova
Julian Li
Clarinet
Jin-Sung Moon Guest Principal
Horn
Lee Hui-Yi
Lewis Lim
Percussion
Thaddeus Chung
Mark De Souza
Derek Koh
Lee Yu Ru
Sng Yiang Shan
Harp
Charity Kiew
Charmaine Teo
Celesta
Beatrice Lin
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy
18 Apr 2025
First Violin
Lim Shue Churn
Wilford Goh
Second Violin
Xie Ziyin Guest Principal
Yvonne Lee
Chikako Sasaki
Ikuko Takahashi
Wan Fangyuan
Viola
Ho Qian Hui
Patcharaphan Khumprakob
Yeo Jan Wea
Cello
Lin Juan
Double Bass
Brendan Kane Guest Principal
Olga Alexandrova
Hibiki Otomo
Clarinet
Dai Le Guest Principal
Horn
Russell Bonifede
Percussion
Derek Koh
Harp
Charmaine Teo Guest Principal
Nigel Foo
Celesta
Aya Sakou
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel
Fri & Sat, 11 & 12 Apr 2025
Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Singapore Symphony Chorus
Singapore Symphony Youth Choir
Hans Graf Quantedge Music Director
Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director
Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster
Behzod Abduraimov piano*
Sulki Yu Guest Concertmaster
Calista Lee Subtitles Operator for livestream
Natalie Ng Surtitles Operator
This concert will be livestreamed on medici.tv and the Singapore Symphony YouTube as a Members-only exclusive on 12 Apr, 7.30pm (SGT).
Check-in to tonight's concert Scan this QR code with the Singapore Symphony Mobile App.
Ethel Smyth
On the Cliffs of Cornwall
10 mins
SSO PREMIERE
Rachmaninoff
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43*
22 mins
Intermission
20 mins
Ravel
Daphnis et Chloé
50 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs (including 20 mins intermission)
Ethel Smyth
1858 – 1944
On the Cliffs of Cornwall (1904)
Smyth’s opera, The Wreckers, about coastal villagers and boating accidents, predates Britten’s Peter Grimes by 40 years. Like the latter opera, it deals with social isolation and judgement of individuals from a small parochial community and also features death by drowning as its emotional climax. Even though the original libretto was in French (the opera was originally titled Les naufrageurs), and the music was as lush as anything being composed on the continent at the turn of the 20th century, Smyth had immense difficulty persuading European impresarios to take on the opera. Indeed, the opera was first performed in German, and Mahler even considered it for a Vienna production, but he was kicked out of his position at the Hofoper before plans could solidify. It would take until 2022 before the opera received its first performance in its original language.
Her music was widely respected and she was firm friends with the cultural elite of her time, being friends with Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms, and even lovers with Virginia Woolf and the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. All of that larger-than-life energy found itself channelled into her music, and this tenminute overture is masterfully scored for large orchestra, painting the desolate Cornish seashore in waves of orchestral sound. The orchestral rumbles menacingly in the low register, with the cellos playing on the wood of the bow as a sound effect; the violins come and go in rushing scales and trills, and all of
this in search for a stable key — the first real cadence comes nearly halfway through the piece! After a grand orchestral tutti, the music settles into a gentle rocking, tinged with high bell sounds. On the stage, the curtain rises to a man picking through driftwood as the waves go out…
In recognition of her work, Smyth was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1922 — the first female composer to be awarded a damehood.
Instrumentation
2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, chimes, cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, harp, strings
World Premiere (The Wreckers) 11 Nov 1906, Leipzig
Notes by Thomas Ang | Thomas Ang is a pianist at the Royal Opera House, where he rehearses and plays for operas and ballets. He also specialises in the music of Medtner and Kapustin. www.thomasang.com
Ethel Smyth in a photo taken before 1903
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (1934) 1873 – 1943
Many and varied are the compositions based on the last of Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Violin Solo. Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Lutosławski, Schnittke and even Andrew Lloyd Webber, among many others, have fallen under the spell of the irresistible tune. But best known of all is surely Rachmaninoff’s interpretation, his last work for piano and orchestra, written in 1934 when the composer was 61 and living in Lucerne, Switzerland. Wit, charm, romance, rhythmic verve and masterly orchestration combine in what many listeners consider to be one of his finest works. The world premiere was given on 7 November 1934 in Baltimore by the Philadelphia Orchestra with the composer as soloist.
