All posts filed under: Concert Review

A Review of “Honestly! 3 Operas, One Hour.”

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A review of “Honestly! 3 Operas, One Hour.” L’arietta Productions 02 April 2016, 7pm 10 Square, Orchard Central. The Gentlemen’s Island Music by Joseph Horovitz (1925 – ), libretto by Gordon Snell Window Shopping Music by Chen Zhangyi, libretto by Jack Lin. A Hand of Bridge Music by Samuel Barber (1910-1981), libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) Honestly! is L’arietta’s first full length production and oh boy was this a fun night! Opening with Horovitz’s 1958 opera “The Gentlemen’s Island”, Reuben Lai (Tenor) and Brent Allcock (Baritone) were an absolute joy to watch and listen to. Both artists were evidently comfortable in their comedic roles, with beautiful individual musical touches to their lines (turtle souPP and juuicy oysters anyone?). Do not however, mistake this one-act comedy opera to be musical fluff! Horovitz’s work while tonal in nature was nonetheless difficult music even though Lai and Allcock sang it with aplomb, making it sound a lot easier than it really is. The libretto was a cutting commentary on social classes and rules… two shipwrecked ‘gentlemen’ ridiculously …

One Review of THREE: A 50th Anniversary Concert with SYC & Friends

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THREE: A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT WITH SYC & FRIENDS 14 DECEMBER 2014 (SUN) 4PM ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL (SINGAPORE) Ateneo Chamber Singers with Jonathan Velasco (Philippines) Gaia Philharmonic Choir with Ko Matsushita (Japan) SYC Ensemble Singers with Jennifer Tham (Singapore) Gaia x ACS x SYCES Vytautas MIŠKINIS ‘My Song’* SYCES Americ GOH ‘Singapura Permai’ Kelly TANG ‘Sonnet 43’ Ivo ANTOGNINI ‘Life has…’ Eric BANKS ‘Artifacts’* ACS x SYCES Ryan CAYABYAB ‘Preghiera Semplice’ ACS Ryan CAYABYAB ‘Sanctus/Agnus Dei’ ‘Iduyan Mo’ ‘Hibang sa Await’ ‘Munting Sanggol’ INTERMISSION Gaia x SYCES Ko MATSUSHITA ‘Itsuki no Komori Uta’ Gaia Takatomi NOBUNAGA ‘From the Ruins’ – Chapter 1,2,3. Ko MATSUSHITA ‘Tori’ Gaia x ACS x SYCES Ko MATSUSHITA ‘Hoc est praeceptum meum’ Ryan CAYABYAB/arr. Gianpaolo ELERIA ‘Better World’ *world premiere N.B. The above follows the actual performance order and reflects the change in Gaia’s programme order. The ‘World Choral Day‘ proclamation read by the THREE renowned international conductors is certainly a reflection of what is happening onstage… “Sing, choirs of the world!” and sang they certainly did!  For those of you …

A Passionate Passion: A review of Bach’s St John Passion conducted by Lim Yau

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GALA: BACH: ST JOHN PASSION 4 April 2014 (Fri) Esplanade Concert Hall Performing Home of the SSO LIM YAU conductor STEVE DAVISLIM tenor (Evangelist & arias) MARTIN SNELL baritone (Pilate & arias) JAN-HENDRIK ROOTERING bass-baritone (Christus) NADINE LEHNER soprano (Maid) LUCIA CERVONI mezzo-soprano REGINALD MATTHIAS JALLEH* tenor (Servant) TEO ENG SIANG# bass (Peter) SINGAPORE SYMPHONY CHORUS HALLELUJA CHORUS NAFA CHAMBER CHOIR *member of NAFA Chamber Choir #member of Singapore Symphony Chorus JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH St John Passion, BWV.245 2hrs It has been several years since I last attended a ‘Historically Informed Performance’ (HIP) in Singapore and I was intrigued to see a chamber-sized string orchestra with theorbo (belonging to the lute family), viola da gambas (modern cello’s ancestor), organ and harpsichord with a near 100-strong chorus onstage during the recent Gala St John Passion Concert conducted by Lim Yau. I am sure somewhere, some (stuffy old) musicologist-purist, while acknowledging stylistically performed ornaments and melodic embellishments might have scoffed at this recent rendition of J.S. Bach’s St John Passion! Indeed, Bach had to score for smaller …