Past Performances
The recent past…
SSO Christmas Concerts
Tue 13 Dec 11 & Wed 14 Dec 11, 7.30pm
7:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lim Yauconductor
William Ledbette conductor
The Singapore Symphony Chorus
Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir
The music and magic of Christmas come alive at the SSO Christmas Concerts, as Lim Yau leads the SSO, the Singapore Symphony Chorus and the Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir in a night of popular carols and yuletide melodies. And of course, there’s also a segment for you to join in the fun in our traditional audience singalong.
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloe Suite No 2 & BERLIOZ Te Deum
Friday, 7 Oct 11
7:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Claus Peter Flor conductor
Lim Yau chorus master
The Singapore Symphony Chorus
The Singapore Bible College Chorale
The Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
In the Te Deum, Berlioz turned into reality his vision of a work that combined moments of musical intimacy together with others of supremely colossal impact. Its 1855 Paris premiere involved almost 1,000 performers.
Containing some of his most passionate writing, Ravel’s ballet music for Daphnis et Chloé was hailed by many contemporaries as his orchestral masterpiece. Of the two orchestral suites which he created out of the complete score, the second is arguably the more popular.
Belshazzar’s Feast
Friday, 15 Apr 117:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lim Yau conductor
The Singapore Symphony Chorus
The Singapore Bible College Chorale
The Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Perhaps his most celebrated composition, Walton’s large-scale oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast initially upset cathedral authorities with its vividness and bloodthirsty exultation. Commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony, the austere Symphony of Psalms quickly became a choral classic and was written not long after Stravinsky’s conversion to Christianity.
FAURÉ – Requiem, Op. 48
Saturday, 5 Mar 11
7:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lan Shui conductor
The Singapore Symphony Chorus
The Singapore Bible College Chorale
The Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Fauré’s Requiem conveys a sense of peace and serenity in the face of death, concluding with a joyous vision of the kingdom of heaven.
Faure said of his requiem, “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”
“It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience. The music of Gounod has been criticized for its overinclination towards human tenderness. But his nature predisposed him to feel this way: religious emotion took this form inside him. Is it not necessary to accept the artist’s nature? As to my Requiem, perhaps I have also instinctively sought to escape from what is thought right and proper, after all the years of accompanying burial services on the organ! I know it all by heart. I wanted to write something different.”
POULENC Gloria
Sat, 11 Dec 10
7:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Okko Kamu conductor
The Singapore Symphony Chorus
The Singapore Bible College Chorale
The Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
The Gloria was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation of America. The words from the Mass are set to music of an unmistakable freshness and vivacity. Some critics at the time suggested that it bordered on the sacrilegious; Poulenc replied, ‘While writing it I had in mind those Gozzoli frescoes with angels sticking out their tongues, and also some solemn-looking Benedictine monks that I saw playing football one day.’
Poulenc’s sense of humour and love of life shine through all his music, however solemn the text might be. One of his friends said of him, ‘There is in him something of the monk and the street urchin.’ The Gloria brilliantly expresses these characteristics, with its captivating mixture of solemnity and mischievous exuberance.
TCHAIKOVSKY – 1812 Overture, Op. 49
Fri, 17 Sep 10
7:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lan Shui conductor
The Singapore Symphony Chorus
The Singapore Bible College Chorale
The Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture is an overture written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s defense of Moscow against Napoleon’s advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino in 1812. The overture debuted in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on August 20, 1882 in the Gregorian calendar (the date in the Julian calendar was August 8). The overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire and ringing chimes.
On his 1891 visit to the United States, Tchaikovsky conducted the piece at the dedication of Carnegie Hall in New York City While this piece has little connection with United States history besides the War of 1812 diverting the British, freeing Napoleon to attack Russia, it is often a staple at Fourth of July celebrations, such as the annual show by the Boston Pops and at Washington DC’s annual program called A Capitol Fourth.
Verdi’s Requiem
Sat, 17 Apr 10
7:30pm @ Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lim Yau conductor
Zhang Liping soprano
Simone Schröde mezzo-soprano
Dominic Natoli tenor
Alexander Vinogradov bass
Singapore Symphony Chorus
Singapore Bible College Chorale
Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Verdi’s Requiem began as part of a group collaboration on a Mass in honour of Rossini. Though that work never came into being, Verdi later reworked music from it into the Requiem we know today. It premiered on the first anniversary of the death of Alessandro Manzoni, a poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. This concert celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Singapore Symphony Chorus.