The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is not, as the title implies, really a rhapsody at all. However, one might associate the piano soloist with the role of the ancient Greek rhapsode, the specially trained singer or reciter of epic poems. Additional meanings have been associated over the years with the word “rhapsody.” We might now define rhapsody as a high-charged instrumental work in irregular, free or improvisatory form. Though generally in a single movement, the rhapsody usually consists of several linked sections.
Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini conforms to this definition in most respects, but it is definitely not free or improvisatory in form. It follows a very clearcut design, namely, a set of 24 variations. The work begins with the curiously “misplaced” first variation (following an eight-bar introduction); only then do we hear the theme in its original,
intact form, played by violins with piano accentuations. Variations 2-5 all retain rhythmic tautness and drive. Only in Variation 6 does a more rhythmically free and sentimental tone creep in.
A new theme enters at Variation 7, that old funeral chant, the Dies irae, which Rachmaninoff had incorporated into so many of his works. In fact though, there is a melodic kinship between the chant theme and Paganini’s. The Dies irae returns in Variation 10, a grotesque march. In between Variations 8 and 9, a demonic quality is introduced, especially in Variation 9, with its col legno (string players using the wooden part of their bows), tappings and frenzied rhythmic conflict between orchestra and soloist.
Variation 11 is essentially a highly florid cadenza with a true rhapsodic flavour to it. Two variations in D minor follow: one a nostalgic, wistful minuet set to Paganini’s fragmented theme; the other a sturdy pronouncement of the theme, still in triple meter, in a more straightforward presentation. Variations 14 and 15 are in F major, with the latter almost entirely for piano alone.
Dark, ominous, even ghostly stirrings seem to emanate from Variation 16, in the key of B-flat minor. The scoring is of chamber-music delicacy and transparency, as opposed to the block-like orchestral writing of most previous variations. Variation 17 does nothing to lighten the oppressive mood, as the soloist gropes in strange, remote harmonic regions.
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel | 11 & 12
Suddenly, as if emerging into the light of day, we hear the sounds of an old friend softly intoned: that famous Variation 18 in that most romantic of keys, D-flat major. (The famous theme from Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto is also in D-flat.) This lush, glorious melody is no intrusion, for like the Dies irae, it too bears a melodic relationship to the Paganini theme; in fact, it is almost an inverted image of it.
The music, from now on in the initial key of A minor, proceeds swiftly to its conclusion, each variation more scintillating than the last. Brief cadenzas conclude Variations 22 and 23; Variation 24 leads directly into the coda. The Dies irae blares out full force in the brass. The gathering momentum and dazzling passage work for the soloist lead one to expect a conclusion of overwhelming bravura and force. Indeed, this expectation is very nearly fulfilled, but at the last moment, Rachmaninoff pulls back and, as if with a wicked chuckle, ends his Rhapsody with a final, lost fragment of the memorable theme.
Instrumentation
solo piano, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, suspended cymbal, snare drum, bass drum, glockenspiel, harp, strings
World Premiere 7 Nov 1934, Baltimore
First performed by SSO 24 Aug 1982 (Seow Yit Kin, piano)
Notes by Robert Markow
Maurice Ravel
Daphnis et Chloé — symphonie chorégraphique for orchestra and wordless chorus (1912) 1875 – 1937
I was delighted that a musician of such talent was going to write music for my Daphnis ballet, and I felt that the music would be unusual, colorful and, most important, what I sincerely wished totally unlike any other ballet music
So said Russian choreographer Michel Fokine (1880—1942) when Ravel was engaged in 1909 as the composer for his ballet based on Daphnis and Chloe, on a commission from famed impresario Sergei Diaghilev and his newly founded Ballets Russes.
Daphnis and Chloe is a Greek pastoral romance written in the 2nd century by Longus, whose name is remembered solely through this tale. The titular pair of young lovers begin their story on the island of Lesbos, where their frolicking and courtship are interrupted by pirates who abduct Chloe. Daphnis’s despair attracts the attention of the Nymphs, who invoke the god Pan to save her. A happy ending ensues as the couple are reunited in jubilation.
