Youthful technique and confidence on show in President's Young Performers Concert

Followers of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) annual President's Young Performers Concert cannot have missed the trend that outstanding non-violin and non-piano soloists have appeared increasingly frequently.

- Mervin Beng

The 2025 edition is a case in point, with three young stars of the future performing on saxophone, clarinet and harp.

All have gone through the local school system, and their rise to such high levels of performance is great testament to the opportunities available to talented, dedicated young musicians to excel in their chosen fields.

Despite being accompanied by a large orchestra, ‘18-year-old Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (University of Arts Singapore) student Dante Tan had no difficulty projecting above the orchestral crescendos in French-Corsican composer Henri Tomasi’s Concerto For Alto Saxophone.

Written in 1949 as an entrance piece for the Paris Conservatoire, the piece showed off the wide range of techniques and sound available to a capable player, especially soaring melodies and jazzy syncopations.

Schooled in the symphonic band tradition, his ensemble skills were remarkable - moving with ease and precision with the orchestra, and between transitions in the music.