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22 Oct	Classics 2005 Matthias Bamert & Ning Kam With the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra HINDEMITH Mathis de Maler SIBELIUS Concerto in D minor Op 47 Kam Ning, violin STRAUSS Also Sprach Zarathustra	This October, MPO returns with newly appointed Principal Conductor Matthias Bamert, Chief Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Associate Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Singaporefs very own Ning Kam. After winning Second Prize at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition of Belgium in 2001, this young violinist star has continued to rise, as seen by her numerous concerts throughout Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong and North America, acclaimed recordings and her forthcoming debut at Wigmore Hall in May 2006. Described by Londonfs The Telegraph as a violinist with gmuch flair plus a totally confident stage presence and an absolute command of the musich, and her collaboration with MPO promises to unite one of Southeast Asiafs premier orchestrafs with one of its most exciting rising soloists. Savour a spectacular night of superb music!
23 Oct	Hands United in Peace Vocal Recital	Performance by : Mr SHIGEKI KANNO, a Baritone and Ms AKIKO KOBYASHI, a Mezzo Soprano, two young talented singers from Japan. Both graduated from Tokyo College of Music and Ecole Normale Musique de Paris, stationed and performed numerous operas and concerts in Milan since 1989 and in many opera and concert halls in Japan, Italy and France. Mr CHIN YONG, a well-known Tenor from Malaysia and Ms ELENA NG, a veteran local Soprano. Both were vocal graduates and trained in Rome, Italy. Both have frequent opera and concert performances in Singapore, Malaysia and abroad. Miss JUNKO MIKANO, a promising local Japanese Soprano. The programme consists of opera arias, Chinese songs and a medley of Japanese folk songs. The music will be accompanied by concert pianist, Miss QIU GUAN NI.
26-27 Oct	Classics The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra with Erich Kunzel	Fans of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and even The Phantom of Opera shouldnft miss The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra who will be playing a repertoire of Hollywood soundtracks and Broadway show-tunes at Esplanade this October. This Grammy(R) Award-winning classical pops orchestra has proven particularly popular with audiences and claims the greatest number of hit records of any orchestra in the world. The Popsf Asian tour will mark one of founder Erich Kunzelfs last tours with the orchestra. The veteran artist has been the Popsf only conductor since its founding in 1977. Billboard magazine has called him the most successful classical crossover artist in history, and he has broken attendance records for audiences at the Ravina Festival and the Cleveland Blossom Music Festival, where crowds exceeded 22,000. Kunzelfs Asian tour with the Cincinnati Popfs will include the first performances of a professional American Pops orchestra in China. Be part of a memorable and extraordinary evening!
29 Oct	A DBS Visa Platinum Evening with Elaine Paige "The First Lady of Musical Theatre"	The first lady of musical theatre, Elaine Paige, will bring her incredible talents to Singapore in her first solo show here for one night only at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday, 29 October 2005, playing in a reduced intimate setting. Elaine Paige has starred in the original productions of more smash hit musicals than anyone else of her generation. She has defined roles, set standards, and made world-wide hits such as Memory, Donft Cry For Me Argentina and I Know Him So Well her own. Following a sell-out tour of the UK, Elaine Paige will present a fantastic evening of musical hits and memories including songs from Cats, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar and many more! With fourteen solo albums to her credit, eight of which consecutively achieved gold sales and four multi-platinum, Elaine Paige is an international sensation not to be missed.
30 Oct	A Halloween Concert: Tales of the Supernatural World	Singapore Lyric Opera presents A Halloween Concert: Tales of the Supernatural World Tan Kar GeeSoprano Phua Ee KiaCounter Tenor Kee Loi SengTenor William LimBaritone with mime artists Christina Sergeant & Wong Young Tseng, pianist Rena Phua and Singapore Lyric Opera Chorus ensemble Get into the Halloween spirit with Tales of the Supernatural World which will bring to life trolls, monsters, witches and many other Halloween characters through a marriage of opera and mime. Audience will be captivated by opera scenes from Purcellfs Dido and Aeneas, Gluckfs Orpheus et Euridice, Offenbachfs The Tales of DfHoffman, Mozartfs The Magic Flute, Schubertfs Erl Konig, Humperdinckfs Hansel and Gretel and Gounodfs Faust. Mime performers will accompany the performers, providing visual complement to the eveningfs enchanted journey. Audience, too, are encouraged to join in the spirit and come dressed to theme, for a performance which is guaranteed to provide plenty of devilish fun and entertainment.
