Singapore National Youth Orchestra Shows Chops in Programme for Three-City Tour

Even in this day and age when young people have so many opportunities to travel, the orchestral tour is often the highlight of their stint in a youth orchestra.

- Mervin Beng

CONCERT SNYO PRE-TOUR CONCERT Singapore National Youth Orchestra Esplanade Concert Hall June 7

The time invested in preparing a major programme, new concert halls, the burning desire to perform at one's best and the experience of working so closely with one's musician mates inevitably create memories that last a lifetime.

The Singapore National Youth Orchestra's (SNYO) tour to Macau, Shenzhen and Hong Kong takes place at the end of June. It includes Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich's second Violin Concerto performed by renowned Chinese violinist Ning Feng.

For this pre-tour concert, the musician was international soloist and violin professor Zhi-Jong Wang at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Following tradition, the concert opened with a local commission. This evening, it was Echoes From The Heartland by Tony Makarome, inspired by music heard in his neighbourhood in his younger days - the Portuguese-influenced Malay joget, South Indian Carnatic music and, naturally, the uniquely Singaporean getai.