27 & 28 Mar 2026
Simon Trpčeski & Eliahu Inbal / Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich
3 & 4 Apr 2026
Yeol Eum Son & Thomas Rösner / Shostakovich and Mendelssohn
9 & 10 Apr 2026
SSO Gala: Shostakovich with Leonidas Kavakos & Hannu Lintu
Simon Trpčeski & Eliahu Inbal / Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich
Fri & Sat, 27 & 28 Mar 2026
Esplanade Concert Hall
Yeol Eum Son & Thomas Rösner / Shostakovich and Mendelssohn
Fri & Sat, 3 & 4 Apr 2026
Victoria Concert Hall
SSO Gala: Shostakovich with Leonidas Kavakos & Hannu Lintu
Thu & Fri, 9 & 10 Apr 2026
Esplanade Concert Hall
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Cover photo: Jon Dante © ILUMINEN
The orchestra performs over 60 concerts a year, and its versatile repertoire spans alltime favourites and orchestral masterpieces to exciting cutting-edge premieres. Bridging the musical traditions of East and West, Singaporean and Asian musicians and composers are regularly showcased in the concert season. The SSO makes its performing home at the 1,800-seat state-ofthe-art Esplanade Concert Hall. More intimate works, as well as community performances take place at the 673-seat Victoria Concert Hall, the Home of the SSO.
Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene with its 44week calendar of events.
In addition to its subscription series concerts, the orchestra is well-loved for its outdoor and community appearances, and its significant role educating the young people of Singapore through its school programmes. The SSO has also earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings. In 2021, the SSO clinched third place in the prestigious Orchestra of the Year Award by Gramophone. In 2022, BBC Music Magazine named the SSO as one of the 23 best orchestras in the world.
From the 2026/27 season, the SSO will be led by Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu, the fourth Music Director in the orchestra’s history after Choo Hoey (1979–1996), Lan Shui (1997–2019) and Hans Graf (2020–2026).
Beyond Singapore, the SSO has performed in Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. In the 2024/25 season, the SSO performed to full houses at Asia Orchestra Week in Kyoto, Japan, and made its “dazzling – and true-blue – Down Under debut” (Limelight) in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In May 2016, the SSO was invited to perform at the Dresden Music Festival and the Prague Spring International Music Festival. This successful five-city tour of Germany and Prague also included the SSO’s second performance at the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2014, the SSO’s debut at the 120th BBC Proms in London received praise in major UK newspapers The Guardian and The Telegraph. The SSO has also performed in China on multiple occasions.
The SSO has released more than 50 recordings, with over 30 on the BIS label. Recent critically acclaimed albums include A Hero’s Life (OUR Recordings), Symbiosis - Tribute to Bill Evans (Pentatone) and a complete Mozart Violin Concerto cycle with Singaporean violinist Chloe Chua conducted by Hans Graf (Pentatone). The SSO also leads the revival and recording of significant works such as Kozłowski’s Requiem and violin concertos by Robert Russell Bennett and Vernon Duke.
The SSO has collaborated with such great artists as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Joe Hisaishi, Neeme Järvi, Lorin Maazel, Martha Argerich, Diana Damrau, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Gil Shaham, Daniil Trifonov and Krystian Zimerman.
The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the Singapore International Piano Festival and the biennial National Piano & Violin Competition.
The Group’s vision is to be a leading arts organization that engages, inspires and reflects Singapore through musical excellence. Our mission is to create memorable shared experiences with music. Through the SSO and its affiliated performing groups, we spread the love for music, nurture talent and enrich our diverse communities.
Sayuri Kuru Associate Principal
Nikolai Koval*
Hai-Won Kwok
Renyu Martin Peh^
Margit Saur
Shao Tao Tao
Wu Man Yun*
Xu Jueyi*
Yin Shu Zhan*
Zhao Tian
Hans Graf
Quantedge Music Director
Rodolfo Barráez
Associate Conductor
Lan Shui
Conductor Laureate
Eudenice Palaruan Choral Director
Wong Lai Foon Choirmaster
Ellissa Sayampanathan Assistant Choral Conductor
(Position vacant) Concertmaster, GK Goh Chair
David Coucheron Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster
Kevin Lin Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster
Chan Yoong-Han1 Acting Associate Concertmaster
Cao Can*
Duan Yu Ling
Foo Say Ming
Jin Li
Kong Xianlong
Cindy Lee
Karen Tan
William Tan
Wei Zhe
Ye Lin*
Zhang Si Jing
Manchin Zhang Principal, Tan Jiew Cheng Chair
Guan Qi Associate Principal
Gu Bing Jie* Assistant Principal
Chen Li
Marietta Ku
Luo Biao
Julia Park
Shui Bing
Janice Tsai
Dandan Wang
Yang Shi Li
Ng Pei-Sian Principal, The HEAD Foundation Chair
Yu Jing Associate Principal
Guo Hao Assistant Principal
Chan Wei Shing
Christopher Mui
Jamshid Saydikarimov
Song Woon Teng
Wang Yan
Wu Dai Dai
Zhao Yu Er
Yang Zheng Yi Acting Principal
Karen Yeo Assistant Principal
Po-Yu Fang
Victor Lee
Jacek Mirucki
Wang Xu
Jin Ta Principal, Stephen Riady Chair
Evgueni Brokmiller Associate Principal
Roberto Alvarez
Miao Shanshan
Piccolo
Roberto Alvarez Assistant Principal
Oboe
Rachel Walker Principal
Pan Yun Associate Principal
Simon Emes^
Carolyn Hollier
Elaine Yeo
Cor Anglais
Elaine Yeo Associate Principal
Clarinet
Ma Yue Principal
Li Xin Associate Principal
Liu Yoko
Tang Xiao Ping
Bass Clarinet
Tang Xiao Ping Assistant Principal
Bassoon
Guo Siping Principal
Liu Chang Associate Principal
Christoph Wichert
Zhao Ying Xue
Contrabassoon
Zhao Ying Xue Assistant Principal
Horn
Austin Larson Principal
Gao Jian Associate Principal
Jamie Hersch Associate Principal
Marc-Antoine Robillard Associate Principal
Bryan Chong
Hoang Van Hoc
Trumpet
Jon Paul Dante Principal
David Smith Associate Principal
Lau Wen Rong
Nuttakamon Supattranont
Allen Meek Principal
Damian Patti Associate Principal
Samuel Armstrong
Bass Trombone
Wang Wei Assistant Principal
Tomoki Natsume Principal
Christian Schiøler Principal
Mario Choo
Jonathan Fox Principal
Mark Suter Associate Principal
Mario Choo
Lim Meng Keh
Harp
Gulnara Mashurova Principal
With deep appreciation to the Rin Collection for their generous loan of string instruments. Musician on annual contract.