31 Oct	Artist Faculty Series Zuo Jun Violin Recital JS BACH Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 7 in C minor Op. 30, No. 2 FRANCK Sonata in A major RAVEL Tzigane SARASATE Carmen Fantasy	Zuo Jun, Assistant Professor of Violin at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music performs his first solo recital in Singapore. Hailed as one of the most gifted Chinese violinist of his generation and praised for his musicality and technical brilliance by critics, Zuo Jun will perform works by composers including Beethoven and Cesar Franck, as well as the popular Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate and Ravel's spectacular Tzigane. gc the most outstanding representative of the violinists in Chinactechnically sophisticatedcmusically enchanting.h - Daily Yomiuri, Japan Programme
2 Nov	Vienna Boys' Choir	The worldfs favourite childrenfs choir is set to perform on November 2, 2005, 7.30 pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Formed in 1498 by Emperor Maximilian I, the Wiener SaNngerknaben (Vienna Boysf Choir) is one of todayfs most celebrated ambassadors of music. From as early as 1926, the Choir performed outside the Austrian Imperial Chapel, paving the way to todayfs highly successful world tours. The choirfs repertoire includes everything from medieval to contemporary and experimental music. Motets, lieder and folk songs form the core of the touring repertoire, as do the choirfs own arrangements of waltzes and polkas by Strauss. A favourite highlight of each performance is a costumed and semi-staged childrenfs opera. Composers, inspired by these light operas, have written new works specially for the Vienna Boysf Choir. The Choir is conducted by Andy Icochea.
3 Nov, 6 Nov	PAGLIACCI By Ruggiero Leoncavallo By Co-Opera	With high comedy and intense pathos, gPagliaccih has it all. Some of the most popular arias in the repertoire, including gThe Prologueh and gVesti La Giubbah, enrich this masterful tragi-comedy from Italian composer Leoncavallo. The comedy scene at the beginning of Act 2 contains some of the funniest choreographic theatre of any opera. This together with the passionate way Canio describes his task of preparing to perform as gThe Prince of all Comediansh whilst his heart is breaking, has few equals for dramatic contrast, intensity and poignancy in the operatic repertoire.
6 Nov	Voice of A Thousand II	The Voice Of A Thousand concert held in 2003 was a sold-out success with people standing outside the concert hall, hoping to get in on a last minute chance. To replicate last year's concert, we have brought together more than 20 choirs, with a thousand members, to treat you to another unforgettable evening. We hope Friendship, Deep and Forever as the Ocean - will leave an everlasting impression on you. Come and enjoy choral renditions of classical, folk and popular songs.
10 Nov	Conservatory Orchestra Series Orchestral Greats Supported by Singapore Pools Chan Tze Law, Conductor Zhou Yi, Viola Sibelius Finlandia David Viola Concerto Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 gClassicalh Holst Jupiter, from The Planets	The Conservatory Orchestra celebrates the National University of Singaporefs centennial with great orchestral masterpieces including Sibeliusf most widely known composition, Finlandia, Prokofievfs elegant and high-spirited Classical Symphony and Jupiter, the most famous movement of Holstfs spectacular work, The Planets. Zhou Yi, first prize winner of the Yong Siew Toh Concerto Competition 2005, is the soloist in Gyula Davidfs passionate Viola Concerto. Out of respect for other concert-goers, only children above 6 years of age will be allowed admission.
