MAESTRO CHOO HOEY

A name synonymous with the birth and growing-up years of the Singapore Symphony, our pioneering Maestro and Conductor Emeritus returns to conduct the SSO during this special season celebrating the orchestra’s 40th anniversary.

Maestro Choo Hoey will conduct Stravinsky’s Song of the Nightingale, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 written when he was 19, and the then 24-year-old Bartók’s Suite No. 1, an orchestral showpiece marking his entry into the international music scene. Matching the theme of youthful inspirations, the guest soloist for the concerto is the prodigiously talented 19-year-old Austrian-Chinese violinist He Ziyu.

Attendees keen on meeting the SSO’s founding conductor can look forward to a post-concert autograph session with the Maestro.

Choo Hoey has been associated with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since its founding in 1979. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 1955 and subsequently established a successful career as a visiting conductor throughout Europe and South America. In 1979 he was invited to become the founding Music Director and Resident Conductor of the SSO. From modest beginnings, he gradually built up the orchestra and developed an extensive repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to contemporary masterpieces. He led the orchestra on four successful European tours. Upon stepping down as Music Director in July 1996, he was appointed Conductor Emeritus. For his contribution to music in Singapore, he was awarded the Cultural Medallion (1979), the Public Service Star (1982), and was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters of the National University of Singapore in 1989.

The fast-rising young Chinese violinist He Ziyu holds the honour to be one of the youngest ever soloists invited to play with the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2014 Ziyu won the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition representing the country of Austria; he also won the Mozart Competition in Zhuhai in 2015 and the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen. In 2016 he became the first prize winner at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg as well as of the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin competition in London.

www.sso.org.sg/