It is this unsurprisingly stereotypical tale that Ravel takes and transforms into a largerthan-life musical canvas. It is a touch too simplistic to call it ballet music, for in this case, many would agree that the music far
“totally unlike any other ballet music”
transcends the action. Indeed, Ravel referred to his Daphnis et Chloé not so much as a ballet, but as a symphonie chorégraphique or “choreographic symphony”. It was “constructed symphonically, according to a strict plan of key sequences, out of a small number of themes”, said the composer, “the development of which ensures the music’s homogeneity.” In essence, just what a symphony does.
Ravel’s intention was to “compose a vast musical fresco” that was not so much a nod to an archaic romance yarn, but to “faithfully reproduce the Greece of my dreams”, which he also compared to reimagining the tale depicted by late 18th century French painters.
To this end, Ravel the perfectionist and master orchestrator took on the job with enthusiasm. Moreover, he was attracted to Fokine’s new approaches to dance, such as merging individual numbers into continuous music. Known today as the father of modern dance, Fokine believed fervently in its expressive power, pushing for creative ways to go beyond traditional ballet costumes and techniques to capture both the visceral beauty and emotion of the human form in motion.
Ravel began to write Daphnis et Chloé in 1909. But from the onset, troubles began as these great artistic personalities found their visions unaligned. Disagreements with Fokine over the concept and choreography arose,
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel | 11 & 12 Apr 2025
much of it due to Ravel’s decision to greatly tone down the many erotic love scenes in the tale. The final version bears little resemblance to Longus’s original.
By late 1909, Diaghilev knew that Daphnis would not be ready for the 1910 season and urgently sought a substitute. Ravel’s failure to deliver on time thus contributed to the creation of none other than The Firebird, written by the then 27-year-old Igor Stravinsky. Its June 1910 premiere was so successful that Diaghilev immediately approached Stravinsky for another ballet, which gave rise to Petrushka (1911) and subsequently The Rite of Spring (1913).
None of these helped the relationship between Ravel, Diaghilev and Fokine. Work on Daphnis et Chloé continued through 1910 and 1911, a period where Ravel also produced such notable pieces as Ma mère l'Oye (“Mother Goose”) and L'heure espagnole (“The Spanish Hour”). But despite these, by
the time the score of Daphnis et Chloé was ready to be staged, Diaghilev, citing worries that the music was more symphonic than choreographic, considered cancelling the entire project. A disappointed Fokine was convinced that Diaghilev was more interested in the rival staging of Nijinsky’s L'Après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, set to Debussy’s music) which caused a sensation just days before Daphnis’s premiere. Daphnis et Chloé ultimately only received two performances at the end of Ballet Russes’s 1912 season, causing Fokine to resentfully call it “a stepchild of the company”.
Despite the difficult circumstances of its birth, Daphnis et Chloé has become a staple of the concert repertoire, often heard in the form of two concert suites. On top of a large standard orchestra, Ravel fields a kaleidoscopic array of percussion instruments plus a wind machine and a wordless chorus in the score. Despite this largesse, Ravel’s writing is economical,
Set design for Act I from Daphnis and Chloe, 1912, by Leon Bakst
Behzod Abduraimov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Ravel | 11 & 12
exploiting a myriad of orchestral colours to great effect. The incandescent dawn sequence (Lever du jour) is a celebrated example of Ravel’s masterly orchestration. You immediately hear the “murmur of rivulets produced by the dew that trickles from the rocks” in the warbling of the woodwinds, before being greeted by birdsong perfectly imitated by three violins and flute, heralding the gleaming sunrise.
Central to the entire work is the love theme which comprises a downward and upward phrase, simple but so sensuously shaped that its meaning is unmistakable. Listen for its first appearance on solo horn as the curtains rise and the flute completes its solo – and that’s just the beginning of a bewildering number of forms it will appear as throughout this 50-minute work.
The theme reaches an emotional high three times in the score, passionately drawn out on the strings. The first, when Daphnis is rewarded with a kiss from Chloe upon winning a dance contest. Second, when Chloe returns to Daphnis after escaping the pirates, and lastly, after their dance tribute to Pan and Syrinx, where the dawn music magically transforms into the love theme.
The final Danse générale is one of the most thrilling conclusions in the repertoire, a bacchanale taken to electrifying heights by the wordless chorus roaring ecstatically above the augmented orchestra, riding on a raucous racket of percussion.
Instrumentation
chorus, 3 flutes (2 doubling on piccolos), alto flute, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, snare drum, field drum, bass drum, castanets, crotales, glockenspiel, tambourine, wind machine, xylophone, 2 harps, celesta, strings
World Premiere 8 Jun 1912, Paris
First performed by SSO 2 Sep 1988
Notes by Leon Chia | Leon Chia is Content Lead at the Singapore Symphony Group.
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy
Fri, 18 Apr 2025
Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Hans Graf Quantedge Music Director
Daniil Trifonov piano*
David Coucheron Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster
Stravinsky
Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss 22 mins
Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40* 24 mins
Intermission 20 mins
Debussy
Images pour orchestre 36 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs (including 20 mins intermission)
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Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy
Igor Stravinsky
1882 – 1971
Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss (1934, rev. 1949)
Scherzo Pas de deux I I III IV
Sinfonia Danses suisses
Stravinsky’s early musical successes with the Ballets Russes in Paris made him the most visible proponent of Russian ballet music outside Russia itself, and he was in huge demand throughout the inter-war period. After solidifying his “neoclassical” style with Pulcinella and Les noces, drawing from musical history with Baroque references and folk influences, he looked much closer in history for The Fairy’s Kiss, composed for the 35th anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s death.
Conscious of his musical lineage, he borrowed liberally from Tchaikovsky’s songs and piano pieces, though he avoided using any of the most well-known tunes. As such, the ballet features a much more Romantic language, but despite that, flopped at its premiere in 1928 and in the years after. It did not take long for Stravinsky to rescue some of the music in a four-movement suite for violin and piano with violinist-collaborator Samuel Dushkin (who also similarly extracted a suite from Pulcinella). It is the orchestration of this suite that is heard here tonight.
As is typical for Stravinsky, the music abounds with a kind of perversely energetic wit, with the lyricism of the high Romantic period mixed in with abrupt contrasts, strangely unbalanced orchestration, and unexpected harmonies and rhythmic tricks. The ironic manner which audiences associate with Stravinsky is in
full flow here, though there are moments (especially in the third movement) where one can almost hear Stravinsky wanting to be Tchaikovsky.
Instrumentation
3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets (1 doubling on bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, harp, strings
World Premiere (Ballet) 27 Nov 1928, Paris
First performed by SSO 18 Nov 2005
Sergei Rachmaninoff
1873 – 1943
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 (1941 version)
Allegro vivace
Largo
Allegro vivace I I III
Only nine years older than Stravinsky, the other hugely famous Russian composer of the early 20th century was Rachmaninoff: stunning audiences worldwide with his piano playing, as a composer he was a relentless Romantic with a strong sense of lyricism to match. However, he was not unaware of the musical developments going on around him, especially the rise of European modernism and American jazz. Nearly two decades after his roaring success with the Third Concerto, he finished the Fourth, only to struggle with its lack of success.
In this piece, Rachmaninoff sought to combine the influences he had absorbed on his international travels, especially his fondness for jazz. As such, the Fourth Concerto sounds leaner, with the piano enmeshed more tightly in the orchestral sound and features a move away from the “big tunes” of the Second and Third Concertos toward the development of short musical ideas. An early version was premiered in 1927, having been written mostly in New York; it was finally published in 1928 after several revisions and dedicated to the younger Nikolai Medtner, who returned the honour with his own Second Concerto. A third version was released in 1941, with even more cuts and rewritings.
The first movement launches right into an epic start, but soon peters out, giving way to some piano meandering, and what follows is a series of episodes before the energy tilts forward into a huge climax. This movement, unlike the monumental constructions of his two previous concertos, does not feature a centralising cadenza to hold the audience’s attention, instead preferring to let moments pass by. In this way it is almost like film music, and the following slow movement really drives this comparison home: a beautiful Largo referring to an earlier (withdrawn) piano piece of his, it contains some truly intriguing harmonies and wonderfully chamber-music use of the orchestra. The third movement launches right into the hoped-for piano cadenza, pulling the orchestra along in a forceful whirlwind.
