Young talent win big at Singapore Chinese Music Competition

Singapore Chinese Music Competition Grand Category champion and Audience Choice Award winner Amanda Toh competing at Saturday’s grand final. PHOTO: SINGAPORE CHINESE ORCHESTRA

SINGAPORE – When Ms Amanda Toh, 18, dropped her erhu bow on stage towards the end of her finale song, she thought she had blown it at the Singapore Chinese Music Competition. 

But her valiant recovery led to her being crowned Grand Category champion and winner of the Audience Choice Award, taking home a total of $11,000 in prize money. 

Organised by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO), the biennial competition’s second edition awarded 124 winners at last Saturday’s prize presentation at the Singapore Conference Hall.

Ms Toh, co-concertmaster and principal of erhu I of the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra (SNYCO), credited her surprise win to her teacher, Ms Shen Qin, who helped her achieve a dynamic emotional range in her rendition of The Brave Spirits Of The Soul Mountain. 

Ms Toh hopes the prize money can help fund her music education abroad. 

At eight years of age, Dong Zhichen was the competition’s youngest winner, clinching third prize in her first pipa competition since picking up the instrument two years ago. 

SNYCO member Rohan Nanduri, 15, won third prize in the sheng intermediate category and hopes to play with the SCO. 

Siblings Liu Yuxin, 15, and Liu Yubo, 13, who studied under their father, suona musician Liu Jiang, took home the first and third prizes in their respective suona categories. 

Yuxin, who performed a suona concerto with the SCO at the Prize Winners’ Concert, described the experience as “nerve-racking but a boost of confidence” for her craft. 

Some 391 participants took part in the competition, which will return in 2024.

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