Depth of S'pore talent on full display at SSO's National Day show

A concert featuring a considerable amount of red clothing and ending with a standing rendition of the National Anthem might seem focused on a certain kind of patriotism.

- Chang Tou Liang

A concert featuring a considerable amount of red clothing and ending with a standing rendition of the National Anthem might seem focused on a certain kind of patriotism. But the real highlight of the evening was the astonishing depth and diversity of Singaporean musical talent on display in a programme curated and ably directed by conductor Joshua Tan.

Singapore should be proud to have an art music scene of such breadth that it can produce works ranging from the overtly nationalistic (Tan Chan Boon's Dawn, which claims to symbolise how a certain leader "led his people towards the light") to the piquantly folksy (Eudenice Palaruan's delightful Peribahasa, which sets Malay pantuns to music for full chorus) to the uncomplicatedly pictorial (Kam Kee Yong's colourful, zesty Fantasia Of Insects, which depicts the noise of local cicadas).

The eclectic inventiveness that characterised the programme was evident from the very first work of the evening: Izharul Haq's Kiau Nam, a tone poem depicting the former Qiaonan Primary School.