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Profile

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Cheng San Chinese Orchestra (CSCO) was established since the late 1990s. The orchestra was reformed under the baton of Mr Lee Heng Quee in 2012. Currently, Mr Wilson Neo, a Zhonghu musician from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, helms the leadership of the orchestra as its music director and conductor.

 

CSCO has staged our annual gala concert series since our reformation. The orchestra constantly challenges themselves by staging highly technical and recent works, ensuring a good mix of traditional and modern chinese orchestral compositions in our concerts. The orchestra also takes pride in providing a platform for talented members to stage concertos annually, including concertos spanning from Erhu, Yangqin, Pipa, Sheng to Suona, and has even collaborated with local and international chinese traditional music virtuosos.

 

CSCO has also been frequently invited to collaborate with Esplanade to produce multiple full-house public outreach concerts, in which the orchestra performed different genres of music ranging from Pop music, Mandopop, Cantopop, and well-known chinese orchestra classics, receiving rave reviews.

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In the spirit of giving back to the community, CSCO is also actively performing in community shows hosted by Cheng San Community Club, and has also staged multiple free outdoor performances during festive seasons, for the enjoyment of the general public.

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Conductor

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Neo Yong Soon Wilson is a talented, homegrown musician with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO).

He pursued a Bachelor's in Chinese Instrumental Music (Erhu) at the Central Conservatory of Music under the ‘Shell-NAC (National Arts Council) Scholarship, going under the tutelage of renowned erhu musician, Professor Liu Chang Fu.

 

A competent soloist and ensemble player, Wilson was awarded the Silver Prize for the Erhu Category in the ‘International Youth Chinese Musical Instrument Competition’ held in Beijing in 2002. He also emerged Champion in the Erhu Open Category of the National Chinese Music Competition, and led the Cheng San Chinese Orchestra to victory in the Open Ensemble Category of the same year.

 

Picking up conducting in 2005, Wilson has staged numerous concerts to critical acclaim. Currently, Wilson is the conductor and huqin instructor of various schools and institutions, and the Music Director of the Cheng San Chinese Orchestra.

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Programme Notes

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Flying Apsaras | Composed by Xu Jingxin, Chen Dawei

The music is composed based on the famous image of “ Flying Apsaras ” on the Dun Huang wall painting. It brings the audience back to the fairyland of fairies’ dancing performances. The musical work commences with a fanciful music to describe the changing colours of the sky. The music then leads one to a poetic scene as it develops and describes the various dance forms and styles of dancing. The music ends gradually with a peaceful note symbolises the returns of the fairies to the “painting”.

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Couryard After the Rain | Composed by Su Wen Cheng, Cat Cheng

Zhongruan Solo: Teo Xin Yi

Composed by a Taiwanese husband and wife team, this piece depicts the arrival of rain when the couple was playing with their dog in the courtyard of their San Francisco home. The beautiful sight from the porch - a rainbow magically appearing in the swimming pool after the rain; the blossoming of flowers in the courtyard; and the dewdrops on the grass - inspired this work. The refreshingly alternative approach to this traditional piece, with its rich Western compositional style and its invigorating, romantic mood will leave the listener both intoxicated and in awe.
 

Amannisha | Composed by Wang Danhong

Erhu Solo: Liu Zhen Sin

This piece was composed in 2015 and commissioned by the 10th China Golden Bell Award for erhu composition. Amannisha was a concubine of Abdurashid Khan of the Yerqiang (Yarkand) kingdom. A stupendous singer and dancer, she was endowed with intelligence and was also an accomplished poet in 15th century Uyghur. She is credited for the compilation and arrangement and thereby preservation of the Twelve Muqam, which is considered a classical music tradition of the Uyghur people. This erhu concerto expresses this amazingly talented and beautiful legendary lady - Amannisha’s sentimental emotion that fuses both romantisim and impressionism, presenting the mystic flavours of the Asia continent in an unsurpassed poetic form. As the erhu narrates, it seems to unveil the mystic of the ancient kingdom, bringing us back to the mystical, atmospheric faraway land of song, music, dance and poem.

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Hua Mu Lan | Composed by Gu Guanren

Pipa Solo: Marcus Chow

Based on the folk song, Mu Lan Verses, traceable to the Northern Dynasties (AD 386-588), this pipa concerto is rich in folk colours and textures. The music depicts the story of Chinese heroine Hua Mu Lan who disguises as a man to take the place of her father in battle, in so doing demolishing enemy armies across the desert and returning home in victory. This work is in a single movement and based on the sonata form, with an exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. The exposition presents as Mu Lan Loving her Homeland, the music is both serene and lively in parts, rich in connotations of folksong in its thematic material. This section is in turn developed and transformed into aural representations of Mu Lan as a gentle daughter, a budding martial artist and a passionate patriot. The development presents as Mu Lan in Courageous Battle, consists of three sections. The first section – Invasion, depicts Mu Lan’s resolute determination in taking her father’s place in the army upon news of an impending invasion. The second section – Setting Out, has the pipa conjuring up a scene of galloping warhorses, approaching from afar with the distinctive fengdiantou finger technique. The third section – Attack, is the climax of the entire piece. The pipa races against the orchestra at a heightened tempo with frequent modulations to depict the violence and terror of battle. The recapitulation presents the Victorious Parade, resounding drums and horns paint the enthusiastic reception of Mu Lan’s return to her hometown and her father. Variations on the main theme by the pipa depict the joy of Mu Lan regaining her female persona. In the coda, the theme from Setting Out reappears to signify Mu Lan’s readiness to fight for future battles.

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Macau Capriccio | Composed by Wang Danhong

Macau Capriccio is a composition by young Chinese composer Wang Danhong, commissioned and world premiered by the Macau Chinese Orchestra in 2015. A Portuguese territory until 1999, Macau is a place of unique heritage and history. The work celebrates Macau’s unique position between the East and the West and showcases elements of Macau’s culture to the world. The work consists of five movements: The Light of the Church, Portuguese Festival, Fishing Song, Yearning and Fireworks.