SSO MARKS EU-ASEAN FRIENDSHIP AND 100TH BIRTHDAY OF GOH KENG SWEE

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and the European Union (EU) in Singapore celebrate EU-ASEAN friendship with a special concert this Saturday, October 6. The concert at Victoria Concert Hall also commemorates the 100th birthday of the SSO’s founding patron, the late and former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Dr Goh Keng Swee.

The concert is the EU’s first music collaboration in Singapore and will be conducted by Swedish-French maestro Sofi Jeannin. Titled “Music for Kings and Queens”, the performance will showcase music from Baroque masters Handel and Purcell. Jeannin is Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, and Music Director of la Maîtrise de Radio France. The performance will also feature the Singapore Symphony Chorus with members from Europe including Austria, France, Germany and Poland; and from Southeast Asia, most notably Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

In his message for a specially commissioned booklet to mark the concert, Singapore’s Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said, “I believe this concert is a fitting way to celebrate Europe and Asia’s rich cultural heritages, and an excellent way to honour the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s founding patron and our former Deputy Prime Minister, the late Dr Goh Keng Swee.

“As Singapore also enters the start of our three-year coordinatorship of ASEAN-EU dialogue relations, we hope to work with the EU in areas that exemplify the spirit of innovation and connectivity that has held strong till today.”

H.E. Barbara Plinkert, Ambassador of the European Union to Singapore, says through this concert "We celebrate the friendship and close ties between the people of the European Union and ASEAN, marking Singapore's chairmanship of ASEAN as well as the beginning of a three-year period in which Singapore will be ASEAN's coordinator of the ASEAN-EU dialogue partnership.

“It is fitting that by bringing together performers from both Europe and South-East Asia in this concert, we honour a pioneer, Singapore Symphony Orchestra's founding patron and former deputy Prime Minister, the late Dr Goh Keng Swee. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, we celebrate not just SSO's remarkable story but also its spirit of inclusivity and diversity in music.”

The 'Music of Kings and Queens' concert is part of a three-day SSO Baroque Festival (5–7 October) held at the Victoria Concert Hall.