Chan Yoong-Han performs on a David Tecchler, Fecit Roma An. D. 1700, courtesy of Mr G K Goh. Musicians listed alphabetically by family name rotate their seats on a per programme basis.
Simon Trpčeski & Eliahu Inbal / Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich
27 & 28 Mar 2026
First Violin
Chen Dawei
Lim Shue Churn
Seow Jin Chong
Tian Ye
Second Violin
Zhao Yingna Guest Principal
Bobur Eshpulatov
Yvonne Lee
Ikuko Takahashi
Viola
Ho Qian Hui
Yeo Jan Wea
Double Bass
Andrew Sinclair Guest Principal
Guennadi Mouzyka
Horn
Alexander Oon
Trumpet
Chen Guang Guest Principal
Percussion
Mark De Souza
Tan Pei Jie
Celesta
Aya Sakou
Harp
Nigel Foo
Yeol Eum Son & Thomas Rösner / Shostakovich and Mendelssohn
3 & 4 Apr 2026
First Violin
Lim Shue Churn
Second Violin
Li Qing Guest Principal
Double Bass
Hans Olov Davidsson Guest Principal
SSO Gala: Shostakovich with Leonidas Kavakos & Hannu Lintu
9 & 10 Apr 2026
First Violin
Yvonne Lee
Lim Shue Churn
Yew Shan
Second Violin
Markus Gundermann Guest Principal
Bobur Eshpulatov
Wilford Goh
Edward Tan
Viola
Ho Qian Hui
Erlene Koh
Double Bass
Hans Olov Davidsson Guest Principal
Guennadi Mouzyka
Horn
Luke Chong
Nicolas Fleury
Vadim Shvedchikov
Trumpet
Huang Shan
Sergey Tyuteykin
Trombone
Kelvin Zhu Jianyu
Bass Trombone
Jasper Tan
Percussion
Thaddeus Chung
Derek Koh
Lee Yuru
Harp
Charmaine Teo
Piano/Celesta
Nicholas Loh
Since winning first prize in the Cantelli Conducting Competition at the age of 26, Eliahu Inbal has enjoyed a career of international renown, conducting leading orchestras around the world. Over the years, he has been appointed principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hrSinfonieorchester), Teatro La Fenice in Venice, RAI National Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, who named him conductor laureate in 2014. From 2019 until 2022, Eliahu Inbal served as principal conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and also became its conductor laureate in 2023.
During his tenure with the hr-Sinfonieorchester (1974–1990), where he is still honorary conductor, Eliahu Inbal distinguished himself with his outstanding musicianship. The charismatic Israeli conductor has garnered international acclaim for his interpretations of Mahler and Bruckner on a number of award-winning recordings (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Grand Prix du Disque), and was the first to record the original versions of Bruckner’s symphonies. He has received special recognition particularly for his interpretations of Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphonies. His extensive discography includes the complete symphonic works of Berlioz, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Ravel, Schumann, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, and the Second Viennese School.
In 2026, Eliahu Inbal will celebrate his 90th birthday with performances with the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra and the KBS Symphony Orchestra. He will also return to the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, orchestra tours and guest conducting engagements have taken him repeatedly to Japan and Europe, including La Scala in Milan, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre National de Lyon, Brucknerfest Linz, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.
Praised as much for his powerful virtuosity and deeply expressive approach as for his charismatic stage presence, Simon Trpčeski has captivated audiences worldwide for over two decades.
Launched onto the international scene as a BBC New Generation Artist, he has collaborated with more than a hundred orchestras across four continents. A much sought-after soloist, he has worked with many of today’s most prominent conductors, earning a reputation as one of the most distinctive and compelling pianists of his generation.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include season-opening concerts with the Prague Philharmonia under Emmanuel Villaume and the Seattle Symphony under Xian Zhang, and returns to the San Francisco Symphony with Cristian Măcelaru, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Peter Oundjian, and the Utah Symphony with Andrew Manze. In Europe, he appears at the Enescu Festival with the Romanian National Youth Symphony under Christian Reif, performs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in Spain with Vasily Petrenko, the Tonhalle Orchestra under Philippe Jordan, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo under Stanislav Kochanovsky.
