With the hotbed of musical talent coming out of China (at about the same rate the knock-off LVs roll off the production lines in Shenzhen), yet another prodigy wins an international competition and is catapulted into a career most can only dream of ( Read more... )

This evening at the SSO Gala titled after the star soloist, French violinist Renaud Capucon, was one for the archives, with a close-to-perfection reading of the warhorse that is the Beethoven Violin Concerto ( Read more... )

Expelliarmus! "The Disarming Charm is a defensive spell that aims to disarm an opponent, causing whatever is in the person's hand at the time, usually a wand, to fly out of his or her hand."

Who would have expected a death match between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort in the middle of the SSO concert this evening when guest conductor, Krzysztof ( Read more... )

You win some, you lose some. Over two evenings this weekend, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with director and soloist Joshua Bell presented two imperfect programmes to close the Singapore Arts Festival. Last evening had the more substantial Beethoven Symphony No 7 as the meat and potatoes with the beloved Mendelssohn Violin Concerto as the ( Read more... )

In continuation.

After the intermission, Joshua Bell returned to the fold, the piano bench reappearing in position. Some brainstorming for the possible favoritism alighted upon the possibility that the bench may be a necessity where the backless frame may be to facilitate movement, as one witnessed with vigorous lurches forward and lunges backward ( Read more... )

The concert was late in starting. Something one has not come to expect at the Esplanade. However, this evening's Singapore Arts Festival presentation of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell was something one had been waiting for months since March, so what was a couple more minutes' delay ( Read more... )

The tongue-in-cheek title of The T'ang Quartet's concert this evening, Beethoven and the Boys, is as much a playful reference to the music as their moniker is to their names. With founding member, violist Lionel Tan out of action for a repetitive stress injury of the wrist, protege Han Oh steps in and fills his shoes ( Read more... )

The Beethoven Symphony Cycle project by the SSO was closed with an all-Beethoven programme on Friday, with the Piano Concerto No 4 and Symphonies Nos 7 and 8 featured ( Read more... )

It didn't bode well when conductor Lan Shui walked out with microphone in hand. In his pidgin English, he then attempted to introduce the works programmed for the evening. Inferencing the United Nations Climate Summit and how apt and timely the two Pastoral Symphonies were, he proceeded to explain the lesser-known Brett Dean work, with its " ( Read more... )

A sold-out concert filled to the rafters does not necessarily a good performance make. Popular does not by default equate to good as the quantity or quality debate has proven. Last evening's SSO concert opened up Circle 3 and if the chorus hadn't needed somewhere to park themselves, the Gallery seats would have been snapped up too ( Read more... )