From Damase to Shostakovich: Opening Concert of SCMF 2026 Announced
📅 Friday, 27 March 2026
🕢 7:30–9:00 PM
📍 YST Concert Hall, NUS
The Singapore Chamber Music Festival 2026 opens with Festival Concert I: Concordia Quartet & Friends, bringing together unique combinations of chamber ensembles to explore neo-classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The programme begins with Jean-Michel Damase’s Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano (1960), which blends modern harmonies and techniques with classical forms and textures, producing music described as cheerful and singing, enriched with a certain nostalgia.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108 (1960) follows, with rapid shifts of mood and tempo that alternate between playful and sorrowful. The Concordia Quartet previously performed Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 2 at their “Sunshine & Shadows” concert in March 2025, and now presents his No. 7.
The concert also features Eric Watson’s Concerto Arabesque for Flute and String Quartet, reworked from his 2024 composition for flute and string orchestra originally performed by re:Sound.
The evening concludes with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Guitar Quintet, Op. 143 (1950), considered by the composer as one of his most “melodious and serene” chamber works.
Programme
• Jean-Michel Damase, Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano
• Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108
• Eric Watson, Concerto Arabesque for Flute and String Quartet
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Guitar Quintet, Op. 143
Duration: 90 minutes with a 20-minute intermission
Musicians
• Cooper Wright, oboe
• Eric Lamb, flute
• Kevin Loh, guitar
• Leslie Tan, cello
• Nicholas Loh, piano
Concordia Quartet:
• Wilford Goh, violin
• Kim Kyu Ri, violin
• Edward Tan, viola
Join us for an evening of inventive chamber music featuring the works of 20th- and 21st-century composers performed by Singapore’s finest musicians.
