- Orchestra of the Music Makers
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Orchestra of the Music Makers 
The Orchestra performing at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall in January 2009.Background information Origin Singapore Genres Classical Occupations Symphony Orchestra Years active 2008 -present Website http://www.orchestra.sg Members Music Director
Chan Tze Law
President
Lee Guan Wei DanielThe Orchestra of the Music Makers is a Singaporean symphony orchestra composed of both volunteer and professional young musicians. It performed its first concert in August 2008 in the Victoria Concert Hall and has since been recognized as the most promising youth orchestra in Singapore with its receipt of the 2009 HSBC Youth Excellence Award.[1]
Contents
History
The Orchestra was formed after a period of discussion in early 2008 and was established as the Orchestra of the Music Makers in August 2008. Its first performance was a major benefit concert held in Singapore's Victoria Concert Hall and supported by the Singapore branch of HSBC,[2] a considerable accomplishment for an orchestra without a proven track record. In this inaugural concert it accompanied Gabriel Ng, Clare Yeo, and Janani Sridhar, three of Singapore's young talented soloists[3][4][5][6] in concerti and arias. Among other high-profile guests at the event was the President of Singapore. However, the Orchestra's first concert on its own was in January 2009, when it performed at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Concert Hall.
During these initial months and throughout most of its first year it faced considerable monetary challenges relating to its operating costs, in particular, concerning the rental of performance venues. rehearsal spaces, and instruments. In August 2009, the month of the first anniversary of its inaugural concert, the Orchestra was guerdoned with the prestigious HSBC Youth Excellence Award, carrying a cash value of S$200,000, a very significant achievement given that the group had been in existence for only slightly over one year.[7] The award was received shortly after the highly-praised (and sold out) third concert of that year, Rach2. The cost problems, and the 'tough' financial 'balancing act',[8] however, were not alleviated due to the money being held in trust for the Orchestra by the National Arts Council.
The Orchestra has also released a recording of its live performance of Gustav Mahler's First Symphony on its own 'OMMLive' Label, it received a rating of 4 and a half stars (out of five) by the Straits Times, and was lauded for "homogeneous unity in string passages, lovingly crafted woodwind solos and a brass section any orchestra should be proud of".[9] Future releases featuring Prokofiev's 5th Symphony and Mahler's 2nd Symphony are anticipated.
The Orchestra is composed of approximately 95 members,[10] most of whom are students in tertiary education, conscripts (as an avocation), and working professionals,[11] and it is led by its Music Director, the prominent conductor Chan Tze Law. It was also the first orchestra of its kind in Singapore to introduce a comprehensive leader-mentor system allowing for the tutelage of its musicians by reputable professionals in the industry.
A focus on philanthropy has also been one of the Orchestra's founding principles and defining features, enunciated as a vision to 'pursue philanthropy through the medium of music'.[12] Nicknamed the 'charity' orchestra in the press, its eleemosynary efforts have already benefited Habitat for Humanity and the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, while future concerts will see funds going to the Children's Cancer Foundation.[13]
Name
The Orchestra of the Music Makers' (OMM) name is derived from the poem Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy,[12] which reads, in part:
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—The poem was chosen because of its inspiring message, expressing well the group's 'ambition and desires', and it implicitly identified itself with the goals of a new orchestra composed of youthful musicians in support of others like them.
Critical reception
The critical reception of the new Orchestra by the press was warm and largely positive. A Straits Times review of the August 2008 HSBC concert praised the Orchestra for its 'instrumental prowess' and 'infectious zeal', as well as for having a 'unanimity of purpose' in its performance of Dvořák's Carnival Overture.[14] A separate critical article in the January 2009 concert commended the Orchestra's interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade as 'impressive', and also remarked on the quality of its soloists:
The pace also flexed ever so supplely, allowing wonderful solos by guest concertmaster Chan Yoong Han (violin) and Laura Peh (harp) - depicting the seductive storyteller - to shine through.
Chang Tou Liang, 'New Orchestra Living its Dream', The Straits Times, 5 January 2009The maturing Orchestra's stature has been further confirmed by its receipt of the 2009 HSBC Youth Excellence Award, an honor created to recognize and support 'outstanding young Singaporeans' and 'serve as a catalyst to promote the pursuit of excellence'.[15] The HSBC Awards Ceremony Gala concert in which the Orchestra performed next was noted for its high level of technical precision by a reviewer from the Times, the national newspaper: '[a]gain, it was the precision of execution and sheer passion that impressed.'[16][17] Concurrently, Chwee Seng Lim, a director at the National Arts Council of Singapore, has also approbated the Orchestra for having 'plug[ged] the leakage of music [sic] talent by providing a platform to sustain the passion of young musicians',[18] demonstrating its success in achieving one of its major goals.