Beyond the concert stage, Trpčeski is passionately committed to celebrating and sharing the rich musical traditions of his native Macedonia. His chamber music project MAKEDONISSIMO, created with composer Pande Shahov, blends traditional Macedonian folk music with virtuosic, jazzinflected textures. Since its 2018 premiere, it has toured extensively across Europe, North America, and Asia.
With the support of KulturOp, Macedonia’s cultural and arts organisation, Trpčeski works closely with young musicians, nurturing the next generation and promoting Macedonian culture internationally.
Born in 1979 in Macedonia, Simon Trpčeski studied with Boris Romanov at the Faculty of Music, University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje.
Amongst many other orchestras, Viennese born Thomas Rösner has conducted the Wiener Symphoniker, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Salzburg Mozarteum, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Prague, Warsaw Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Symphony Orchestras of Basel, Bern, Houston, Quebec and Daejeon, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Toscanini Filarmonica and Les Violons du Roy in Montreal.
He was Chief Conductor of the Bienne Symphony in Switzerland, chef associé of the Orchestre National de Bordeaux and holds currently the position of Artistic Director of the Beethoven Philharmonie in Vienna.
He has also conducted at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Semperoper Dresden, Zurich Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Latvian National Opera Riga, the Welsh National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, the NCPA in Beijing, the Korean National Opera as well as at the festivals of Glyndebourne, Edinburgh, Quebec Opera, Wiesbaden and Austria’s Grafenegg and Bregenz Festivals.
Recent and future engagements include concerts with the Beethoven Philharmonie at the Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna and the Festspielhaus Salzburg, and invitations to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Sofia Philharmonic, Suzhou Symphony, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana Palermo, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the NCPA Beijing, the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg and Lausanne Opera.
Thomas Rösner’s discography includes recordings with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Bamberg Symphony, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Janáček Philharmonic, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Mannheim Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Bienne and the Beethoven Philharmonie.
Yeol Eum Son is known for her refined artistry and breathtaking technical control as well as her strikingly wide-ranging repertoire, from Bach and Mozart to Ligeti and Kapustin. She is in high demand around the world as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, and continues to deepen her artistry through frequent collaborations with many of today’s leading conductors.
Recent and current season include debuts with the orchestras of the Swedish, Finnish Radio, Danish National Symphony, Oslo, Helsinki, London, Liverpool, Dresden, Brussels Philharmonic, Galicia Symphony, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, São Paulo State Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis Symphony, and return collaborations with the Scottish Chamber, NSO Ireland, Residentie Orchestra in the Hague, Sydney, Singapore Symphony and NAC Ottawa in Canada.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, among recent highlights are appearances at the Edinburgh International Festival, International Chopin Festival at Duszniki-Zdrój and at the Wigmore Hall with violinist Ning Feng. Yeol Eum’s latest recording in collaboration with the Residentie Orchestra, featuring Ravel Concertos and solo pieces by Bach/ Wittgenstein, was released on Naïve Records.
Currently one of Asia’s most sought-after trumpet artists and brass clinicians, native Bostonian Jon Paul Dante was appointed as Principal Trumpet of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2013. He is also a member of the Artist Faculty at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore.
Jon has served as Principal Trumpet for many of Asia’s premiere symphony orchestras, including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Malaysian Philharmonic where he was hailed by the American Record Guide as being “one of the stars of the MPO”. Jon also served as Principal Trumpet of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, as well as in the trumpet faculty of the New Zealand School of Music.
Throughout his career, Jon has performed with distinguished artists such as Pavarotti, Van Cliburn, Joshua Bell, Victor Borge, Yanni, James Morrison and Nestor Torrez. Jon has also performed at the Colorado Music Festival, the Bellingham Music Festival, the Santa Fe Opera, and with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
Fluent in virtually every musical genre, Jon has performed and recorded with the acclaimed Albuquerque-based ska band Danny Winn and the Earthlings, and can be heard on the soundtrack for the awardwinning film “Sicko” by Michael Moore. For the decade previous to his pursuit of a symphonic career, Jon was touring extensively throughout the United States and Japan with the Paramount Brass Quintet, an awardwinning chamber ensemble of which he is both the founder and solo trumpet.
Jon is proud to be a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Hannu Lintu continues to maintain his reputation as one of the world’s finest conductors. This season, Lintu continues his tenures as Music Director of Orquestra Gulbenkian and Chief Conductor of Finnish National Opera and Ballet, as well as beginning his tenures as Artistic Partner of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the International Sibelius Festival.
Last season also saw Lintu’s appointment as Music Director of Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 2026/27, where he will appear this season for several performances. Other highlights include returns to the BBC, St Louis, Toronto, Baltimore and Detroit Symphonies, as well as productions of Strauss’ Elektra and a world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s The Morning Star at Finnish National Opera.
Symphonic highlights of recent years have seen Lintu conduct the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and London Philharmonic.
As an expert in both operatic as well as symphonic repertoire, Lintu’s recent opera highlights have included Enescu’s Oedipe at Bregenz Festspiele, Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Opera de Paris and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Bayerische Staatsoper, as well as multiple productions at Finnish National Opera and Ballet, including a multi-season Ring Cycle, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he also later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.
