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TheConcertos

under the patronage of Tedd Joselsona concert of great chamber music featuring remarkable Sri Lankan pianist, Louis Page,

and an exciting new ensemble of exceptional young Singaporean soloists.

No. 1 in E minor Opus 11 No. 2 in F minor Opus 21

especially adapted for quintet and sextet with piano by Robert Casteels

Louis Page piano Jung Hong Loh violin

Yi Li Siew violin

Tan Wee Hsin viola

Ryan Sim Guan Jie cello

Sanche Jagatheesan double bass

Kartik Alan Jairamin french horn

SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016 at 4PM

VICTORIA CONCERT HALL

Tickets available at SISTIC

W160561 Chopin Concerto Programme R4.indd 1 14/9/16 3:30 PMGUIDE (DO NOT PRINT)

IFC

Frederick Franciszek Chopin b. 1810 was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era. A child prodigy, he composed his earlier works in Warsaw before he left Poland shortly before the November 1830 Uprising. He went on to achieve international acclaim for the sheer “originality, distinction and grace” of his works, primarily for solo piano (with the exception of his two concertos and some chamber music and songs), and for his relatively few public performances.

Preferring a more intimate performance style he played in elite salons in Paris where he was held in high regard by his

contemporaries, among them Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt.

He cited Bach and Mozart as the two most important composers to shape his musical outlook, but was also influenced by Beethoven, Schubert and Field, with Italian opera and the folk music of his native Poland also leaving an indelible mark.

Over 230 works survive his early death in Paris at the age of 39.

Frederick Franciszek Chopin

Composer, conductor, pianist, educator and arts administrator, Dr. Robert Casteels believes that these activites form an intertwined kaleidoscopic part of music making. Casteels has conducted 50 professional orchestras in 20 countries with a repertoire of 600 works ranging from the early classics to contemporary music. He has conducted first performances of symphonic works and operas in major festivals in Europe, the USA and Australia. In 2001 he was awarded the Christoffel Plantin prize, Flanders’ highest cultural award, for his cross-cultural research.

A composer in his own right, Casteels has written a growing corpus of 100 musical works that cross several cultures, genres and disciplines. His compositions have premiered in Australia, Belgium, China, England, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Philippines. Casteels has been commissioned by important institutions in Singapore, such as the Arts House at Old Parliament, Asian Civilisation Museum Empress Place, Alliance Francaise de Singapour, Singapore Arfts Festival, The City Garden Fund, The Contemporary Asian Arts Centre, The Institute of Policy Studies, LASALLE-SIA, the Ministry of Education, NUS, SG50 and WASBE.

Dr. Robert Casteels

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adapted for quintet and piano by Dr. Robert Casteels

Allegro Maestoso - Larghetto - Allegro Vivace

Although it was the first of Chopin’s piano concertos to be published, his Piano Concerto No.1 was in fact the second of his two piano concertos to be written. Evidence of this is apparent in both the scope and grandeur of this composition. Not since Beethoven had any composer demonstrated such originality and subtlety in the writing of a piano concerto An excellent pianist himself, Chopin brought a new and different mindset to the writing of virtuosic effect for the piano, favouring a more discriminating use of layered texture while not undermining musical clarity and brilliance. Strongly influenced by Bellini and his unique bel canto singing style, Chopin’s virtuosic figuration rich in fioriture demands a particularly sensitive and delicate interpretation. The novel idea of muted strings in the Larghetto (Adagio) adds yet another dimension to the mood of this work.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21World Premiere performance for sextet with