The Orchestra has also received critical acclaim from international classical music reviewers. An article written by Dr. Marc Rochester, one of the co-authors of the annual Good CD Guide and has long been associated with the Gramophone magazine as a music critic lauded the Orchestra's performance of Mahler's 2nd Symphony:
I don’t recall ever having heard those great percussion crescendos so vividly delivered, the “Last Trump” and the “Nightingale” so potently evoked or, indeed, that one final magnificent chord so sublimely sustained. And as for the off-stage brass and the various players dotted around the hall, that was a moment of pure, unadulterated magic. This was, truly, an epic performance.
Dr. Marc Rochester, Mahler Mania, 11 July 2010The Orchestra's debut CD release of Mahler's 1st Symphony was praised in the international press,
With somewhere around a hundred recordings of Mahler’s First Symphony on the market ...this Mahler First can stand up to nearly any of them in brilliance, enthusiasm, and sheer visceral excitement.
...One senses this is going to be a performance worthy of attention right from the opening bar, played truly softly (seldom the case in other performances). The first three movements are very well done, but it is the finale that really glows with excellence, unfolding in a seamless arc of controlled intensity. Seldom have I heard an orchestra tear into that finale with the fierce determination of the OMM. It truly roars and rages, yet also brings all the consoling sweetness and tenderness one could wish for in the ensuing Sehr gesangvoll passage.
...Singaporean conductor Tze Law Chan obviously has the pulse of the Mahler idiom and is fully in control at all times, demanding and obtaining from his forces every sforzando, dynamic bulge, and subito forte and piano. One would need to search hard to find an orchestra that gives more.
Robert Markow, Review of MAHLER Symphony No. 1 • Tze Law Chan, cond; Orchestra of the Music Makers • OMM Live!, Fanfare Magazine Issue 34:2 (Nov/Dec 2010)Repertoire
A poster for the Orchestra's August 2009 Rach2 concert.
During its history the Orchestra has performed the following pieces at its concerts:
June 2011 : Gabriel Ng Plays Elgar
- Elgar: Violin Concerto featuring Gabriel Ng
- Modest Mussorgsky orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
- Elgar : Nimrod from Enigma Variations as encore
February 2011 : Penang Tour
- Glinka: Overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila
- Elgar: Cello Concerto featuring Elizabeth Tan
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
January 2011 : OMM Goes to the Movies
- Copland : Fanfare for the Common Man
- Goldsmith : End Credits from Star Trek: First Contact
- Rósza : Choral Suite from Ben Hur
- Korngold : Violin Concerto featuring Edward Tan
- John Williams : Suite from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Mahler : Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
- John Williams : Suite from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- John Williams : Flight to Neverland from Hook
- John Williams : Dry Your Tears Afrika from Amistad
- Hans Zimmer : Suite from The Lion King
- John Williams : Imperial March Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as encore
- John Williams : Love Theme (Can You Read My Mind) from Superman as encore
- John Williams : Duel of the Fates from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as encore
December 2010 : ChildAid 2010
- Copland : Fanfare for the Common Man
- Verdi : Triumphal March from Aida
- Mascagni : Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
September 2010 : HSBC Youth Excellence Awards 2010
- Bernstein : Candide Overture
- Britten : The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra
July 2010 : Mahler 2 - Resurrection
- Bruch : Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, featuring See Ian Ike
- Mahler : Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'
March 2010 : Russian Revolution
- Tchaikovsky : Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
- Tchaikovsky : Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, featuring Lim Yan
- Prokofiev : Symphony No. 5
- Shostakovich : Waltz 2 from Suite for Variety Orchestra as encore
January 2010 : Mahler 1 - Memories of Youth
- Johann Strauss II : On the Beautiful Blue Danube
- Mozart : Concerto for Flute and Harp K.299 in C Major featuring Cheryl Lim and Laura Peh
- Mahler : Symphony No. 1 'Titan'
December 2009 : When Heavens Collide - Combined Concert with Western Australian Youth Orchestra
- Holst : The Planets
- Bernstein : Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
- John Williams : Star Wars Suite
- Hurst : Swagman's Promenade as encore