Leonidas Kavakos is recognised across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality. Acclaimed for his captivating artistry, superb musicianship, matchless technique and the integrity of his playing, Kavakos performs with the world’s leading orchestras as both soloist and conductor, and in recital at the world’s premier venues. In 2022 Kavakos founded the ApollΩn Ensemble, a chamber group of elite Greek musicians who are in increasing demand internationally, and in 2025 he takes over as the Artistic Director of the “Classic Revolution” Festival at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul.
Kavakos's extensive and award-winning discography includes the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Riccardo Chailly (Decca), and the Beethoven Violin Concerto which he also conducted with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Sony Classical). He was named ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year for his recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Enrico Pace. With Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, Kavakos has released a series of trio recordings to the highest critical acclaim. With the ApollΩn Ensemble, he has recorded Bach’s Violin Concertos.
Kavakos curates an annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Athens, where he was born and brought up in a musical family. In 2022, he was elected by the Academy of Athens as a member of the Chair of Music in the Second Class of Letters and Fine Arts for his services to music. In 2024, he was appointed professor of violin at the Basel Academy of Music. Kavakos plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivari violin of 1734.
Fri & Sat, 27 & 28 Mar 2026
Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Rachmaninoff
Eliahu Inbal conductor
Simon Trpčeski piano*
David Coucheron Guest Concertmaster
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18*
33 mins
Intermission
20 mins
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103 “The Year 1905”
55 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs (including 20 mins intermission)
Check-in to tonight’s concert
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Moderato Adagio sostenuto
Allegro scherzando I II III
Rachmaninoff needs no introduction as one of the greatest pianists who ever lived, and his compositions will always guarantee that his reputation as a composer is never forgotten. Yet at one point in his life all might have gone to waste: his First Symphony, composed after many years of struggle, was destroyed by critics after a disastrous premiere, which included a drunk Alexander Glazunov conducting an under-rehearsed orchestra.
Therapy helped Rachmaninoff regain his confidence again, and the resulting C minor Piano Concerto firmly established the pianist-composer as one of the leading figures of the late Romantic. Its relative lack of substance has not impacted its popularity at all; Rachmaninoff had found an audience-winning formula and would stick to it for the great “Rach 3”.
Piano concertos by the time of Rachmaninoff had long ceased to begin with the Classical orchestral tutti, but such a slow and mysterious opening was new — let alone one not in the key of the theme! Brooding chords in F minor set up a big crescendo before the violins enter with their big tune — only one of many throughout this work. Piano filigree is immediately on display for the audience, and the glittering fingerwork cedes to a gorgeous relative-major theme. With very little development, these two themes
alternate for the rest of the movement in increasingly frenetic guise, but their energy almost peters out completely before a final surge.
A string chorale modulates from C minor to E major at the start of the second movement, introducing the piano with its poly-rhythmic accompaniment to the flute melody. The soaring, irregularly phrased woodwind melody would later become a firm Rachmaninoff trope, as evidenced in the Second Symphony — more on that later — and the Symphonic Dances. The piano does not tarry long before introducing more fistfuls of notes, moving the music into darker territory and churning the orchestra into a momentous climax. After a piano cadenza, during which the solo piano looks over the preceding material with an improvisatory eye, the opening calmness returns.
The peace in which the second movement ends is quickly broken by the creeping movement of the orchestra as it re-enters, using fragments of melody from the first movement to prod the pianist into another cadenza. The technical wizardry on display in this third movement helps disguise the rather repetitive nature of the melodic material, and Rachmaninoff deftly segues into the final big tune. A fugal section right in the middle of this movement helps stretch the opening theme a little further,
Simon Trpčeski & Eliahu Inbal / Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich | 27 & 28 Mar 2026
and several minutes pass before the glorious final turn to C major arrives like sunlight breaking through stormy clouds. Listen out for Rachmaninoff signing his name on the final cadence: the rhythm of the orchestra sounds like “Rach-mani-noff”!
Instrumentation
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, strings
World Premiere
9 Nov 1901, Moscow
First performed by SSO
23 Aug 1979 (Seow Yit Kin, piano)
Notes by Thomas Ang | Thomas Ang is a pianist at the Royal Opera House, where he rehearses and plays for operas and ballets. He also specialises in the music of Medtner and Kapustin. www.thomasang.com
Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103 “The Year 1905” (1957)
Adagio (The Palace Square)
Allegro (The Ninth of January)
Adagio (Eternal Memory)
Allegro non troppo (The Tocsin)
In January 1905, Cossack guards at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg fired upon a peaceful procession of workers in what is known as “Bloody Sunday”. Among these protesters, according to Shostakovich’s son Maxim, was the composer’s own father. As is typical of his symphonies, the intended meaning is contested. By 1957 (the 40th anniversary of
Yet Shostakovich allegedly said that it “refers to the present, the year 1957, although it is entitled ‘The Year 1905’. It is about the people who lost their faith because the 1906 – 1975
the Bolshevik Revolution), Shostakovich had learned to comply with authorities, and the 11th is supposedly a celebratory piece.
Simon Trpčeski & Eliahu Inbal / Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich | 27 & 28 Mar 2026
goblet of misdeeds and evildoing had run over.” If Volkov’s memoirs are precise, ‘the present’ refers to the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Much of the music’s intrigue lies in its quotation of revolutionary songs with lyrics such as “The autumn night is as black as treason, black as the tyrant’s conscience.” Since Shostakovich was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1958, any subtext was either overlooked or deemed acceptable by the authorities. Nevertheless, the wheel of time turns, and these lyrics might find universal resonance in today’s audiences.
