17 Nov, NUS YST Conservatory Concert Hall, 730pm

The Conservatory Orchestra
Wang Ya-Hui, Music Director
Katherine Broderick, Soprano

Programme:
Marriage of Figaro Overture    Mozart
"Porgi Amor" from Marriage of Figaro    Mozart
"Come scoglio" from Cosi fan tutte   Mozart
Der Freischütz Overture   Weber
"Dich, teure Halle" from Tannhäuser  Wagner
     Intermission
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 “Eroica”  Beethoven

Before the concert, Samuel and I dined in Clementi, where I had my first try of the best rojak in Singapore "Clementi brother rojak". Queued around 15mins. And it’s considered very fast. I was surprised those ppl wouldn’t mind to queue one hour just for a "salad"…Anyway, the rojak is an interesting side dish.

Back to music. It’s also my first time to hear the YST conservatory orchestra and the new concert hall. That’s why it deserved a blog, even in busy and lazy days.

Performence: When hearing the first overture, it’s considered under my expectation, especially the strings. After warming up period, YSTCO corped well with the soprano, who generouslly gave two encores. May be due to the fact that I just heard the VSO version of the same work, ears are still in "aesthetic fatigue". The YSTCO revealled their full strength only in the symphony. This must be the result of intensive rehearsals.

Hall Acoustics: The hall followed the classic "shoe-box" design. Sidewalls are made into diffusers. There is one canopy over the stage. Our seats were in the rear center of the stall. According to Samuel, we were sitting in the best point in the hall. After hearing the whole concert, especially the symphony I generally felt the sound was clear and loud enough, however dry and fatiguing. This showed the sign of poor reverberation, in other words, the lack of mid-reflections.

Closing words: A good side dish on local music menu. An interesting concert with an corresponding title, though I believe "heroes and heroines" should only meet on the battlefield. Rating 7