Tuesday, April 12, 2011

SLO Children's Choir to Premiere 4 Pieces by Singaporean Composers


Now that I'm a full-time music student I can finally appreciate what a pain contemporary music is. A score with no key signatures used to mean the key of C major which of many things is simply easier to sight-read. Now it means that the composer will be adding lots of sharps and flats as we go along and changing keys where ever and whenever possible with no discernible melodic lines.  So kudos to the kids at the SLO Children's Choir for performing no  less than 4 world-premieres by local composers. Read more to find out:

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18 March 2011 – The concert on 15 July 2011 marks the 5th year of the founding of SLO Children’s Choir. To commemorate its success, Singapore Lyric Opera, the parent organisation of the SLO’s Children’s Choir, commissioned four of Singapore’s most promising composers Mr Chen Zhangyi, Mr Lim Yi Benjamin, Miss Liong Kit Yeng and Miss Emily Koh.

Audiences will also be enchanted by favourites from opera composers such as Mozart, Bizet and Puccini. The conductors are Khor Ai Ming and Cherylene Liew.

Ms Ng Siew Eng, GM of Singapore Lyric Opera says: “Singapore Lyric Opera encourages the nurturing of talents whether it is vocalists, musicians, conductors or composers. We have to put in place a repertoire of songs that Singaporeans can identify as their own. There is a limited list of songs that we can call our own. SLO takes upon itself to nurture the writing of these songs which can also be used as our true blue Singaporean export when we perform overseas as well.”

With a growing career as a composer based in Baltimore, Chen Zhangyi, composed a piece entitled Dao, based on a poem of the same name by Cultural Medallion recipient Dr. Liang Wern Fook. Also translated as Island, it poetically depicts a heartwarming relationship between father and son. Zhangyi is also currently a master’s candidate for composition and music theory pedagogy at the Peabody Institute of Music, Johns Hopkins University. Besides a composer, Lim Yi Benjamin is also a sheng (Chinese reed pipe mouth organ)
performer, guitarist and educator whose works have been commissioned and performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, and re:mix String Orchestra, just to name a few. He will be contributing his piece “If You Were Coming”.

Liong Kit Yeng who has had prior experience in composing music for choirs, music ensembles, dance, and theatre productions, went on to pursue her music education with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, under the tutelage of Dr Zechariah Goh Toh Chai. His piece for the performance will be “After the Rain”.

Currently pursuing her Master of Music degree in composition and music theory pedagogy at the Peabody Conservatory, Emily Koh is a valedictorian who has studied composition with Ho Chee Kong and double bass with Guennadi Mouzyka. Emily will be composing her very own piece, “There is Painted Bus.”In addition to these four songs, SLO Children’s choir will also sing Dr Kelly Tan’s The Daffodils based on the poem by William Wordsworth. Other performances to look forward to are Over the Rainbow by H Arlen arr. A Snyder, Chorus of the Street Boys (from Carmen) by G Bizet, and a refreshing take of Don’t Stop Believin’ (arr. from R Emerson) from hit television series, Glee.

These talented composers mark the next generation of maestros who will be spearheading the opera industry in the next few years to come. Be sure to catch them in their prime and lend your support to the local burgeoning heroes of opera.
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Aren't you just brimming with excitement to find out just what the kids will be singing? Get your tickets NOW at the Events Page!

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