Established in 1994, the Singapore International Piano Festival (SIPF) returned this year in its 27th edition in a live format, after its cancellation last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s live festival featured Singapore-based pianists in seven concerts over four consecutive evenings of solo recitals. Due to ongoing restrictions, audiences were capped at 50 persons for each performance and tickets for each performance were extremely limited.
Kseniia Vokhmianina opened the festival on Thursday 3 June with a recital of Bach, Rachmaninoff and three evocative preludes by one of the most important 20th century composers of her native Ukraine, Levko Revutsky. On the second night, pianist Churen Li performed the world premiere of her own composition, Prelude after Bach, and displayed her skills on the extended technique in George Crumb's Five Pieces for Piano, culminating in Ravel’s Miroirs. On the third night of the festival, Nicholas Loh performed a programme featuring contemporary works including Frederic Rzewski’s North American Ballads, and George Crumb’s Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik. As a finale to the festival, Chang Yun-Hua concluded the fourth night with a colourful journey on the piano that included Brahms’s and Beethoven’s masterpieces.
![Multi-award-winning Kseniia Vokhmianina who has gained critical and audience attention as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. At 18, Kseniia was awarded the Lee Foundation Scholarship and the Tuition Grant from the Ministry of Education of Singapore to pursue a Diploma in Music Performance at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore). [Photo credit: Nathaniel Lim]](https://web-assets.sso.org.sg/images/Bravissimo/_1920xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/2381/SSO_SIPF_0306_21.jpg)
![In Churen Li’s recital of Crumb’s “Five Pieces for Piano”, her technique involved plucking and strumming the piano strings with her fingers, and placing a metal paperclip on the vibrating strings to produce a metallic sound. [Photo credit: Nathaniel Lim]](https://web-assets.sso.org.sg/images/Bravissimo/_1920xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/2380/SIPF_0406_13.jpg)
![A familiar personality in the Singapore music scene, Nicholas Loh’s past solo recitals include the Singapore Piano Festival Young Virtuoso Series in 2009, the Esplanade Spectrum series in 2015 and the Esplanade Concourse Cool Classics in 2019. [Photo credit: Nathaniel Lim]](https://web-assets.sso.org.sg/images/Bravissimo/_1920xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/2379/IG-SSO_SIPF_0506_34.jpg)
![Taiwanese pianist Chang Yun-Hua is an accomplished soloist, who also has been involved in numerous chamber music and collaborative piano performances at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. [Photo credit: Nathaniel Lim]](https://web-assets.sso.org.sg/images/Bravissimo/_1920xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/2378/SSO_SIPF_0606_HD_16-IG.jpg)
UK-based Malaysian pianist Mei Yi Foo also hosted a video chat with SIPF Artistic Director Lim Yan, In Conversation with Mei Yi Foo. As part of the pre-concert progamme, she shared the story of her musical beginnings, her life as a musician and sharing advice on performance preparation, recital programming, as well as her perspectives as a teacher and a career pianist.
The SSO was also pleased to host Guest-of-Honor Minister of State Low Yen Ling who attended Churen Li’s performance on 4 June at the Victoria Concert Hall.
For patrons who were unable to purchase tickets to the Singapore International Piano Festival 2021, look out for updates on www.sso.org.sg for a digital presentation that will be available soon. As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic together, the SSO is grateful for all the support it receives to enable the Orchestra and its affiliated performing groups to pursue its mission; spreading the love for music, nurturing artistic talents, and enriching our diverse communities.