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy | 18 Apr 2025
The composers Sergei Rachmaninoff (left) and Nikolai Medtner in 1938
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy | 18
Even though the music then slows down and returns to a rather episodic structure, the finale is still true Rachmaninoff, with huge demands on the soloist.
Critics at early performances climbed over each other to tear into the work. The audience was not much kinder, finding the form hard to grasp, the piano part filled with predictable figurations, and the outer movements largely filled with piano filigree to the detriment of musical coherence. It remains divisive even today, with outspoken proponents of the original version contending that Rachmaninoff folded too easily to criticism.
Instrumentation
solo piano, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, strings
World Premiere 18 Mar 1927, Philadelphia
First performed by SSO 12 Oct 1979 (Bozena Steinerova, piano)
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy | 18 Apr 2025
Claude Debussy
1862 – 1918
Images pour orchestre (1912)
Rondes de printemps
Gigues
Ibéria
- Le matin d’un jour de fête III I II
- Par les rues et par les chemins
- Les parfums de la nuit
Debussy wrote a triptych of Images for solo piano in the opening years of the 20th century and, pleased with how they turned out, immediately embarked on a sequel, which he announced was for two pianos. Within a few months, however, his musical vision had grown far beyond what two pianos were capable of, and he began to arrange the music he had written for a large orchestra. That did not stop him writing an entirely separate sequel to the original Images, which he called “Book 2” for solo piano; composition of the orchestral Images continued alongside that set (which also turned out to be a triptych).
Debussy’s Images are traditionally performed in the order beginning with the Gigues, followed by Ibéria and concluding with the Rondes de printemps. For tonight’s performance, Hans Graf has chosen to start with springtime, revel in the Gigues and end with festive celebration in Ibéria.
The spring dance of the Rondes de printemps (“Round dances of spring”) comprises two French folksongs, divided up among the many solo voices in the orchestra. The happy chatter at the onset of springtime and the use of shimmering strings and winds is Debussy at his orchestral best: painting the winds and waters
Escena valenciana (“Valencian Scene”), 1893 by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida
Daniil Trifonov and Hans Graf – Rachmaninoff and Debussy |
of warmer weather. The movement ends in a joyous dance.
Debussy’s gorgeous orchestration and narrative skill earned Images pour orchestre immediate acclaim. It had been French fashion to write “Spanish” music for some decades, and Debussy followed this with an extremely Spanish-flavoured movement (itself in three parts), but what is less well-known is that the Gigues contains an English folk song, and indeed the genre of gigue derives directly from the English jig, refracted through European music of the Baroque period. Debussy’s dance has a melancholic character reflecting its draft title of “gigues tristes”, though it is ultimately brilliant and attractive music.
Lasting more than half the duration of the total work, Ibéria reflects Debussy’s affection for Spanish music, and makes liberal use of castanets and percussion to add that Andalusian flavour. No less Spanish a composer than Manuel de Falla saw in this movement the embodiment of Spain: he spoke incredibly highly of the work and saw in it Debussy’s genuine love of the country. Subtitled in three parts, the music depicts Par les rues et par les chemins (“Along the streets and along the paths”), Les parfums de la nuit (“The scents of the night”) and Le matin d'un jour de fête (“The morning of a festive day”). This is music painting Spanish days and nights, walks through town, and the vibrant dances and colours of Iberia in celebration.
Instrumentation
3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, oboe d’amore, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, chimes, cymbals, suspended cymbal, snare drum, castanets, tambourine provençal, tambourine, xylophone, 2 harps, celesta, strings
World Premiere (complete work) 26 Jan 1913, Paris
First performed by SSO 15 May 2009
Notes by Thomas Ang | Thomas Ang is a pianist at the Royal Opera House, where he rehearses and plays for operas and ballets. He also specialises in the music of Medtner and Kapustin. www.thomasang.com
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We extend our sincerest gratitude to our anonymous donor for this generous gift of $3 million to mark SG60.