piano by Dr. Robert Casteels

Maestoso - Larghetto. - Allegro Vivace

This ‘second’ Piano Concerto was completed in 1829 by Chopin , who at the age of 20 presented it along with his later E minor Concerto at a debut performance in Warsaw in March 1830. In this sophisticated virtuoso showpiece Chopin is inventive in his redefinition of the piano concerto, which as a genre had been unremarkable since Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto”” of 1809. Although criticised periodically for the subservient nature of the orchestra parts in both of his concertos, it was nevertheless greatly admired by Brahms and Liszt, the latter describing it as...”an ideal of perfection, its expression now radiant with light, now full of tender pathos.” Each movement is a brilliant display of harmonic hues and pianistic ingenuity, never bombastic merely for the sake of it, and always endowed with characteristic singing tone The ravishingly poignant reverie of the Larghetto in A flat lies at the heart of this work and was written with young Chopin’s first love Konstancja Gladkowska in mind. It is followed by a final Rondo reminiscent of the rhythm of Chopin’s beloved Polish mazurkas.

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Sri Lankan born pianist Louis Page has lived in Hong Kong, Colombo and the USA. He currently resides in Singapore. During his early years in Colombo, Louis was named Emerging Artist of the Year (2009) and gave recitals at the Russian Cultural Institute there as well as performances with the nation’s Chamber Music Society. These engagements led to a performance of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto with the Sri Lankan Symphony Orchestra (SLSO). In December of 2013, Louis participated in masterclasses at the Alliance Francaise de Singapour where he was spotted by maestro Tedd Joselson who found his playing “tremendously inspirational and extraordinarily individualistic.” Under his direction, Louis began extensively focusing on a major expansion of musical thought and repertoire encompassing baroque to

contemporary. In combination with masterclasses and rehearsals, work sessions with Joselson resulted in a highly acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto at the Piano Concerto Festival in Singapore (2014).

An avid chamber musician, he devoted much of the last year to a rigorous three-concerto program with the international chamber group including the renowned musicians Aram Talalyan, Boris Livschitz, Viacheslav Dinerchtein and the SSO’s own Igor Yusefovich. Together they formed Musiciens Sans Frontieres, and gave a world premiere performance of the Chopin Concerto No. 1 adapted for string quintet and piano by Robert Casteels, along with the Mozart chamber concertos KVs 413 and 414. He then rose to the challenge of preparing major works by Mussorgksy, Chopin, and Beethoven for a subsequent recital only a couple months later in April, and recently did a recording of this same program on his Bluthner grand. The above performances uniquely established Louis’ first appearances in Singapore as both chamber collaborator and recitalist.

Significant upcoming performances and recordings by Louis Page include concertos by Mozart and Chopin, chamber music by Schubert and solo repertoire for recital consisting of major works by Beethoven, Liszt and Prokofieff.

t h e a r t i s t s

Singaporean Jun Hong Loh graduated with a Masters of Music from the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Prof. Glenn Dicterow, Joseph Lin and Sylvia Rosenberg. In 2009, Jun Hong received his Bachelor of Music (1st class honours) from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, where he studied with Head of Strings, Prof Qian Zhou.

An alumnus of the Verbier Festival, Switzerland, he led the festival orchestra for numerous concerts as concertmaster and associate concertmaster under the baton of Charles Dutoit, Daniel Harding, Valery Gergiev and Gianandrea Noseda. Intent on developing the scene in his home country, he is the co-Artistic Director of the Singapore International Festival of Music, where he curated the programme theme “War & Peace”

for the Festival’s inaugural year in 2015.He is also the co-founder of “More than Music”, a concert series dedicated to presenting engaging and intimate concerts for audiences.

He has won numerous awards, including notably 1st Prize at Gisborne International Music Competition, 1st Prize and Audience award at the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in Boston, 1st Prize at the Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition (Senior), 3rd Prize at the 13th Andrea Postacchini International Competition held in Fermo, Italy, 5th prize at the Canetti International Violin Competition held in Turkey, and the

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(Jun Hong Loh continued) best Singaporean Award at the Singaporean International Violin Competition. At the Gisborne, his playing was hailed as”...poetic, souful, assured and compelling, from the first note to the last.”