11 Nov	DaimlerChrysler Great Classics: The German Tradition (SSO) Lan Shui, conductor Isabelle Faust, violin J. C. BACH Sinfonia in D major, Op. 18, No. 6 (14f) BERG Violin Concerto (22f) BRAHMS Piano Quartet in G minor (40f) (arranged for orchestra by Schoenberg)	gHer sound has passion, grit and electricity but also a disarming warmth and sweetness that can unveil the music's hidden strains of lyricism.h | The New York Times One of the most exciting European violinists to emerge in recent years, Isabelle Faust brings her love for 20th-century music to Singapore. Dedicated gto the memory of an angelh, few 20th-century works are as heartrending as Bergfs Violin Concerto, written in response to the death of Manon Gropius, the 18-year-old daughter of Alma Mahler. The composer himself died just four months after completing this work.
11-12 Nov	Yellow River Extravaganza (SCO)	DONfT say we didnft warn you | but yes, all the pomp and pageantry youfll ever need for the rest of the year is served up here by way of Xian Xinghaifs evergreen Yellow River Cantata | all eight movements of it, with the piano concerto version thrown in to boot alongside a bonus offering the Chinese Fantasy. The event, which celebrates composer Xianfs 100th anniversary, is also a fund-raising concert for the SCO and will feature Singapore keyboard whiz Ong Lip Tat. While the concerto bill suffers from a damning popularity everywhere it is played, a staging of the Cantata, celebrated and at the same time tainted by its Cultural Revolution overtones, is a much rarer occasion. Culling in forces of a full orchestra, a conductor, one soprano, two tenors, one baritone, a narrator and a 100-strong choir, the work impresses by its sheer stature. More interestingly, it suffered having its communist propaganda lyrics banned in Singapore until recent revisions in censorship guidelines. Time to get re-acquainted with the work, now.
18 Nov	Philips Gala : Yefim Bronfman Plays Tchaikovsky (SSO) Lan Shui, conductor Yefim Bronfman, piano HUANG AN-LUN The Little Match Girl: Ballet Suite, Op. 24 (47f) STRAVINSKY The Fairyfs Kiss: Divertimento (22f) TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 (32f)	gBronfman is a pianist who balances power and polish with sensitivityca precision virtuoso.h - The Washington Post Russian-born piano extraordinaire Yefim Bronfman is the soloist in Tchaikovskyfs First Piano Concerto, a work whose heroic bravado and typically Russian big tunes have made it one of the most popular concertos around. So smitten was Stravinsky with Tchaikovskyfs melodies that he lovingly weaved several of them into his ballet The Fairyfs Kiss, which depicts Hans Christian Andersenfs well-known tale The Snow Maiden.
25-26 Nov	Edo De Waart with the SSO (SSO) MOZART Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201 (28f) intermission MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D major, eTitanf (53f)	Respected Dutch maestro Edo de Waart, Chief Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, takes the SSO through the awe-inspiring symphonic landscapes of Mahler. From the quiet evocative opening to the thunderous finale, the First Symphony is the ideal introduction to Mahlerfs music. Look out for the familiar tune Fre`re Jacques interspersed with cafeL music in the third movement. Travel back to familiar terrain with Mozartfs popular Symphony No. 29, a brilliant and engaging work composed when he was merely 19 years old. Friends of SSO enjoy 50% off Nov 25 with a minimum purchase of 2 tickets at SISTIC outlets.
26 Nov	Nine Girls Band (SCO)	SINGAPOREfS answer to Chinafs 12 Girlsf Band comes in the magic number e9f | or the nine youthful doyennes of their musical fields: Yu Jia (pipa), Zhang Rong Hui (zhongruan - Chinese banjo), Qu Jian Qing (Yangqin - dulcimer), Foong Cui Shan (zhongruan), Xu Wen Jing (gaohu), She Ling (erhu), Wong Meng Yee (double bass), Li Hua (cello) and Xu Hui (guzheng, percussion). No | they wonft go so far as skimpy costumes, but audiences can look forward to specially-commissioned genre-defying repertoire, involving the musicians playing in combinations of duets, trios, quartets and larger ensembles. A bonus: Some of the composers featured are women, a rare enough occurrence in the Chinese orchestral world. Way to go, girls!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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