A Special Concert and Birthday Tribute to Singapore, with love from SSO

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By Haslina Hassan

Aug 2020

The roar of fighter jets, a sea of red and white flags, spectacular fireworks and singing along to songs about Singapore – we celebrate these familiar traditions in August every year.

In this extraordinary year, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra put together a special online SSO National Day Concert 2020 and music video for the nation’s 55th birthday. After all, what is National Day without our favorite National Day songs, performed with love by your national orchestra?

As with previous years, the line-up was planned up to 12 months in advance. However, the public health measures for digital recording in August meant that very few musicians could be on stage. Undaunted, a few composers raced against time to submit works with reduced orchestrations. The online concert featured five premieres, including works by three of Singapore's young composers: New Beginnings by composer/arranger/educator Sandra Lim; City Arising by pianist-composer and founding member of Lorong Boys, Jonathan Shin; and Metro by the multi-award-winning composer Tan Yuting.

The orchestra also presented the world premiere of Brahman: Kannagi's Realization by Singapore-based veteran composer, John Sharpley featuring the accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, Kshirja Govind. Continuing the tradition of performing a different orchestration of the National Anthem each year, the SSO performed Kelly Tang's 2010 arrangement (re-orchestrated for a smaller-sized orchestra).

The SSO performing the world premiere of Brahman: Kannagi's Realization by Singapore-based veteran composer, John Sharpley, featuring Kshirja Govind.

Conducted by Darrell Ang and hosted by Khairudin Saharom, along with sign interpreter Janis Wong and special guests from The Purple Symphony and the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf), the concert celebrated a nation in harmony.

Sandra Lim was a former double bassist with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

Jonathan Shin debuted with the SSO at age 16, and was the youngest winner of the Concerto Competition at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.

Tan Yuting has won multiple awards for her music – including first prize in the Macht Competition for Composition (2018), first prize in the Virginia Carty deLillo Composition Competition (2018), and third prize in the Prix d’Été Competition (2017) at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Veteran Singapore-based composer John Sharpley was formerly composer-in-residence for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and currently lectures at LaSalle College of the Arts.

Kshirja Govind is a Singapore-based dancer and has been learning the Indian Classical Dance form Bharatanatyam in the Kalakshetra style for over 11 years now. She has won numerous awards and is also a company dancer with Apsaras Arts, who are the recipients of The Stewards of Singapore’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Award.

Well-known local composer Kelly Tang was conferred the
Cultural Medallion in 2011 by the President of Singapore for his contributions to the arts. — Well-known local composer Kelly Tang was conferred the Cultural Medallion in 2011 by the President of Singapore for his contributions to the arts.

The online National Day Concert 2020 also featured a collaboration between the SSO and one of Singapore’s most popular singers, Benjamin Kheng, a musical call to move forward together. A special tribute to the country, the music video chronicles the big milestones in the SSO’s journey with the country over the past four decades, keeping spirits up through music.

The video was originally planned to be recorded from musicians’ homes separately in parts but the lifting of restrictions midway through the project allowed the orchestra and conductor Darrell Ang to film with Ben and director Eric Wong, albeit with 2-meter distancing guidelines, at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

Here are some snapshots of what took place, behind-the scenes: