Jon Kimura Parker, Hyung-ki Joo, Sean Chen to star at Singapore International Piano Festival
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(Clockwise from top left) Jon Kimura Parker, Conrad Tao, Hyung-ki Joo, and Sean Chen.
PHOTO: SSO
SINGAPORE – The Singapore International Piano Festival returns from July 2 to 5. Its 32nd edition spotlights two fast-rising Singapore musicians – Churen Li and Jonathan Shin – and four international pianists, including one half of the internet comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo, British-Korean Hyung-ki Joo.
To take the piano stool at the Victoria Concert Hall are also veteran Canadian soloist Jon Kimura Parker, former American child prodigy Conrad Tao and American Steinway artist Sean Chen.
Professor Albert Tiu, head of piano studies at the National University of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, is the newly appointed artistic director for the event presented by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He curates a programme on the theme of The Pianist, Composer And Improviser. All six invited pianists revel in flitting between the three musical roles.
Prof Tiu says: “Up until the early 20th century, the ones we consider the great composers were also prolific performers and improvisers. Modern times changed that and the word ‘improvisation’ seems to have become more niche. This theme seeks to bring more awareness of a past tradition, which will hopefully bring more creativity to Singapore’s cultural scene.”
There will be six recitals, a masterclass and two talks over the four-day event. Tao, who at 13 was featured in the TV series From The Top – Live From Carnegie Hall, is the festival opener with his recital Emigres And Friends.
At a time of resurgent ideas about cultural purity, his showcase is a thesis on how “American” sounds were shaped by black traditions and emigres from Europe. Expect works by composers George Gershwin, Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who in his lifetime scored 16 Hollywood films.
Joo’s music sketches with Russian violinist Aleksey Igudesman have more than 40 million hits on YouTube. He presents Dreams And Nightmares, featuring pieces by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and J.S. Bach.
The composer-pianist, who collaborated with Billy Joel on his No. 1 charting album Fantasies & Delusions (2001), will also give a talk on how to unlock one’s creativity.
A new festival feature is one-hour late-night recitals at The Arts House at the Old Parliament – the twilight venue for separate 10pm performances by Singaporean musician s Li The two collaborated on premiering Shin’s “child of the shore” concerto
Jonathan Shin’s Restless Natures pays tribute to how composers see the world.
PHOTO: SSO
Li’s Echoes And Refractions is an interleaving of her own compositions with those by inspirations Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Camille Saint-Saens. Shin’s Restless Natures pays tribute to how composers see the world. He premieres his own works with contemporary creations by American composers Timo Andres and Nico Muhly.
Churen Li’s Echoes And Refractions is an interleaving of her own compositions with those by inspirations Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Camille Saint-Saens.
PHOTO: SSO
Cliburn Competition prize winner Chen’s Music And Magic – featuring works by Gyorgy Ligeti and underrated American composer Leopold Godowsky – and Parker’s Structure And Spontaneity, speeding through an expansive history of classical music from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to John Adams, are the festival finales.
Chen will lead an improvisation workshop, and Parker will hold a masterclass featuring prize winners from the SSO-organised 2025 National Piano & Violin Competition.
Tickets go on sale from March 12. More information can be found at www.sso.org.sg/sipf
Book it/Singapore International Piano Festival
Where: Victoria Concert Hall, 11 Empress Place; and The Arts House at the Old Parliament, 1 Old Parliament Lane www.sso.org.sg/sipf
When: July 2 to 5, various timings
Admission: From $28
Info:
