Singapore, 25 August 2014 (Tuesday) – Cultural Medallion recipient Tay Teow Kiat, President of the Singapore Chinese Music Federation, will conduct the SCO at Picturesque Mountains – Tay Teow Kiat & SCO concert on 12 & 13 September 2014, at SCO Concert Hall. This is a much-awaited concert 11 years on, since his last concert with SCO in 2003.
Dr Tay Teow Kiat has contributed to the development of traditional Chinese music in Singapore for over forty years. He was the first Chinese music practitioner in Singapore to be awarded Singapore’s highest award in the arts, the Cultural Medallion, in 1993. He is President of the Singapore Chinese Music Federation and Music Director of City Chinese Orchestra, Dunman High School Performing Arts Centre and Dingyi Music Company. He is a recipient of The Efficiency Medal (Pingat Berkebolehan, 1989), the Long Service Award in Education (1997), as well as a special commendation from Singapore’s Ministry of Education for contributions to traditional Chinese music (1991). Throughout the years, Dr Tay has received much attention for his conducting style and musical ability. In 1992, the influential Chinese music journal People’s Music commented that Dr Tay’s conducting is “rigorous, accurate, robust and lucid, and possesses a strong sense of proportion, while retaining a degree of unfettered grace. Dr Tay is deeply cultivated in traditional Chinese musical arts, and can accurately grasp the different styles of music so as to profoundly portray the meaning of each piece he conducts…”
In this concert, Maestro Tay has selected four picturesque pieces, which will bring the audience on a musical tour to experience the charms of Chinese sceneries of mountains and rivers. The concert starts with Gu Guan Ren’s tone poem Three Friends of Winter, featuring pine, bamboo and plum as symbols of steadfastness, perseverance and resilience. See guest erhu soloist Wang Gui Ying present Lo Leung Fai’s Beautiful Mount Chai, which illustrates the majestic scenery of Taiwan Kaohsiung’s Mount Chai. Wang Gui Ying is the erhu instructor of Shangyin Music School, erhu principal and artistic instructor of the NAFA City Chinese Orchestra and the conductor of the Raffles Girls School Chinese Orchestra and artistic instructor of its strings section. Her performance was composed, fervent and technically accomplished, bringing out the essence of each work.
Zhan Yong Ming will also portray the grandiose beauty of the broken bridge of West Lake in Liu Xi Jin’s Lingering Snow on The Broken Bridge. Utilising the rich colours of the full orchestra and bringing out the charms of the solo flute, the piece celebrates the beauty of Jiangnan and praises existence of true love in the world. Zhan Yong Ming is one of the distinguished representative dizi practitioners of the contemporary music scene. In 1988, he was named as one of China’s first class national musician and was awarded a special stipend by State Council in 1991. He moved to Singapore in 1997 to teach at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and a number of school Chinese orchestras. In 2004 he was appointed the professor of the Ethnic Music Department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. His accomplishments are recorded in publications such as “China Record of Contemporary Cultural Personalities”, “China Dictionary of Musicians”, and “International Who’s Who”.
The finale will feature famous symphonic suite Capriccioso of Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, composed by Liu Yuan, Jiang Ying, Wang Shi and Wang Ci Heng. This is a composition inspired by Yuan Dynasty’s monumental painting of the same name by the painter Huang Gongwang. Soprano Su Yi Wen and tenor Zhuang Jie will sing the fifth movement of this piece – The Union of Mountains and Rivers.
This would be a beautiful night of scenic Chinese music under the meticulous directions of an award-winning maestro, not to be missed!
Conductor: Tay Teow Kiat Dizi: Zhan Yong Ming Erhu: Wang Gui Ying
Soprano: Su Yi Wen Tenor: Zhuang Jie
Concert details:
Picturesque Mountains – Tay Teow Kiat & SCO
Date: 12 & 13 September 2014 (Friday & Saturday)
Time: 8pm
Venue: SCO Concert Hall
Ticket Prices: $70, $60, $45/$30*, $30/$20* (exclude SISTIC fee)
Tickets from SISTIC
*Concession prices
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