Profile

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Singapore Sheng Association​

• To unite and connect Sheng musicians in Singapore.

• To promote performance and knowledge of the Sheng instrument, to develop talents and to uplift the standard of Sheng music performances in Singapore.  

• To develop and promote the uniquely Singaporean Chinese music compositions.  

• To promote and foster cultural exchange for Sheng musicians in Singapore and beyond

 

Suona and Guan Society (Singapore)

The Singapore Suona and Guan Society was established in 2021 consisting of professional musicians from various orchestras, teachers who are at the frontier of music education and past winners of National Chinese Music Competition in Suona playing.

 

The society aims to promote and contribute to the development of Suona/Guan in professional music scene.

 

The society seeks to provide various music courses such as lectures, skill improvement training classes and holiday music camps.

 

The society has mapped out future plans to broaden members’ music exposure through overseas exchange programme which are categorised and termed as follow: 

1. Embark: Once the situation for the pandemic gets better, the society will organise trips and short stay to renowned music conservatory and different districts of China that the Suona/Guan has deep roots in so that members learn about the instruments in a holistic manner.

2. Disembark: The society will invite renowned overseas suona/Guan musicians for collaboration attempts to hold concerts, short-term master classes in order to foster the next generation of young musicians in Suona/Guan.

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Dizi Society Singapore

Dizi Society (Singapore) is a non-profit organisation founded in June 2020, Its main objective is to promote the playing of Dizi and its related music in Singapore. It also aims to improve and elevate the standards and skills of playing the Chinese flyte amongst its members.

 

Dizi Society is formed to promote cultural exchange and to foster close relationships with other established Chinese musical organisation in both Singapore and abroad. The society has been active in organising concerts as well as performances to raise the awareness of such cultural and social activities amongst members and non- members as well. The society fledged off with a strength of 30

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Percussion Association of Singapore

The Percussion Association of Singapore aims to promote the art and knowledge of percussion, develop talents and act as a sharing hub for all percussionists. One of their key missions is to also foster cultural exchange for percussion enthusiasts in Singapore and beyond.

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Formed in 2021, their inaugural concert “Gathering” featured more than fifty percussionists from different cultures and art forms, performing music from the Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Western idioms. In 2022, PAOS collaborated with the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra, featuring 16 percussionists from different walks of life.

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Dicapella Dizi Ensemble

Dicapella is a congregation of Singapore’s top award-winning dizi (bamboo flute) soloists and is currently the largest bamboo flute ensemble in South-east Asia. Brought together by their passion for the dizi, the ensemble seeks to spread the joy of music through outreach programmes and concerts targeted at introducing the “family” and “relatives” of bamboo flutes.

 

Dynamic and versatile, the group’s repertoire extends beyond traditional Chinese music, to include jazz, Chinese pop, western classical and English oldies, among others. The youthful group, with an average age of only 19-years-old, has staged several energetic outreach programmes in heartlands that have been well-received.

 

Founded in 2013 by a group of dizi enthusiasts, Dicapella has grown from strength to strength, achieving new breakthroughs in their music-making, working with winner of the “Singapore Composer Award” Wang Chen Wei, and Ding Yi Music Company’s composer-in-residence Liu Chang.

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Synopsis

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Wandering | Composed by Chow JunYi

Originally written for erhu solo. “Wandering”, like the theme, intends to express a free state of mind. The work does not have any marks of speed and strength, only the length of the phrase, and the use of additional breathing techniques is determined by the performers themselves.

The author hopes that with such an open approach, the performers can freely use their imaginations, and at the same time seek to understand their own music interpretation and the process of inner precipitation, so as to achieve a free and easy artistic conception.

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Qi Yue | Composed by Alfred Wong

In traditional Chinese instrumental ensembles such as Shanghai silk and bamboo ensemble and quintet for Cantonese music, they normally consist of different families of instruments. Though there are traditional Chinese ensembles like tutti winds with percussion, an intimate style of chamber music for Chinese winds is still waiting to be explored. As wind instruments requires “Qi” (breathing) to make the sound, the title “Qi Yue” means the music performed by wind instruments, namely for dizi, 36‐keyed sheng and keyed bass guan, a revolutionary combination. The piece consists of three tiny movements, which can be viewed as an introduction, intermezzo and a coda. This humorous trio requires the independency of individual lines with occasional display of individual virtuosity. This work is commissioned by Tsun Lok Dizi Ensemble in 2010 with sponsorship from CASH Music Fund.

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Resonance | Composed by Dayn Ng

This piece was specially commissioned for the Suona and Guan Society (Singapore) by Dayn Ng whom before venturing into music composition was the first runner-up of the National Chinese Music Competition of Suona Youth Category. The piece was written with the aim to unite Suona and Guan musicians all around Singapore to come together harmoniously to nurture and grow Singapore’s Suona and Guan community.

 

From Afar, the Moonlight | Composed by Sulwyn Luk

Composed for Reverberance in 2020. The moon rises above the sea, and we share in this moment together. It's a peculiar thing, how the musings from a 7th century Tang poet resonate globally with our 21st century sentiments, in this long period of separations. Though inspired by Zhang Jiuling's poem of the same name, 'from afar, the moonlight' is a dizi concerto that takes shape not from the narrative of the text, but by floating around the moods and emotional states painted. 

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It is this sense of floating which opens the work, an ambiguous, quiet texture of gazing and pining. The moonlight soon invites and embraces us, sweeping us into fantasy with a brief moment from the full ensemble. The solo dizi takes form, and carries a song of reminiscing, gazing out the window. Each note forward gently grasps at the moonlight, with greater yearning. 

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As candlelight flickers into darkness, we drift into dreams. The moonlight morphs into those yearned for, as we dance. 

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Perhaps we are afraid of returning to reality, perhaps we are chasing time that we know will only run - the music pace picks up, constantly moving forward, and lunges into a passionate chase. 

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The dream dissipates, and a distant yunluo reminds us of the song we first heard gazing afar. The whole ensemble takes us into a passionate rendering of this theme, emotions running free at last, as though it felt it could truly carry the weight of the world's yearning and pining. The moonlight's sweeping fantasy from the opening embraces us once again before erupting into a clamorous howl. 

In solitude, the dizi utters a final long sigh. The ensemble gently surrounds us once again - as the moon rises above the sea, let us take comfort in this moment we share together. 

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Dedicated to Ng Weixuan, and all who are separated from their loved ones.

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Soaring Firecracker | Composed by Li Zhengui

Using a combination of gongs with different pitches and rhythmic permutations, the music successfully illustrates the soaring of firecrackers, with the tossing of gongs and the unique sound created by hitting the gongs as they are tossed into the air.

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Fervour | Composed by Dayn Ng Chee Yao

Comissioned by Reverberance in 2017, Fervour is a dynamic and impactful piece. Constructed with modern music using traditional woodwind and percussion instruments. The rhythmic structures originated from folkloric elements that revolved around the rhythmic patterns of 7, 5 and 3. With the music forms being shortened, it brings a new taste of music for our audience.

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