Rediscovering Chinese Music: A Tribute to Singapore’s Chinese Orchestra Music Pioneers

As part of SG60 celebrations, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) will present Rediscovering Chinese Music on 24 August 2025. First presented digitally in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, this meaningful concert will be performed live this time to commemorate the passion, resilience, and artistry of our pioneers in the Chinese orchestral music scene in Singapore during the 1950s to the 1970s.

During a period with few resources and limited access to scores, these early musicians displayed the spirit of perseverance and dedication through transcribing music by ear, learning from recordings and attempting their own arrangements. The concert seeks to honour this legacy by reviving the spirit and sounds of a generation that laid the foundation of Singapore’s Chinese orchestral music scene.

The concert will feature three generations of Chinese orchestra musicians performing on the same stage, including members from the 1970s iteration of the independent ensemble, Chang Chun Chinese Orchestra, such as Tng Kin Seng and Choo Boon Chong, both of whom have served as principal or associate principal players with Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra; current and former members of Singapore Chinese Orchestra; as well as a new generation of outstanding young musicians. This homecoming concert with a multi-generational line-up not only embodies professional excellence, but also symbolises the continued passing down of Chinese orchestral music from veterans to the young.

The concert’s repertoire will include classic works which were widely performed and beloved in that era, including ensemble pieces, instrumental solos and vocal performances. Audiences can look forward to nostalgic favourites such as Joyous Celebration, Song of Joy, Spring Water Flowing and Scenery of Guilin. Each work has been meticulously arranged or transcribed by Phoon Yew Tien, one of Singapore’s foremost Chinese music composers and scholars.

Concert producer Mr Phoon Yew Tien said, “We hope that this concert will allow more people to gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese orchestral music scene in this region during the 1950s to 1970s. To recreate the experience of the past more accurately, this concert not only strives for authenticity in performance but also deliberately emulates the programming style of Chinese orchestral concerts during that era.”

Tickets are available on SISTIC at S$20 (including GST and booking fee) from 21 July 2025 (10.00am) to 24 August 2025 (6.00pm), with early bird discount of 30% from 21 July 2025 (10.00am) to 28 July 2025 (11.59pm).

From 29 July 2025 to 24 August 2025 (6.00pm), PAssion Card, SAFRA, HomeTeamNS, and merewards members can also enjoy a 20% discount. SCCC EDM Subscribers* can enjoy 25% off tickets while SCCC Culture Partners (SCO and Esplanade) can enjoy 10% off tickets.

For more information, please visit their website.

* Subscribe to SCCC EDM at www.singaporeccc.org.sg or singaporen.sg

Image: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre