Tag Archives: SingaporeComposer

Europe, International, My Concert Experience, Xin Saxophone Quartet

2018 Summer with my Xin Saxophone Quartet family

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We started our season rehearsing endlessly in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After which we flew together to Zagreb, Croatia to perform at the triennial World Saxophone Congress. It is in its 18th edition and was held from the 10th of July to the 14th of July. Our program comprised of 4 pieces, all composed by Singaporean composers. Especially for the congress, we commissioned Sax-Drive! by Daniel Yiau and Transit Sketches II by Xin Saxophone Quartet’s resident composer, Jay Ong. The other two pieces were Homage by Dr. Zechariah Goh and The Serpent by Alexander Oon. What a privilege to present a Singaporean program at an international conference! I have never been more proud to be a Singaporean! #teamsingapore

“Xin saxophone quartet’s recital this afternoon was one of the best performances I have heard so far. They showed musical understanding in their playing. They were incredibly musical and well coordinated as an ensemble. They presented a wide range of tone colours and intricate details in articulations and dynamic contrasts. They were able to bring out different characteristics and styles of each Composer convincingly. We are very proud of you all for the wonderful performance and the wonderful composition!!” – Dr. Zechariah Goh

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10-12th August 2018, we now had the opportunity to present the same program for our locals at the annual Singapore Saxophone Symposium. It was held at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. Other international artists include Michael Duke (Australia), Kyle Horch (United Kingdom), Joseph Lallo (Australia), Chien-Kwan Lin (Singapore/United States), Alfonso Padilla (Spain), Mary Osborn (Australia), Kenny Tsai (Taiwan/United States) and Calvin Wong (Hong Kong/United States). We presented our own recital on the 11th August and also closed the entire symposium at the Gala Concert with our showstopping Sax-Drive!

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Can’t get enough of Xin Saxophone Quartet?
http://www.thebandpost.com/2018/07/xin-saxophone-quartet-represents-singapore-at-world-saxophone-congress/
http://zagrebsaxcongress.com/index.php/hr/sudionici/umjetnici/item/706-xin-saxophone-quartet
http://singaporesaxophonesymposium.com/2018/programme/recital-by-xin-saxophone-quartet/

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International, My Concert Experience

1st Asian Saxophone Congress in Chiayi, Taiwan

As a part of the NAFA Saxophone Quartet, I spent a week in Taiwan (Chiayi and Taipei). We performed a one hour recital at the 1st Asian Saxophone Congress in Chiayi. Our recital comprised of music by local Singaporean composers including Zechariah Goh, Lee Kah Hong Bernard, Jeremiah Li, Alexander Oon and Oh Jin Yong. It was nice to catch up with old friends and make new ones at the congress. After the congress, we headed back to Taipei City and had an exchange with the Taipei National University of the Arts Saxophone Studio.

NAFA Saxophone Quartet
NAFA Saxophone Quartet together with composer Dr Zechariah Goh
Exchange with Taipei National University of the Arts
With saxophonist Yo Matsushita
With saxophonist Nozomi Sakai
With Professor Clifford Leaman
With Professor Kenny Tsai
With Professor Lars Mlekusch
With Professor Kenneth Tse
NAFA Saxophone Quartet with Professor Claude Delangle
Visit to the MIT Building
With Professor Vincent David
At Trio Music
With saxophonist Nikita Zimin

Publicity on the NAFA official page: http://www.nafa.edu.sg/showcase/events-coverage/profile/nafa-saxophone-quartet-represents-singapore-at-1st-asian-saxophone-congress

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My Concert Experience

6th Singapore Saxophone Symposium

Thank-you to Dr Goh for inviting me as an artist to the 6th Singapore Saxophone Symposium. Also, many thanks to the organizing team for putting the event together. I remember being a participant at the 1st Singapore Saxophone Symposium 6 years ago, after that deciding to pursue my bachelor of music in Australia. It is really good to be back and having the opportunity to share music with students and colleagues.

In my recital segment, I performed the World Premiere of Singaporean composer, Jay Ong’s piece entitled Transit Sketches for solo saxophone. Together with Jessica Leong (Piano), I also presented a piece by Slovenian composer, Uros Rojko entitled Godba. I finished it off with the debut of my new saxophone quartet, Xin Saxophone Quartet, playing the 5th movement of Maslanka’s Recitation Book.

Other artists at this edition of the symposium included Professor Kyle Horch (UK, Royal College of Music), Keuris Quartet (Amsterdam), Professor Ao Kun (China), Nathan Bogert (USA), Chien-Kwan Lin (USA/Singapore), Ku Po-Yuan (Taiwan), Shyen Lee (Taiwan/Thailand), Christopher Condon (USA) and more. It was an intensive 2 days of saxophone but new friendships were made, I now have new ideas about saxophone playing and hopefully I managed to make a difference in the lives of younger saxophone students.

With the Keuris Quartet
With Dr Goh Zechariah at the 6th Singapore Saxophone Symposium
Paganini Lost partners, Alexis Seah & Michellina Chan (Saxophones)
Post-symposium supper
Composer of Transit Sketches, Jay Ong
Combined saxophone ensemble, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand
With the soprano saxophonist of Keuris Quartet, Evgeni Novikov
Godba, Jessica Leong (Piano), Michellina Chan (Saxophone)
With the autographed poster
With the Professor Kyle Horch from RCM
With the Taiwanese stars, Pianist, I-An Chen and Saxophonist Ku Po-Yuan
With Professor Ao Kun
Godba partners. With Jessica Leong (Piano)
Xin Saxophone Quartet
Our lovely percussionist, Sng Yiang Shan
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My Concert Experience

John Bruce Yeh and The Singapore Wind Symphony

Had the wonderful privilege to perform the world premiere of local Singaporean, Mr. Benjamin Yeo’s Chopsuey together with the Singapore Wind Symphony. In the composer’s words:

This piece is a scherzo (‘joke’) with a whirlwind of musical clichés that bring to mind the heritage of America, elements of Chinese culture and also music written for the versatile Clarinet, beloved in many musical genres. Many absurd stereotypes are really like “Chopsuey” – a dish made popular by Chinese takeaways all over America but in fact does not exist in Chinese cuisine at all, ironically, making it very American indeed.

It was my favourite piece of the evening with very clever and relatable extended techniques including mimicking eating sounds. It was a concert entitled John Bruce Yeh and The Singapore Wind Symphony at the Singapore School of the Arts Concert Hall on the 24th of April, 2016. I hope you enjoy the video!

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