Shostakovich wrote his cinematic Symphony No. 11 by reworking seven revolutionary folk songs and two songs from his Ten Poems, Op. 88 (1951). All are related to the opening rhythmic ‘motto’ on timpani, which haunts the entire work. The Palace Square casts a spell of autocracy, icy winters, and grey stones with hollow open fifths for muted strings. The flute introduces the prison song ‘Listen’, while double basses quote another bleak prison song ‘The Convict’. A contrapuntal discourse bolsters the main climax, in which all the motivic elements assemble.
The Ninth of January begins with the workmen peacefully petitioning: “Oh, Tsar, our little father! Look around you. Life is impossible for us because of the Tsar’s servants, against whom we are helpless...” The climax, with punctuating brass and winds, a martial percussion and anxious fugato strings, is a graphic description of the Cossacks’ assault. In a bloody aftermath, The Ninth of January ends abruptly with a muted reference to the opening of the first movement.
A requiem to fallen heroes and a challenge to survivors, Eternal Memory unfolds as variations over a slow ostinato. A noble melody (‘You’ve fallen victim’) proceeds with violas
over pizzicato strings. A solemn new theme, first carried by woodwind and brass then transformed on violins, begins an ascent. At the summit, the climactic motif from the previous movement returns in a full orchestra lament, with pounding timpani persisting underneath. The viola melody, receding into the distance, is heard again before pizzicato strings arrive at a questioning pause.
Marching tunes assemble in The Tocsin in a rousing finale, including ‘Rage, Tyrants!’, ‘Whirlwind of Danger’, and ‘Bare Your Heads’. Launched by a strident brass motif, the finale transforms the first movement’s icy theme into full-orchestra aggression. In the climax, a confrontation between unison strings and brass erupts into the return of the Palace’s icy theme, now the backdrop for a cor anglais melody that shines new light on the refrain. Finally, the ‘motto’ from the opening timpani sounds out an ‘alarm’ of bell strokes in a tonally ambivalent yet emotionally victorious message.
Trpčeski & Eliahu Inbal / Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich
Instrumentation
3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 3 oboes (1 doubling on cor anglais), 3 clarinets (1 doubling on bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (triangle, chimes, cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, snare drum, bass drum, xylophone), 2 harps, celesta, strings
World Premiere 30 Oct 1957, Moscow
First performed by SSO 23 Oct 1998
Notes by See Ning Hui | See Ning Hui is a pianist, researcher, and educator passionate about integrating underrepresented composers’ music. She is an adjunct lecturer at UAS-NAFA. Upcoming engagements can be found on www.ninghuisee.com.
Fri & Sat, 3 & 4 Apr 2026
Victoria Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Rösner conductor
Yeol Eum Son piano*
Jon Paul Dante trumpet*
David Coucheron Guest Concertmaster
Mozart
Masonic Funeral Music, K. 477
6 mins
Shostakovich
Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35*
21 mins
Intermission
20 mins
Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 5, Op. 107 “Reformation” 27 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 1 hr 30 mins (including 20 mins intermission)
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Eum Son & Thomas Rösner / Shostakovich and Mendelssohn
1756 – 1791
Masonic Funeral Music, K. 477 (1785)
The Freemasons in Europe arose from entirely secular origins, evolving out of mediaeval stonemasons’ guilds and, as alternate places of gathering to the stronghold of various forms of the Church, were tightly bound with Enlightenment thought across Europe, especially in the promise of universal brotherhood. As liberal musicians with friends and colleagues across philosophy and the arts, it is no wonder that the Mozart family would become Freemasons themselves. However, religious and political institutions were not always happy with these strands of thought coming out of the Masonic lodges, and successive Austrian rulers either banned Freemasonry completely or kept it on a tight leash (as Emperor Joseph did in Mozart’s time).
Mozart’s most unabashedly Masonic work is the opera The Magic Flute, which illustrates the ritualistic thought of the Freemasons, but the little-known Masonic Funeral Music was written for the memorial service of two aristocratic friends in the Viennese Masonic lodge. Written as a stately funeral march, the sizable orchestra contains a large wind section, lending the music a Romantic, almost Beethovenian weight.
Instrumentation
2 oboes, clarinet, 2 basset horns, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, 2 horns, strings
World Premiere 17 Nov 1785
First performed by SSO 11 Mar 2007
Allegro con brio I II III IV 1906 – 1975
Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35 (1933)
Allegro moderato
Lento
Moderato
Shostakovich burst onto the Soviet music scene in the early 1920s as a young pianist of great skill and a composer to be reckoned with. After the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 he gained international fame as a composer, and being part of the Soviet contingent to the first Warsaw Chopin Competition in 1927 established his worldclass performing credentials, especially as he was good enough to make it as a finalist. Despite not winning, he continued an intense performing career for decades, though as the years progressed, he would end up playing only his own music.
His sardonic musical personality shines through in the First Piano Concerto, written for himself to play. It began life as a concertante work for trumpet, to which Shostakovich decided he was going to add a piano part to form a double concerto; as composition progressed, the piano part grew in size and importance and eventually eclipsed the trumpet solo, resulting in the title we know today. Eclipsed by the sunny Second Concerto, written for his son over two decades later, this earlier essay in the genre is much more biting and explores darker moods, drawing upon some real virtuosity to make its stand.