Jun Hong’s performance track record ranges from performances in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, to solo recitals in Washington for the WETA radio station, to showcases in Berlin, Vietnam and Indonesia, to tours in UK, France, and USA, to premieres of the violin transcriptions of Scarlatti’s Piano Sonata in Berlin by publishing company Ries & Erler.

He was featured as the rising star in the annual “Asia Rising Stars” series with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; performed solo with the Shenzhen Grand Theatre Philharmonic Orchestra in China and in Tokyo with Maestro Oikawa. In Singapore, he was featured with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for the 34th Anniversary Concert, President’s Young Performers Concert and the Causal Concert series; as well as the Singapore Festival Orchestra in the Esplanade Concert Hall, “Festival Fantasia”. Jun Hong has also been presented as one of Singapore’s leading musical talents in Channel News Asia’s documentary series entitled “Asia’s Wonder Kids”.

Delving in to the film music industry, he recently recorded the violin solos for the movie “7 Letters” produced by 7 of Singapore’s top directors, and film scored by Ricky Ho, a Golden Horse Award recipient.

Adhering to his strong beliefs in giving back to the community, he performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in Kioi Hall, Tokyo, in a charity fundraiser concert for the disabled. Besides performing for various charity groups in Singapore, he also gives back to the community through education. Jun Hong has held numerous workshops and masterclasses for the younger generation in schools and youth orchestras.

He plays on a 1780 Mantegazza on generous loan to him from the Rin Collection. He thanks his former teachers Mr Michael Loh and Yap Shu Mei for their guidance in his early years in music.

A recipient of the Max-Jost foundation scholarship as well as the Rotary Club (Lausanne) violin recipient, Yi Li Siew graduated from the class of world-renown concert violinist Pierre Amoyal (protégé of the legendary Jascha Heifetz) in the Conservatoire de Lausanne. He performs regularly both as soloist as well as in the orchestra and has since collaborated with orchestras such as the European Youth Chamber Orchestra of Styria, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, Camerata de Lausanne, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Hankook Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra, to name a few. These performances and concert tours have brought him extensively to major cities in Europe and Asia.

Since his return to Singapore, Yi Li’s love for performing has seen him co-founding the Incursion Trio with pianist (and wife) Beatrice Lin and cellist Brandon Voo. The trio debuted in 2008 and their performances have since received critical acclaim with the Straits Times quoting them as “Polish, confidence...and lovely sound”. Besides their annual recitals in the Esplanade Recital Studio, recent highlights of the trio includes recital in Académie de Musique Tibor Varga in Sion, Switzerland as well as performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in the Singapore Conference Hall. In 2015, the Incursion Trio initialized project “Back to Beethoven”, in which they plan to be the first in Singapore to perform all of Beethoven’s piano trios.

A violinist since the age of nine, Yi Li also plays the viola and was under the tutelage of Singapore Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Mr. Alexander Souptel before pursuing his studies overseas.

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Singaporean violist Tan Wee-Hsin has been a full time musician with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 2001. He has also performed with the Chicago Symphony, Rochester andMalaysian Philharmonic Orchestras as substitute violist and is active in the local music scene as a much sought after recitalist, chamber musician and guest principal violist with groups such as New Opera Singapore, The Philharmonic Orchestra, NAFA Orchestra, Celebration Chorus and Singapore Sounds. As a soloist, Tan has appeared with the SSO, Singapore Chamber Players and Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra. His chamber recitals include those with the Eastman Virtuosi and Grammy Award winning Ying Quartet in New York, a live broadcast performance over NHK Radio in Japan, Choir of King’s College (Cambridge),

