Singapore Symphony Orchestra unveils wide-ranging three-month digital season: SSOPlayOn!

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra today announces an extensive raft of digital programming to lift the spirits of Singapore and bring the community together during the global COVID-19 outbreak.

The digital season, under the banner SSOPlayOn!, will see the release of three to four concerts on specific days each week. Until the end of June, SSO will launch video and audio concerts across its online platforms, showcasing newly recorded concerts, performances of works by Singapore’s home-grown composers, as well as never-before-released recordings of musical treasures from our rich archive.

On Saturdays or Sundays, audiences can enjoy the SSO Live & Digital Premieres series, which includes both newly recorded video concerts as well as YouTube premieres of previously unreleased concert videos. Even while arts venues in Singapore are closed, the Victoria Concert Hall and the SSO’s Rose Studio recording facility remain open for our musicians to bring their music direct to your living rooms.

The season launches this Saturday, 4 April at 7.30pm on YouTube, with the Digital Premiere of Mahler’s Second Symphony, conducted by Lan Shui. The performance took place in January 2019 and was Lan Shui’s final concert as the orchestra’s Music Director. Also on Saturdays we showcase musical treasures from our rich archive in the series SSO Encore: From the Archives. 

On Wednesday evenings, the SSO's online platforms will shine a spotlight on Singapore’s home-grown musical talent in Singapore Composers: From the Archives, an audio series sharing SSO performances of orchestral works by local composers Leong Yoon Pin, Tsao Chieh, Tan Chan Boon and, Kelly Tang, as well as a special video recording of Kam Kee Yong’s Kuang Xiang Qu featuring acclaimed Singaporean violinist Kam Ning. This series alternates with a specially curated audio-only series, Victoria Concert Hall: From the Archives, which gives audiences the chance to look back at our world-class chamber music series, VCHpresents, from the comfort of their homes.

On Sunday afternoons, the SSO will provide a calming presence over the weekend. In April, audiences can enjoy Jason Lai’s Classical Music Meditation, in which the popular Singapore-based conductor leads guided meditations to the calming strains of classical music masterpieces performed by the SSO. The orchestra is also exploring the possibility of  bringing you performances from the archives every Sunday on Symphony 924 – our official radio station.

To complement these audio and video offerings, the team at the SSO will also be sharing some of their favourite music via Spotify playlists. Launching every Thursday from today, these playlists will be inspired by works in upcoming performances or online streams, and can be found here.

Audiences will be able to visit the new SSOPlayOn! page on the SSO website (coming soon at sso.org.sg/playon) to see all the latest online events taking place across our digital channels, as well as on Symphony 924.

Chng Hak-Peng, CEO of Singapore Symphony Group, said: “The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has been building its digital and archive capabilities over the past few years, and with the people in Singapore in search of music while they’re staying at home more, now is the perfect time to share our music with everyone online. We have something for everyone, and look forward to seeing the public join us online on our digital platforms with SSOPlayOn!.”

In a group statement, the SSO Musicians’ Committee said: “Our mission is and always has been to bring the arts, and specifically music, to the whole of Singapore. The current conditions have now presented us with an opportunity to explore and pioneer new and powerful ways to preserve the majesty of live music.”

SSOPlayOn! follows on the back of the orchestra’s live-streamed concert last Saturday, The Spirit of Serenity. Over the course of the hour-long concert, the SSO was joined by viewers from Singapore and around the world. The concert has now been viewed over 24,000 times.

The SSO last week announced the cancellation of all its live concerts in the 19/20 season, as well as many of its performances in the VCHpresents chamber series. The upcoming VCHpresents Organ: Second Wind live concert has also been cancelled. The COVID-19 situation is changing rapidly and we are keeping SSO Friends Season Pass holders and ticket holders up-to-date via email. We are also posting regular updates on our website and Facebook page.

SSOPlayOn! - full details 

VIDEO: SSO Live & Digital Premieres  Free live-streamed performances, and YouTube premieres of newly released concert videos, via SSO’s YouTube channel on Saturdays or Sundays (where possible). Available to watch at our audience’s convenience afterwards. Please visit sso.org.sg/playon for updates.

VIDEO: SSO Encore: From the Archives Memorable performances from the orchestra’s archive, streamed free on the SSO YouTube channel on Saturdays.

AUDIO: Victoria Concert Hall: From the Archives  Audio recordings of some of our favourite chamber concerts from the Victoria Concert Hall, free to enjoy on the SSO YouTube channel. This series alternates every other Wednesday with Singapore Composers: From the Archives (see below).

AUDIO: Singapore Composers: From the Archives  The SSO celebrates some of our brilliant local composers with this archive audio series, which will be broadcast on our YouTube channel. This series alternates every other Wednesday with Victoria Concert Hall: From the Archives series.

AUDIO: Jason Lai’s Classical Music Meditation Join the Singapore-based conductor for a weekly meditation session, aided by beautiful music performed by the SSO. Every Sunday from 3pm on the SSO YouTube channel. Begins 5 April with 'Nimrod' from Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

AUDIO: SSO Playlists Head to the SSO Spotify page to discover hand-picked playlists of music performed by orchestras around the world. A new playlist will be released every other Thursday, beginning 26 March with a playlist inspired by Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine and Requiem.