KAZUSHI ONO CONDUCTS SSO IN SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

Come January 26, Berlioz’s radical masterpiece Symphonie fantastique comes alive in the hands of Japanese maestro Kazushi Ono at the Esplanade Concert Hall. It is paired here with Walton’s Viola Concerto, gorgeous music awash with lively rhythms and jazzy harmonies, and will feature SSO’s very own principal viola Zhang Manchin.

Kazushi Ono cherishes music’s power to bring people together. His manner in rehearsal, quiet and calm, exudes qualities of openness and receptivity. The conductor conveys complex messages in performance with effortless expressive gestures and a wisdom informed by his inexhaustible passion for making and exploring music with others. It is in his nature to unwind after conducting by playing through passages from the evening’s programme at the piano. Music, in short, has supplied the essential spirit of life since childhood.

Zhang Manchin has been Head of Viola Studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore since 2005. She also holds the position of Principal Viola at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Prior to her current positions in Singapore, Zhang was the first Asian player and youngest member in the history of the orchestra while she was appointed Assistant Principal Viola by music director Neeme Jarvi at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in 1994. She toured more than half a dozen times with the orchestra in major European cities, North America and Asia. During her tenure at the DSO, she was a resident artist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, a member of the DSO Chamber Music Ensemble and DSO String Quartet, and a participant and performer of the Chamber Music Festival at Blue Lake in Great Michigan area.

http://www.sso.org.sg/