It is my pleasure to introduce highlights from our new season, as we enter an exciting 2020. 

This season, our programmes revolve around the theme Transcending, inspired by musical journeys that we undertake across our key events. In Rituals and the Eternal (6 Mar), we enter with a contemplation of temporal stillness (Messiaen’s The Celestial Banquet), exalt the indomitability of human life and joy (Nielsen’s fourth symphony, The Inextinguishable), and embark on a quest for love, virtue and wisdom (selections from Mozart’s The Magic Flute). We find a similar celebration of joy in Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony, which will be played in Conservatory Orchestra Series: Open Rehearsal with Gerard Schwarz (10 Feb).

Transcending takes us not only above but also beyond ourselves. We reflect on the transference and transformation of artistic legacy with works by Vivaldi and Bach in Masaaki Suzuki Conducts Bach and Vivaldi (21 Feb), as well as with masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven in Gábor Takács-Nagy Conducts Vienna’s Big Three (11 Apr). The year 2020 itself recognises Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, and his critical impact on our musical understanding. Similarly, the Sounding Now Festival (17-19 Apr) pushes musical frontiers, drawing from divergent contemporary music practices spanning concert music, installation, electronics and improvisation, to explore intersections between their approaches.

Transcending in an artistic context is arguably not a fixed state, but a continual process of renewing, challenging and refining the self towards greater excellence in one’s craft. Our Faculty Recital Series showcases the work of our faculty – beginning with Go Fourth, Step by Step (23 Jan) by faculty member Lim Yan alongside long-time collaborator Lee Shi Mei, followed by Slavic Impressions (31 Mar) featuring Ng Pei-Sian and Albert Tiu, and rounding off with Singing Through Time (4 Apr), also with Albert Tiu who is this time collaborating with Head of Strings Prof Qian Zhou. We are also delighted to welcome Olli Mustonen as Ong Teng Cheong Professor in Music this semester, and look forward to hearing his multi-faceted insights across a piano recital (17 Mar), piano masterclass (18 Mar) and Conservatory Orchestra open rehearsal (19 Mar).