- Elgar : Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 as encore
August 2009 : HSBC Youth Excellence Awards Ceremony
- Shostakovich : Festive Overture Op. 96
- Saint-Saëns : Havanaise Op. 83 featuring Janell Yeo
- Wang Chen Wei : The Sisters' Islands
- Beethoven : Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in G Major featuring Gabriel Ng
- Paganini : Violin Concerto No. 1, third movement : Rondo, Allegro featuring Gabriel Ng
- Rachmaninov : Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27, fourth movement : Allegro Vivace
- Elgar : Nimrod from Enigma Variations as encore
August 2009 : Rach2
- Rachmaninov : Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op. 18 featuring John Chen
- Rachmaninov : Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27
March 2009 : Symphonie Espagnole
- Wagner : Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
- Lalo : Symphonie Espagnole, featuring Ye Lin
- Brahms : Symphony No. 1 in C minor
January 2009 : Tales from the Arabian Nights[19]
- Richard Wagner : Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin
- Dvořák : Cello Concerto in B minor, featuring Zhou Mi
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
- Smetana: Dance of the Comedians from the Bartered Bride as encore
August 2008 : HSBC Youth Excellence Gala Concert
- Dvořák : Carnival Overture
- Gershwin : Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Clare Yeo
- Paganini : Violin Concerto No. 1, first movement, featuring Gabriel Ng
- Selected arias from Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni by Mozart, featuring Janani Sridhar
- Marquez : Danzon No. 2
Its future concerts include Mahler's 5th Symphony, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto with Albert Tiu and Shostakovich's 10th Symphony led by guest conductor Christopher Adey[20]
References
- ^ "Youth orchestra to get award". The Straits Times. 2009. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_420746.html. Retrieved 2009-08-24.[dead link]
- ^ "HSBC Youth Excellence Gala". HSBC. 2008. http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/2/miscellaneous/hsbc-youth-excellence-gala. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ "Gabriel Ng - Violinist". Gabriel Ng. 2008. http://gabrielng.net/about.php. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ "Clare's Website". www.clareyeo.com. 2006. http://www.clareyeo.com/. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ "Fromthetop.org: Radio". From the Top. 2008. http://www.fromthetop.org/Programs/Performers.cfm?pid=2360. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ "Student Achievements". Ngee Ann Polytechnic. 2008. http://www.np.edu.sg/lsct/achievements/Pages/janani.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ "channelnewsasia.com - Volunteer orchestra, community leader to receive HSBC youth award". Channel Newsasia. 2009. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1000536/1/.html. Retrieved 2009-08-24.
- ^ Junkai, W.: 'Youth-oriented orchestra lauded for 'making music happen', The Straits Times, 25 August 2009.
- ^ Chang, T.L.: 'CD Reviews', The Straits Times - Life!, 09 July 2010
- ^ "Musicians - Orchestra of the Music Makers". OMM. 2009. http://www.orchestra.sg/musicians.html. Retrieved 2009-08-24.
- ^ Tan, T.: 'For the Love of Music', The Straits Times - Life!, 30 December 2008.
- ^ a b "About us - Orchestra of the Music Makers". OMM. 2008. http://www.orchestra.sg/about-us.html. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ Ling Xin, S.: 'Award for 'charity' orchestra', My Paper, 26 August 2009.
- ^ Tou Liang, C.: 'Rousing Start for Music Makers', The Straits Times - Life!, 30 August 2008.
- ^ "HSBC Cultural Exchange - Singapore". HSBC. 2009. http://www.hsbcculturalexchange.com/singapore_2.php. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ Tou Liang, C.: '2009 HSBC Youth Excellence Awards Concert', The Straits Times - LIFE!, 27 August 2009.
- ^ "pianomania: Orchestra of the Music Makers: RACH 2 / Review". Chang Tou Liang. 2009. http://pianofortephilia.blogspot.com/2009/08/orchestra-of-music-makers-rach-2-review.html. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- ^ Sim, R.: '90-strong orchestra wins HSBC music excellence award', The Business Times, 25 August 2009.
- ^ "Tales from the Arabian Nights". Time Out Singapore. 2009. http://www.timeoutsingapore.com/music/orchestral/tales-from-the-arabian-nights. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ "Concerts - Orchestra of the Music Makers". OMM. 2011. http://www.orchestra.sg/concerts.html. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
External links
Categories:- Musical groups established in 2008
- Singaporean orchestras
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