UNBOXING THE ORGAN WITH DR PHOON YU AND THE LORONG BOYS
1 Oct 2023, 4pm
Victoria Concert Hall
Sponsored by
PROGRAMME
Phoon Yu organ
Lorong Boys
Eugene Chew bass
Joachim Lim percussion
David Loke violin
Jonathan Shin piano
Samuel Phua saxophone^
^ Guest musician
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
3 mins
Organ solo by J.S. BACH (arr. Phoon Yu)
Puer Natus in Bethlehem
2 mins
Voices (Anonymous)
Thus Rocked Zarathustra
7 mins
Lorong Boys, organ by R. STRAUSS / LORONG BOYS
Clair de Lune
5 mins
Piano solo by DEBUSSY
The Other Swan
3 mins
Piano, violin by SAINT-SAËNS / LORONG BOYS
Eleanor Rigby
3 mins
Voice, organ by THE BEATLES (arr. Jonathan Shin)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
5 mins
Piano solo by THE BEATLES (arr. Jonathan Shin)
Shape of Paganini
3 mins
Lorong Boys by PAGANINI / LORONG BOYS
Montagues and Capulets from Romeo and Juliet
4 mins
Lorong Boys, organ by PROKOFIEV (arr. Phoon Yu)
Passacaglia from Harpsichord Suite No. 7
5 mins
Lorong Boys, organ in G minor, HWV 432/6 by HANDEL (arr. Phoon Yu)
CONCERT DURATION: approximately 1 hour (with no intermission)
Organist and composer Phoon Yu is active both in Singapore and in the United States. He has performed as a soloist in Victoria Concert Hall, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, and the Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay in Singapore, while playing recitals in New York City at the Riverside Church, St. Thomas’s Church at Fifth Avenue, and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
In April 2022, his début album, SEVEN – Organ Music of Singapore, was released by Centaur Records, while in November that year, he performed alongside his co-composer Jonathan Shin and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Illuminations,
a work commissioned for the Esplanade’s 20th anniversary. Other composition work include his Three Organ Anthems, which were published by Muziksea in 2020, and two of his Pieces for Organ and Trumpet, which have their American premieres scheduled to take place in The Juilliard School later this October.
Previously a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in organ performance at Juilliard under the tutelage of Paul Jacobs, Phoon Yu won the Richard F. French Doctoral Prize for his dissertation. He also won the Bruce R. Eicher prize for organ at the conclusion of his organ studies at the Peabody Institute.
PHOON YU organ
herrphoon
Photo by Gu Wei Photography
LORONG BOYS
The Lorong Boys are genre-defying musicians on a mission: to toe the line between madness and madcap brilliance at every performance. Their incredible versatility, technique, and love for the unbound improvisation means that no genre is out of reach, no territory out of bounds. Hailed as “society’s new revolutionaries” by The Straits Times when they first burst onto the scene in 2014, the Boys are at home anywhere in the world — wherever there are people, there is musical fun to be had. The Boys have been on performance tours throughout Asia, and have also been featured multiple times on almost every TV channel and radio station in Singapore. Some renowned local talents they have worked with include Inch Chua, Nathan Hartono, and The Sam Willows.
Notable local performances include the President’s Star Charity and Cultural Medallion and Young Artist Awards (2015), the opening of Changi Airport Terminal 4 (2017), and the premiere of their pianist-composer’s work Siginnah!, a concerto for solo quintet and orchestra with the Orchestra of the Music Makers (2018). In 2019, they were specially selected to perform in Busan, and in that same year, they also performed in Jakarta, Indonesia for the Singapore Embassy’s National Day Celebration.
lorongboys
Photo by 19SixtyFive
PERFORMER’S MESSAGE
When we started sketching the program and repertoire, we agreed it would take the form of a journey through music history, as viewed through the eyes of an organist and a band of fun-loving, music-making kampong kids. Most of the action would take place in a church, because of the organ’s traditional role as a worship aid. The music would span centuries and cover multiple genres, as befitting the venerability of the organ, but also to tap into the broad range of musical styles that the Lorong Boys can offer. And both of these elements would be melded into the life story of a fictional character, whose various failures and triumphs would be accentuated by musical selections from Bach to the Beatles.
So was born the tale of Kevin, a religious brother of the B.B.B.B. (Benedictine Brothers of Bukit Batok, even though Bukit Batok wasn’t a thing when the story begins). A dreamer whose life begins in a monastery, his quixotic ideals rapidly alienate him from his brother monks and he remains a misunderstood solitary figure – until he encounters the Lorong Boys, visionaries who appreciate him and more importantly, serve as both muses and mentors to his burgeoning creativity.
On one level, Kevin’s journey is a tale with a happy ending where the hero attains his dreams. However, we would also like to invite the audience to consider some things. Firstly, that the organ is not merely an instrument of the church – important in that role as it may be – but it wears many faces and takes on many roles. Secondly, that the history of Western music is deep and diverse, spanning a wide variety of styles with something for everyone. And lastly, that sometimes, realising one’s full potential can involve some unforeseen consequences, but also lead to a world of ineffable possibilities leavened with much levity – as we have discovered on our respective musical journeys.
Written by Phoon Yu
