FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October Music Festivals at The Arts House Celebrate music with the inaugural Singapore International Festival of Music and the 5th Anniversary of the Lieder Festival Singapore, 16 September 2015 – The Arts House is home to two music festivals in October – the inaugural Singapore International Festival of Music from 26 September to 10 October, and the 5th Lieder Festival from 16 to 18 October. Singapore International Festival of Music Presented by The Arts House and OperaViva, the Singapore International Festival of Music (SIFoM) is the first classical music festival in Singapore and showcases over 40 young Singapore musicians. Themed War & Peace, the Festival will feature six chamber music concerts with Singapore musicians as the pillars of the Festival. With repertoire from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time to Grigori Frid’s The Diary of Anne Frank, the music of this Festival serves as a reminder that hardship and peace can bring forth great art. In addition, the Festival will include the world premiere of a new composition by Malaysia’s preeminent composer, Chong Kee Yong, whose String Quartet will be unveiled. “The Arts House is delighted to be part of SIFoM where we engage with an outstanding cohort of classical musicians, eager to share the fruits of the hard work, knowledge and skills they acquired in prestigious international institutions. In an age when cultural activities and businesses are diversifying and proliferating, institutions such as ours must have the intuition to recognise the particular needs of our artists and to create a nurturing environment for them to grow and to sustain their growth,” says Lee Chor Lin, Chief Executive Officer of Arts House Limited. “This is an opportunity to bring together the crème de la crème of Singapore’s classical talents. Globally, chamber music is the foundation of many music festivals. We want to introduce and expose Singaporeans to classical music via interactive and intimate music-making, tearing down boundaries and notions that classical music is intimidating,” say Artistic Directors, Darrell Ang and Loh Jun Hong. The 5th Lieder Festival The 5th Lieder Festival will return to The Arts House after four consecutive runs. Presented together with The Sing Song Club, Singapore’s only art song collective, this series of 3 recitals is dedicated to the works of Singaporean composers. The Club will perform commissioned new works which will receive their world premieres at the 5th Lieder Festival on top of the existing repertoire of local art songs and chamber works for voice. The world premiere list include familiar local folk songs like 小白船 and Burung Kakak Tua that will be performed as art songs. The line-up includes works by Singapore’s pioneering composers such as the late Leong Yoon Pin, Cultural Medallion recipient Dr Kelly Tang, Young Artist Award recipient Dr Zechariah Goh, as well as a new generation of young, upcoming composers. Details of both SIFoM and the 5th Lieder Festival can be found on The Arts House website at www.theartshouse.sg. Festival passes are available for each Festival. For more information and high res images, please contact: Sim Yee Asst Manager, Marketing & Communications Arts House Limited T: +65 6332 6921 E: [email protected] About The Arts House Occupying the almost 200-year-old building that was Singapore’s first Parliament House, The Arts House has played an active role in the Singapore arts and creative scene. The House promotes and presents multidisciplinary programmes and festivals such as literary arts, film, performing and visual arts. The Arts House is run and managed by Arts House Limited. For more information, visit www.theartshouse.sg. About Arts House Limited Arts House Limited (AHL) is a not-for-profit organisation committed to enriching lives through the arts. AHL runs The Arts House, a multi-disciplinary arts centre with a focus on literary programming located in the heart of Singapore’s Civic District; presents the Singapore International Festival of Arts, an annual celebration of performing arts; and manages Goodman Arts Centre and Aliwal Arts Centre, two creative enclaves for artists, arts groups and creative businesses, and the exhibition and performance spaces located at ARTrium @ MCI. AHL was incorporated in April 2014. About OperaViva OperaViva is a young Singaporean opera company focusing on a repertoire of opera classics as well as contemporary works. We aim to nurture a holistic and deeper appreciation of opera in Singapore through new and interesting interpretations as well as innovative presentations. In additional, we appreciate and strive to promote high quality classical music and operas. At OperaViva, we hope to entertain and share our love for opera and classical