Thank you so much to everyone who has supported our Special Appeal! We have been greatly touched by the messages from music lovers who have written to tell us that they want to do their part to keep the SSO going.
We want you to know that every one of your gifts counts. While the individual donation may seem small, together they will enable us to apply for larger matching grants from the government and other funding organisations.
We are also greatly indebted to our Benefit Dinner donors who, despite the cancellation of the event, have retained their donations with us either as a booking for next year’s dinner or as an outright gift this year.
Through the two appeals, the donations now add up to over $450,000.
All these will help to make up for the loss in corporate sponsorship and ticket revenue.
At the same time, the Singapore Symphony Group is looking at other ways to deal with the shortfall.
We are revising down our budget for the year to cut down or defer expenses wherever we can.
All arts events have been cancelled since late March. For the SSO, which performs on average one ticketed concert per week, this has been significant.
“It is the first time in our history where we’ve had to cancel this many concerts – some 20 concerts in total including our entire Singapore International Piano Festival this June,” said Chng. “In comparison, during SARS, there was only one concert cancellation.”
...it’s more important than ever to support our cultural institutions. The SSO is certainly dear to my heart, and I’ve had so many wonderful experiences and memories from concerts across the past season.
To keep the music going, we began streaming in March, and in April officially launched SSOPlayOn! The series includes playlists, concert videos, interviews with artists, music learning for children, and even guided meditation sessions.
On their part, SSO musicians and guests artists are also making music from home (#AtHome) and we’re posting their videos on SSO’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
We also wish to thank the media for their tireless news coverage about arts groups dealing with the fallout of the pandemic in Singapore, and for publicising our activities.
We hope to see you soon. In the meantime, thank you for continuing to listen in. Your love keeps us going!
Stay Home with the SSO
Head to our website for a handy list to what you’ll find in the SSOPlayOn! digital series. All performances are free to stream at your convenience while you #stayhome.