With the sparing final orchestration of piano, trumpet, and strings, Shostakovich was distancing himself from the huge symphonic concerti of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev. Its spare, lean texture in fact takes inspiration from Shostakovich’s youthful years spent accompanying silent film, and as such, draws from popular tunes and quotes bits of famous classical compositions. One of the first things the piano plays is a reference to Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata, and the crazy whirlwind of the big cadenza near the end sounds like the Rage Over a Lost Penny rondo.
Despite the overall parodic tone, the first movement is in an almost academic sonata form, disguised by the wildly varying moods and wrenching key changes Shostakovich was so fond of. There is plenty of virtuosic writing that is not immediately obvious –the left hand is doing a lot of work – but between the headlong rush of the middle section and the pretend-Baroque style of the C minor opening and ending, this movement lays a good foundation for what is to come.
The second movement, a smoky waltz, eventually twists and contorts itself into a climactic outburst in piano octaves, soothed by the return of the beautiful main theme in the muted solo trumpet. The tiny third movement, only 19 bars long, is essentially a piano interlude before the crazy polka of the finale. There are two piano cadenzas that provide convenient waypoints: the first, in D major, is a sort of rustic country dance that has been sped up in comedic fashion, but the second, beginning with a joke reference to Classical concerti (a trill on the dominant) goes completely haywire, eventually speeding up and crashing into a brash C major with a massive trumpet fanfare.
World Premiere 15 Oct 1933, St. Petersburg
First performed by SSO 31 Oct 1981
– 1847
Andante – Allegro con fuoco
Allegro vivace
Andante
Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
Mendelssohn began work on this symphony when he was only 20 years old, making it his second full symphony in chronological order. However, it had to wait two years before it received its performance, and the score would not be published as No. 5 until nearly fifty years later, well after he had passed away.
The title comes from its explicitly Protestant origins: Mendelssohn had written this symphony in anticipation of the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, which was the formal profession of faith from the followers of Martin Luther that happened in June 1530. The Mendelssohns were a Christian family, even though Moses Mendelssohn, grandfather of Felix, was the most renowned Jewish scholar in Germany and a fierce champion of Jewish rights in a time period when Jews were not treated as equal citizens. Felix’s father, Abraham, had converted, and Felix was baptised as a young child and remained a practising Lutheran all his life.
This devoutness comes across in the explicitly religious opening: the chorale expands out into the famous “Dresden Amen”, which was a musical signpost that originated at the turn of the 19th century. Bruckner and Wagner also used this cadence in their religious works, with the latter sprinkling it throughout Parsifal as his own profession of faith. The young Mendelssohn started working on this symphony
in 1829, writing of his plans from England to his family; finishing off the last bars in Germany the following year, he settled on the title it is known by today.
The first movement takes disparate historical references and ties them together into a satisfying sonata form, suitable for a serious symphony. The young Mendelssohn had plenty of practice before: he wrote a dozen or so string symphonies at the outset of his teens, and already had a number of significant piano works under his belt. By casting looks backward at Mozart and Haydn, his musical forebears, before emerging into the fresh air that is the scherzo of the second movement, Mendelssohn was almost staking his place out in musical history.
Italian scherzo contrasts with Germanic waltz in this second movement, but both have the frothy charm of Mendelssohn’s best music. Beside this is the beautiful slow aria of the third movement, where Mendelssohn writes a violin solo for the entire section. Prayerful and introverted, it is disarming in its simplicity, with the woodwind interjections seeming like a calland-response situation from church.
The final movement quotes the famous Lutheran hymn “Ein feste Burg”, known in English as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”. This 500-year-old hymn tune was a staple
Eum Son & Thomas Rösner / Shostakovich and Mendelssohn
of the Protestant faith, and was repeatedly harmonised by Bach throughout his religious works. Mendelssohn creates his own version here, with the instrumentation sounding like a grand church organ. After this tune, the second half of the finale is a cheerful return to the opening D major, interspersed with fugal passages and Luther’s famous chorale.
Instrumentation
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, strings
World Premiere 15 Nov 1832, Berlin
First performed by SSO 28 Mar 1979
Notes by Thomas Ang | Thomas Ang is a pianist at the Royal Opera House, where he rehearses and plays for operas and ballets. He also specialises in the music of Medtner and Kapustin. www.thomasang.com
Thu & Fri, 9 & 10 Apr 2026
Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Shostakovich
Hannu Lintu Music Director-designate
Leonidas Kavakos violin*
David Coucheron Guest Concertmaster
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77* 39 mins
Intermission
20 mins
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 “Leningrad” 69 mins
Concert Duration: approximately 2 hrs 20 mins (including 20 mins intermission)
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1906 – 1975
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 (1948)
Nocturne Scherzo Passacaglia Burlesca I II III IV
Written during the cultural famine of postwar Soviet Russia, Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto took shape in March 1948, just as culture secretary Zhdanov issued his notorious decree against Western-style “formalistic distortions and anti-democratic tendencies”. Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other eminent composers were hauled before a tribunal and forced to ‘repent’. Shostakovich dedicated the work to David Oistrakh but said: “It’s not a good idea to play this now!” Along with his Fourth Quartet and the songs From Jewish Folk Poetry, the concerto was quietly shelved. Seven years later, after Stalin’s death, Oistrakh gave the long-awaited premiere to a rapturous ovation.
Distinctive instrumentation and formal originality define the concerto from the outset. It includes triple woodwind, four horns, tuba, two harps, celesta and a modest percussion section, but omits trumpets and trombones. Unusually, or perhaps in the Liszt-BrahmsBusoni tradition, there are four movements, reflecting the concerto’s symphonic intensity.
The first movement is a spellbinding Nocturne, a labyrinth between sweetness and shadow which Oistrakh described as a “suppression of feelings”. The soloist’s soliloquy lasts for 70 unbroken bars, responding at times to the undulating lower strings. In the second half, the soloist climbs to more dizzying heights with triplet figurations and restrained utterings from harp, celesta, and tam-tam. These instruments appear only in the first movement. After an eerie restatement of the main idea on celesta and harp, the music intensifies into a tormented passage of double-stops for the soloist. Ghostly harp harmonics, celesta, and a muted tap on tam-tam bring the movement to a close.
Savage mockery bursts forth in the Scherzo with a dance tune introduced on flute and bass clarinet. The soloist’s sharp, angular interjections spiral around the winds, alternating between circular and vertical figures in a state of both exuberance and insanity. Later, the woodwinds declare a four-note figure: the first incarnation of Shostakovich’s DSCH motif (D – E flat –C – B natural), anticipating its use in the Tenth Symphony (1953) and Eighth String Quartet (1960). The ‘violence theme’ from Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk makes an appearance here and in the next two movements.
In the sombre Passacaglia — a set of variations above an unchanging bass line — horns, drums, basses and winds begin a funereal procession. A broad 17-bar theme in the cellos and double basses is assisted by a horn fanfare and timpani strokes. Eight variations unfold, the first of which gives the theme to tuba and contrabassoon while a chorale-like idea on cor anglais, clarinets and bassoons accompany. The shadows persist, as flutes and piccolos remain silent throughout this movement. Virtually a movement of its own, the cadenza in the eighth variation rivals the finale movement in its duration and symphonic weight. Beginning with innocent arpeggios, the soloist takes on the DSCH motif, the Jewish dance from the Scherzo, and the Passacaglia’s fanfares in a relentless, fatalistic ascent.
In the original score, Shostakovich expected the soloist to dive from the cadenza into the demonic Burlesque, but even Oistrakh demanded a break. Sixteen bars of tutti were thus inserted, and the principal melody entrusted to woodwinds and xylophone.
Proceeding with inexhaustible vigour, the Burlesque recalls the Scherzo’s dance-like elements and is considered the most Russiansounding of the four movements. With its abrupt conclusion, the concerto just about avoids pessimism, but does not achieve victory.
solo violin, 3 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo), 3 oboes (1 doubling on cor anglais), 3 clarinets (1 doubling on bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon), 4 horns, tuba, timpani, percussion (tam-tam, tambourine, xylophone), 2 harps, celesta, strings
World Premiere 29 Oct 1955, St. Petersburg
First performed by SSO 5 May 2018 (Leonidas Kavakos, violin)
1906 – 1975
Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 “Leningrad” (1941)
Allegretto
Allegro non troppo I II III IV
Moderato (Poco allegretto)
Adagio
Few symphonies have been written during the very catastrophe they depict. Shostakovich began his Seventh during the onset of the Nazi invasion, completing three movements between July and September 1941 before being evacuated to Kuibyshev, where he finished the finale. Shostakovich publicly framed the work as a response to the war. It received the Stalin Prize, and Soviet authorities recognised its propaganda value.
Before its premiere, Shostakovich titled the four movements “War”, “Reminiscence”, “Russia’s Vastness” and “Victory”, though he later removed the titles. Later commentators would question the music’s political meaning. In Volkov’s Testimony, the composer reportedly claimed that the symphony had been conceived before the war, that it concerned “the Leningrad that Stalin destroyed and that Hitler merely finished off.”
American media of the day tells of an espionage-worthy journey: the score was microfilmed and smuggled by plane from Kuibyshev to Tehran, by car to Cairo, by plane once again through Africa to London and then across the Atlantic to New York. Henry Wood and Arturo Toscanini gave the British and American premieres in quick succession. The Symphony became an emblem of the newfound, fragile Allied solidarity against the Nazis. In besieged Leningrad on 9 August
1942, conductor Karl Eliasberg assembled the remaining members of the Radio Orchestra and recalled military musicians from the front. The concert was broadcast over loudspeakers aimed at German lines as psychological warfare.
“Music is the most ambiguous medium of art, and Shostakovich harnessed this fact for his survival.”
Opening with confidently striding strings, the first movement depicts “the happy lives of our people”. Serene flute, piccolo, and violin solos conjure up an idyllic landscape as the second subject. This is soon shattered by the side-drum, marching with an unbearable menace. In a stark reminiscence of Ravel’s Bolero (1928), the walls close in with repetitions of a banal, brusque motif — a quotation of “Da geh’ ich zu Maxim” from Franz Lehár’s 1905 operetta The Merry Widow (one of Hitler’s favourites). Shostakovich
described this section as the ‘invasion’. The music builds to an impassioned climax, with the extra brass forces now joining the fray. When this gives way, a grieving bassoon solo evokes the aftermath of battle and the search for bodies. But the side-drum, now accompanying a trumpet echo of the ‘invasion’ theme, robs the music of any repose.