music with the community. Through specially curated and adapted performances and outreach programs, we believe in making art - operas and classical music accessible and relevant to people. OperaViva was founded in May 2008 and is a non-profit, charity and IPC registered organisation providing tax exemptions for all donations received individually or through a corporation. About The Sing Song Club The Sing Song Club is Singapore’s only art song collective, dedicated to bringing the rich and wonderful world of this much-neglected genre, through interesting and imaginative programming, to the Singapore public. Founded in 2009 by local musicians Shane Thio and Adrian Poon, The Sing Song Club has produced numerous well-received and well-reviewed recitals, and has premiered hundreds of songs in Singapore. The Sing Song Club works with not only the best musicians in Singapore, but also strives to involve young, upcoming talent in their concerts, nurturing and encouraging a new generation of local musicians. The Sing Song Club initiated the annual Singapore Lieder Festival in 2011, curating ground- breaking performances such as the complete songs of Francis Poulenc in 2013, as well as the works of 100 English composers in 2014. 2015’s festival will see the world premiere of new works specially composed for The Sing Song Club. The Sing Song Club’s ongoing Alphabet Series, a series of 26 innovative programmes, each based on one letter of the alphabet, has also garnered many positive reviews. Annex A Singapore International Festival of Music About 26 September – 10 October 2015 | Various Timings | $28, $18 (Concession), Season Pass (6 shows) at $120 | Tickets available via bytes.sg | theartshouse.sg Singapore's first classical music festival, the inaugural Singapore International Festival of Music celebrates Singapore’s 50th jubilee and showcases young Singapore musicians. Themed War & Peace, the Festival will feature six main concerts commemorating the world’s great wars, a reminder that even hardship can bring forth great art. Similarly, moments of peace also led to fine music that built the foundations for more to come. With Singapore musicians as the pillars of the Festival, this homecoming series seeks to unite the best of Singapore’s talents. War & Peace 26 September 2015 | 7.30 pm | The Chamber Mozart: Violin Concerto no. 5 [29 minutes] Stravinsky: Concerto in E-flat “Dumbarton Oaks” [12 minutes] Britten: Sinfonietta, op.1 [15 minutes] War & Peace will open the Festival, featuring a chamber orchestra comprising Singapore’s top talents. Kicking off the Festival is the nation’s poster-boy for classical music and co-Artistic Director of the Festival, Loh Jun Hong. He will dazzle with Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5, whose third movement contains a section of Turkish Music; the composer’s nod to the historic ‘Battle of Vienna’ when a horde of Ottoman Turks besieged the city. The Concerto in E-flat “Dumbarton Oaks” for chamber orchestra was the last work Stravinsky completed in Europe from1937-38, before he left for the United States in order to escape impending war in Europe. It is one of his most renowned neoclassical compositions. “Dumbarton Oaks” is a difficult work, which will highlight the virtuosity of our young musicians. In 1932, as the young Benjamin Britten sat down to compose his first mature work; the Sinfonietta, op.1, elsewhere, the stage was being set in Germany which would jeopardise world peace. Hitler’s nomination as Chancellor of Germany was to become a turning point in history that would change the world later. Musicians Marlon Chen, conductor Loh Jun Hong, violin The Singapore International Festival of Music Soloists Vienna 2 October 2015 | 7.30 pm | The Chamber Haydn: String Quartet in C Major Op. 76, No. 3 “Emperor” [27 mins] Beethoven: Twelve Variations for cello & piano in G major on Handel’s “See, the Conqu’ring Hero comes,” Woo 45 [11 mins] Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 “Trout” [38 minutes] An evening of Viennese classics will shine the spotlight on famous chamber works written in years of intervening peace but with impending war looming in the background. Haydn’s “Emperor” Quartet draws its nickname from the melody which forms the foundation of the second movement of the work, composed specifically for the Austrian monarchy and thus known as the “Emperor’s Hymn”. This same melody is known to modern listeners for its use in the German national anthem, the Deutschlandlied. Beethoven’s variations on a theme from Handel’s Oratorio, Judas Maccabeus, was dedicated to the Prussian monarch King Friedrich Wilhelm who was a keen amateur cellist. Under his reign, Prussia was weakened internally and externally while Napoleon Bonaparte steadily gained military might through a quick succession of military