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© BRYAN VAN DER BEEK
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Farhana Sharmeen
Asst Prof Kat Agres*
Cecilia Pang*
SSO Musicians' Committee
Mario Choo
David Smith
Wang Xu
Christoph Wichert
Yang Zheng Yi
Elaine Yeo
Zhao Tian Chair
SSO Council
Alan Chan (Chair)
Odile Benjamin
Prof Chan Heng Chee
Prof Arnoud De Meyer
Dr Geh Min
Heinrich Grafe
Khoo Boon Hui
Liew Wei Li
Lim Mei
Sanjiv Misra
Paige Parker
Dr Stephen Riady
Priscylla Shaw
Prof Gralf Sieghold
Prof Bernard Tan
Dr Tan Chin Nam
Wee Ee Cheong
Yong Ying-I
*co-opted member
Singapore Symphony Group Administration
Chief Executive Officer
Kenneth Kwok
Deputy CEO
Programmes & Production
Kok Tse Wei
CEO OFFICE
Shirin Foo
Musriah Bte Md Salleh
ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT
Lillian Yin
A rtistic Planning
Hans Sørensen (Head)
Christopher Cheong
A RTISTIC ADMINISTRATION
Jodie Chiang
Terrence Wong
Jocelyn Cheng
Michelle Yeo
Operations
Ernest Khoo (Head)
L IBRARY
Wong Yi Wen
Cheng Yee Ki
ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
Chia Jit Min (Head)
Charis Peck Xin Hui
Kelvin Chua
P RODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Noraihan Bte Nordin
Nazem Redzuan
Leong Shan Yi
Asyiq Iqmal
Khairi Edzhairee
Khairul Nizam
Benjamin Chiau
DIGITAL PRODUCTION
Avik Chari
Deputy CEO
Patrons & Corporate Services
Jenny Ang
Community Impact
C OMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Kua Li Leng (Head)
Samantha Lim
Whitney Tan
Lynnette Chng
C HORAL PROGRAMMES
Kua Li Leng (Head)
Lu Heng
Chang Hai Wen
Mimi Syaahira
SINGAPORE NATIONAL
YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Ramu Thiruyanam (Head)
Tang Ya Yun
Tan Sing Yee
Ridha Ridza
ABRSM
Patricia Yee
Lai Li-Yng
Joong Siow Chong
Freddie Loh
May Looi
Corporate Services
F INANCE, IT & FACILITIES
Rick Ong (Head)
Alan Ong
Goh Hoey Fen
Loh Chin Huat
Md Zailani Bin Md Said
HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION
Valeria Tan (Head)
Janice Yeo
Fionn Tan
Netty Diyanah Bte Osman
Patrons
DEVELOPMENT
Chelsea Zhao (Head)
Nikki Chuang
Sarah Wee
Kevin Yeoh
Brandon Lim
C OMMUNICATIONS, DIGITAL & MARKETING
Cindy Lim (Head)
Communications
Nikki Loke
Elliot Lim
Elizabeth Low
Clairene Tan
Digital & Marketing
Chia Han-Leon
Calista Lee
Myrtle Lee
Hong Shu Hui
Jana Loh
Kashmira Kasmuri
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Randy Teo
Dacia Cheang
Joy Tagore
20–30 Nov 2025
Organised by the Singapore Symphony Group, the National Piano & Violin Competition 2025 is its 15th edition, tracing its history back to 1997 under the auspices of the National Arts Council. The biennial competition identifies and shines a spotlight on young musical talents in Singapore, providing them the opportunity to perform before a panel of Singapore and international professional artistes/adjudicators.
The competition is open to young pianists and violinists aged 25 years and below. Participants will compete in four categories:
Artist 25 years and below
Senior 21 years and below
Intermediate 15 years and below
Junior 11 years and below
The competition will be held from 20 to 30 November 2025 at Victoria Concert Hall.
Registration opens on 5 May 2025, at 10am and closes on 14 July 2025, at 5pm
SSO.ORG.SG/NPVC
ORGANISED BY
PATRON SPONSOR MATCHED BY
MAJOR DONORS
Anonymous
SEASON PARTNERS
The vision of the Singapore Symphony Group is to be a leading arts organisation that engages, inspires and reflects Singapore through musical excellence. Our mission 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 our diverse communities. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a charity and not-for-profit organisation. You can support us by donating at www.sso.org.sg/donate.
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