A lyrical intermezzo, the outer sections of the second movement offer brief respite. The
central episode, in the style of a scherzo, is less playful and more of a grotesque dance with its shrill melody from the E-flat clarinet. A reprisal of the opening material turns increasingly bleak as the bass clarinet is left to sing alone.
“Ecstasy in life and admiration of nature” was Shostakovich’s outlook for the third movement
A series of piercing, liturgical-sounding chords alternate with a recitative-like declamation by
the violins. In a poetic vision of Leningrad at twilight, the solo flute breathes a sweet, consolatory theme, which the viola section takes over in a warm statement of unison. By contrast, the central section sinks into Mahlerian turbulence, with a confrontation between strings and brass set atop a martial percussion. The movement closes with an uneasy stillness, from which the finale emerges without a pause.
Rising into a determined march, the tempo appears to gain steady footing. This is soon disturbed by a series of snapped pizzicatos (a percussive effect where strings are plucked so aggressively that they rebound off the fingerboard). The slow central section is a requiem for the dead, but the remainder of the symphony stands as a defiant gesture of affirmation. In a shift from C minor to C major, the first movement’s theme transforms into a radiant hymn, but the side drum also returns. Was it Hitler, or Stalin? Music is the most ambiguous medium of art, and Shostakovich harnessed this fact for his survival. Evil may persist in all its forms, but so does the human spirit.
Instrumentation
3 flutes (1 doubling on alto flute, 1 doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets (1 doubling on E-flat clarinet), bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 6 trumpets, 6 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (triangle, cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, snare drums, bass drum, tambourine, xylophone), 2 harps, piano, strings
World Premiere
5 Mar 1942, Samara of St. Petersburg (formerly Kuibyshev of Leningrad)
First performed by SSO 29 Nov 2008
Notes by See Ning Hui | See Ning Hui is a pianist, researcher, and educator passionate about integrating underrepresented composers’ music. She is an adjunct lecturer at UAS-NAFA. Upcoming engagements can be found on www.ninghuisee.com.
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Dr Karen Soh
Kim Camacho
Lim Kang Ning
Farhana Sharmeen
SSO Musicians’ Committee
Hoang Van Hoc
Austin Larson
Li Xin
Christopher Mui
David Smith
Elaine Yeo
Zhao Tian
Chief Executive Officer
Kenneth Kwok
Deputy CEO
Programmes & Production
Kok Tse Wei
CEO OFFICE
Shirin Foo
Musriah Bte Md Salleh
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Lillian Yin
A rtistic Planning
Christopher Cheong (Head)
A RTISTIC ADMINISTRATION
Jodie Chiang
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Operations
Ernest Khoo (Head)
L IBRARY
Wong Yi Wen
Cheng Yee Ki
Ng Yi Xiu
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Chia Jit Min (Head)
Kelvin Chua
P RODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Noraihan Bte Nordin
Nazem Redzuan
Leong Shan Yi
Asyiq Iqmal
Khairi Edzhairee
Benjamin Chiau
Syed Muhammad Idris Bin Ramli
DIGITAL PRODUCTION
Avik Chari
Deputy CEO
Patrons & Corporate Services
Jenny Ang
Community Impact
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Kua Li Leng (Head)
Whitney Tan
Lynnette Chng
Chua Xu Yang
Darren Siah
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Kua Li Leng (Head)
Lu Heng
Chang Hai Wen
Mimi Syaahira
SINGAPORE NATIONAL
YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Ramu Thiruyanam (Head)
Tang Ya Yun
Tan Sing Yee
Ridha Ridza
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Patricia Yee
Lai Li-Yng
Joong Siow Chong
Freddie Loh
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F INANCE, IT & FACILITIES
Rick Ong (Head)
Alan Ong
Goh Hoey Fen
Loh Chin Huat
Md Zailani Bin Md Said
HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION
Valeria Tan (Head)
Janice Yeo
Fionn Tan
Netty Diyanah Bte Osman
D EVELOPMENT
Chelsea Zhao (Head)
Nikki Chuang
Sarah Wee
Samantha Lim
Eunice Salanga
Kevin Yeoh
C OMMUNICATIONS, DIGITAL & MARKETING
Cindy Lim (Head)
Communications
Ong Shu Chen
Nikki Loke
Elizabeth Low
Tan Li Ying
Data & Digital Projects
Calista Lee
Lim Wen Jie
Marketing & Content
Chia Han-Leon
Hong Shu Hui
Myrtle Lee
Jana Loh
Kashmira Kasmuri
Carrie Woo
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Randy Teo
Dacia Cheang
Joy Tagore
24 Apr 2026
Esplanade Concert Hall
Chinary Ung
Water Rings: Overture
Debussy
La Mer
Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Kahchun Wong)
Tickets from $15.
www.sso.org.sg/whats-on
7 & 8 May 2026
Esplanade Concert Hall
Hans Graf Farewell Series: Scheherazade
Rachmaninoff
The Rock, Op. 7
Szymanowski
Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 61
Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade, Op. 35
Tickets from $15.
The Victoria Concert Hall has been a home for music, memories, and meaningful moments for generations.
Adopt a seat and be part of history by donating to the SSO Endowment Fund.
Your gift helps secure the future of our nation’s orchestra, so we can continue creating memorable shared musical experiences for years to come.
Seats are available for adoption in donation tiers of $8,000, $15,000 and $25,000, with various patron benefits.
