Singapore Chinese Orchestra

In 2005, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) embarked on its very first Europe Concert Tour to Budapest, London and Newcastle. The versatility and virtuosity of the orchestra won over the hearts of European audiences and music critics. The experience no doubt strengthens the orchestra’s position as one of the leading professional orchestras in the world.

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) is Singapore’s only professional Chinese orchestra. Formerly a performing unit of the People’s Association Cultural Troupe, the Orchestra was inaugurated in 1996 at the initiative of the then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. This inception has been instrumental to the Orchestra’s elevation in its artistic pursuits, warranting it a national orchestra.

As the flagship of local performing arts groups, the SCO has the patronage of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. It is also the proud resident orchestra of the refurbished Singapore Conference Hall. Under the baton of charismatic music director, Tsung Yeh, the 70-strong orchestra aspires to introduce Chinese orchestral music to an ever-broadening audience.

With its aim in becoming a people’s orchestra, SCO has also greatly reached out through its Community Series concerts at the heartlands, Arts Education Programmes at schools and Outdoor Concerts at National Parks. In 2004, it launched its Caring and MusiCARE Series to bring Chinese orchestral music to the less privileged.

SCO spares no effort in promoting Chinese orchestral music. For instance, SCO had gathered over 1400 music enthusiasts from various Chinese orchestras across Singapore in a mega concert to welcome the new millennium in 2000. To develop Singaporean talents, the Orchestra began its Arranger-In-Residence and Conducting Assistant programmes in 2003. The former is to recognise the efforts of its local musicians who have actively been rearranging a number of works for the Orchestra, while the latter is a conducting mentorship for prospective local musicians. It has also set up a youth wing orchestra, the Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra in 2003 to nurture young music talents into professional musicians.

Aside from its regular concerts, the orchestra performed a symphonic fantasy epic, Marco Polo and Princess Blue, as part of the Opening Festival of Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay in November 2002. This spectacular work featured not only the orchestra but also a chorus performing in Chinese and Mongolian and was a resounding success. A year later, the orchestra staged a musical and visual conversation with Singapore’s most celebrated multi-disciplinary artist, Mr Tan Swie Hian, at the 2003 Singapore Arts Festival. This was yet another watershed in the Chinese orchestral genre. Its invited performances both at the World Economic Forum in October and the International Summit of Arts Council in November 2003 were also well received. In 2004, SCO celebrated the nation’s 39^th birthday by staging a spectacular concert featuring 2300 over performers titled SCO National Day Concert – Our People, Our Music at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Recently, SCO produced a mega musical production Admiral of the Seven Seas as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2005.