SSO Chamber Series, Take 5 and PRISM at the 1st Singapore Chamber Music Festival. Tan has also participated in numerous music festivals and exchanges such as ASEAN Youth Music Workshop, Asian Youth Orchestra, ASEAN-Japan Symphony Orchestra, Kumamoto Festival, Kent Blossom, Nice Academy, Heidelberg Festival and Indiana University Festival for Professional Violinists and Violists. Aside from his busy performance commitments, Tan is also an avid conductor, educator and instructor. He has been conductor of the Hwa Chong String Ensemble from 1995-97, 2002-04 and since 2008 and was previously Resident Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra from 2011-14. Other ensembles he has appeared with in masterclasses and performances include the Hwa Chong Concert Band and Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chamber Players, Raffles Institution String Ensemble and Kluang Chong Hwa High School String Orchestra. Together with his violinist wife, Lillian Wang, Tan’s involvement with several of these student groups over the years have reached out to benefit charity and community organizations such as Very Special Arts (VSA) Singapore, National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and Children’s Wishing Well among others. They also collaborate with charity groups such as the Hong Kong Music for Our Young Foundation to further the cause of music in the lives of the underprivileged. Tan is currently adjunct faculty at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and in recent years has been an adjudicator at the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation. A recipient of the SSO/MOE scholarship, Tan holds Doctor and Master of Music degrees in Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University and graduated from the Eastman School of Music with Highest Distinction. His principal teachers include Lim Tze Chian, George Taylor, Bradley Lubman (conducting) and Roland Vamos, to whom Tan served as Teaching Assistant.

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Page IBC

Sanche Jagatheesan has recently concluded his Bachelor in Music with Honours course at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Royal College of Music (London). He studied the Double Bass under the tutorship of Mr. Jacek Mirucki. As a student of NAFA, he was extensively exposed to music of different style and genres as part of the NAFA Orchestra as the Principal Double Bassist, the Symphonic Wind Band, the Chinese Ensemble and also the Swing Orchestra.

In July 2015, Sanche auditioned successfully and represented Singapore in the 25th Asian Youth Orchestra Camp. He was also selected as the Principal Double Bassist and led the section in concerts across Asia. Sanche is also an active musician in the music scene and performs regularly with various music groups including the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, Singapore Lyric Opera, Philharmonic Winds, Orchestra of the Music Makers and Dingyi Music Company.

Singaporean cellist Ryan Sim Guan Jie is a graduate of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, having studied under full scholarship with Ng Pei-Sian, Principal Cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, before going on to further his master’s in Germany at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf, graduating with top marks under the guidance of Professor Claus Reichardt.

Ryan has performed in many international music festivals such as the Adelaide International Cello Festival and the Asian Youth Orchestra, and has also played in masterclasses with cellists such as Wang Jian, Gregor Horsch and Wolfgang Boettcher. Ryan is an active chamber musician and plays regularly with local ensembles such as the Re: Sound Collective, the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and The Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra. He was also principal cello at the recent Singapore production of Les Miserables at the Esplanade Theatre and presented a solo cello recital ‘Celloabend’ in September 2016 at The Arts House.

Kartik Alan Jairamin holds a Masters of Music in Performance (Distinction) from the Royal College of Music, London. His education was generously supported by National Arts Council Singapore, Lee Foundation and Trailblazer Foundation and was the recipient of the Michael Quinn Award from the Royal College of Music. Kartik has performed in numerous recitals in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and in London focusing on repertoire for the Horn in various solo and chamber combination. He is also one of the founding members of the wind quintet EDQ who were the finalist and winner of the Composers’ Prize at the prestigious 7th International Henri Tomasi Wind Quintet competition held in Marseilles, France. Apart from recitals Kartik has participated in orchestra festivals held in Germany, Austria and Scotland and most recently participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme (Orchestra) as part of the Aldeburgh Festival (2015). Kartik has performed and recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra (London) under the baton of Estonian-born American conductor Paavo Järvi and British cellist Steven Isserlis. His most recent engagement with the Philharmonia was at the 2016 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, under its principal conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Kartik joins the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as section horn from the 2015/2016 concert season.

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OBC

Watercolour of Frederick Chopinby Maria Wodzinska

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