SSO announces March live events with Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Litton; VCHpresents Chamber series returns with the T'ang Quartet

The SSO welcomes its Principal Guest Conductor back for two programmes taking place this March.
On 5 & 6 March at Victoria Concert Hall, Andrew Litton joins musicians of the SSO on the piano to perform two great chamber works: Schubert’s Trout Quintet and Mahler’s rarely performed Piano Quartet. The concert marks the first time Maestro Litton is appearing with the SSO since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: he conducted the orchestra’s last performance at the Esplanade, in March 2020, before arts venues were closed.
Later in the month, on 10 March, he conducts the orchestra at Esplanade Concert Hall in ‘Fête Musicale – A Musical Celebration’. The evening’s programme includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto – for which he will also be the soloist for the evening.
The SSO also announces the long-awaited return of the T’ang Quartet to the VCHpresents chamber music series, the ensemble’s first appearance in the series since 2015. On 3 & 4 April, musicians of the SSO are joined by the T’ang Quartet for works by Strauss, Shostakovich and Brahms. On 14 April, our Mandarin series, VCHpresents Intimate Moments 乐享时光 returns with ‘Duo! – Chan Yoong-Han & Zhao Tian’. The two SSO violinists join forces to perform music by Schubert, Wieniawski, Glière and much more. The concert is presented in Mandarin and supported by Lianhe Zaobao.
Tickets for all four events go on sale at 10am on Thursday 18 Feb.

The Trout Quintet
Andrew Litton, piano / Musicians of the SSO
Fri / 05 Mar 21 / 7.30pm
Sat / 06 Mar 21 / 4.00pm
Sat / 06 Mar 21 / 7.30pm
Victoria Concert Hall
SSO Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Litton is famed as much for his skills at the piano as well as with the conductor’s baton. Together with SSO musicians, he presents the contemplative beauty of Mahler’s only surviving chamber work, his one-movement Piano Quartet, and the joyous artistry of Schubert’s celebrated Trout Quintet.
FORMAT: This will be a live concert held at the Victoria Concert Hall.
FeaturingAndrew Litton, piano / Musicians of the SSO
ProgrammeGustav Mahler (Mahler) | Piano Quartet in A minor |
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Franz Schubert (Schubert) | Piano Quintet in A major, D.667 “Trout” |

Fête Musicale - A Musical Celebration
Andrew Litton, Principal Guest Conductor/piano / Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Wed / 10 Mar 21 / 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall
Take a festive trip to the tunes of Debussy’s charming Petite Suite and Beethoven’s cheerful Eighth Symphony, full of high spirits and humour. The SSO’s Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Litton leads the orchestra as conductor as well as soloist in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, a jazz-inspired masterpiece filled with kaleidoscopic brilliance and dreamy beauty.
FORMAT: This will be a live concert held at the Esplanade Concert Hall.
FeaturingAndrew Litton, Principal Guest Conductor/piano / Singapore Symphony Orchestra
ProgrammeClaude Debussy (Debussy) | Petite Suite (orch. BÜSSER) |
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Maurice Ravel (Ravel) | Piano Concerto in G |
Ludwig van Beethoven (Beethoven) | Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 |

T'ang Quartet & SSO
/ Musicians of the SSO
Sat / 03 Apr 21 / 7.30pm
Sun / 04 Apr 21 / 4.00pm
Victoria Concert Hall
The T’ang Quartet, Singapore’s most renowned string quartet, joins musicians of the SSO in a concert of string masterpieces. The string sextet from Richard Strauss’s last opera, Capriccio, is a deliberate throwback to the luscious soundscapes of the late-Romantic. But it was written in 1941, sixteen years after the dark wanderings of Shostakovich’s Prelude and Scherzo, when the Russian master was just 18. Brahms’s String Sextet No. 1 too is a work from his youth, its heady beauty a thoughtful contrast to these two 20th century works.
FORMAT: This will be a live concert held at the Victoria Concert Hall.
Featuring/ Musicians of the SSO
ProgrammeRichard Strauss (R. Strauss) | Capriccio, Op. 85 |
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Dmitri Shostakovich (Shostakovich) | Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, Op. 11 |
Johannes Brahms (Brahms) | String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18 |

Intimate Moments 乐享时光: Duo! – Chan Yoong-Han & Zhao Tian
Chan Yoong-Han, violin / Zhao Tian, violin / Zhang Heyang, presenter
Wed / 14 Apr 21 / 7.30pm
Victoria Concert Hall
This programme features conversations in Mandarin only.
乐享时光 - 二重奏!由新加坡交响乐团小提琴演奏家曾勇涵和赵天携手呈献,他们将通过小提琴和中提琴演绎弓弦碰撞中的极致浪漫。此外,他们还会演奏新加坡交响乐团首席长笛演奏家金塔最新为双小提琴谱写的旋律,金塔本人担任钢琴伴奏。
Intimate Moments is a chamber-scale affair co-hosted in Mandarin by select musicians of the Singapore Symphony family and Lianhe Zaobao Fukan Journalist Zhang Heyang.
Versatile violinists and fast friends on and off the stage, SSO violinists Chan Yoong-Han and Zhao Tian present an evening of music and musings at our next Intimate Moments date. The programme of string works includes a new composition by Jin Ta, their colleague and Principal Flute of the SSO.
FORMAT: This will be a live concert held at the Victoria Concert Hall.
FeaturingChan Yoong-Han, violin / Zhao Tian, violin / Zhang Heyang, presenter
ProgrammeLeclair | Sonata for 2 Violins in F major, Op. 3 No. 4 |
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Wieniawski | Selections from Etudes-Caprices, Op. 18 |
Ta Jin (Jin Ta) | The Cool Dudes for 2 Violins and Piano |
Miklós Rozsa | Sonata for 2 Violins, Op. 15a |
Glière | Berceuse for Violin and Viola, Op. 39 No. 3 |
Franz Schubert (Schubert) | Erlkönig (transcribed for Violin and Viola) |