The concert took place at the comfortable Esplanade theatres complex. We waited in our seats, looking at a stage of chairs, cellos and double basses, as you would expect. But when the musicians came on stage, they were all carrying Chinese instruments. Instead of violins/violas there were a bank of huqin, instead of 'woodwind' an array of Chinese flutes and oboey things; also pipa (lutes) and various Eastern percussion instruments.
They played a selection of music relating to flowers. There were classical and more modern Chinese pieces, but also an interesting, slightly twangy-sounding version of Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers. It was lots of fun!
They are actually an amateur orchestra, supported by one of Singapore's Community Clubs. Of course I am from the UK and have never seen a full Chinese orchestra like this before - perhaps they are common? But it seemed kinda cool to me that people are keeping these styles alive, and also mixing them with others. Worth a watch/listen if you can catch them. I've copied their website below which looks like it needs updating, but might still be interesting.
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| Chinese instruments including the huqin (I think) strings section, left |
http://www.khco.org/ourpeople.php
Images courtesy of KHCO.
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