Singapore Symphony Orchestra, violinist Chloe Chua debut at sold-out Sydney Opera House concert
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The Feb 12 concert was the first of a three-city tour of Australia by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
PHOTO: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
SYDNEY – The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) played in Australia for the first time in its 46-year history, kicking off its sold-out, three-city tour at the Sydney Opera House on Feb 12.
Opening the evening was a composition inspired by the discovery of a firefly species in Nee Soon Swamp Forest. Singaporean composer Koh Cheng Jin’s award-winning Luciola Singapura, which features the Chinese dulcimer or yangqin, was commissioned by the SSO in 2021.
Singaporean teenage violin sensation Chloe Chua and SSO’s principal cellist Ng Pei-Sian, a Sydney-born Australian, enthralled the audience as soloists in Johannes Brahms’ Concerto For Violin And Cello In A Minor (Op. 102).
The duo later surprised a delighted audience with a rendition of Waltzing Matilda, also known as Australia’s unofficial national anthem.
Singapore Symphony Group’s chief executive Kenneth Kwok was surprised the SSO had never played in Australia, when the orchestra started planning for the tour in 2022. He called the relationship between the two countries “a very natural friendship” in a post-concert reception speech.
SSO’s assistant principal violinist Chan Yoong-Han, who attended high school in Adelaide and had his honeymoon in Sydney, felt “quite emotional” playing for the first time in Sydney. The Singaporean added: “Usually for tours, the orchestra tends to be a bit uptight and tense. But I could feel that we are very at home with the hall, and I’m very impressed by the acoustics and the reception of the audience.”
The concert hall, which closed in 2020 for a A$150 million (S$127 million) renewal, reopened in July 2022. The doughnut-shaped acoustic reflectors, which had hung above the stage since the venue opened in 1973, were replaced by petal-shaped ones in magenta, echoing the hall’s signature magenta seats.
In 2024, Singapore’s National Arts Council also signed an MOU with Creative Australia, committing to greater arts collaboration between the two countries over five years.
PHOTO: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, JAY PATEL
Chan’s highlight was being able to play Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 In E Minor (Op. 64), which was met with vigorous applause from the 2,100-strong audience – even in between movements. “It’s a good sign, that means we are getting audiences that don’t attend concerts very regularly, maybe.”
Dr Kevin Su, a Kuala Lumpur-born and Sydney-based general practitioner, who does not attend concerts at the Opera House regularly, was invited by a close friend who was a major sponsor of the concert.
He said of SSO’s performance: “The second half – full power, especially the trumpets and French horns. They nailed it and were spot on.”
SSO’s music director Hans Graf, who is Austrian and has been a guest conductor with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the concert hall multiple times, said: “As a non-Singaporean, I express deeply Singaporean pride.”
The maestro, who will be succeeded by Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu from July 2026, added: “Every orchestra worldwide wants to go to Europe, every European orchestra wants to go to America, every Asian orchestra must tour Europe. It’s great to tour here.”
In 2018, the SSO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which performed with the Singapore orchestra at the Esplanade Concert Hall in August 2024.
In 2024, Singapore’s National Arts Council also signed an MOU with its counterpart Creative Australia, committing to greater arts collaboration between the two countries over five years.
The SSO will go on to play at Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne on Feb 14, and at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane on Feb 16.
