Young piano talents distinguish Singapore Symphony’s annual presidential concert

The President’s Young Performers Concert has been an annual event since the early noughties, a showcase of Singapore’s most talented young musicians in concerto performances with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Like the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, its list of alumni reads like a Who’s Who of the local musical scene. Pianists and violinists have figured the most, although singers and other instrumentalists have also appeared. This year’s edition, graced by Singapore’s ninth president Tharman Shanmugaratnam, reverted to form by showcasing two pianists, both Young Artist Programme students of Albert Tiu at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. 

First to perform was 16-year-old Toby Tan Kai Rong, 1st prizewinner of the Aarhus International Piano Competition (2023), in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. His performance was projected with supreme confidence, unafraid to match blow-by-blow the orchestra’s bluster. While technically unimpeachable, this reading was also filled with subtle nuances. The first appearance of the Dies irae chant in Variation 7 was drolly stated, later breaking out into a harp-like cadenza in Variation 11. 

His unerring negotiation of treacherous runs in Variation 15 was admirable, and the transition from the dark clouds of B flat minor to glorious sunshine in D flat major for Variation 18 was a joy to behold. His exercise of restraint and rubato before letting rip with the orchestra’s entry was the touch of a master. Then it was thrilling diablerie all the way to the end, with the piano having the laconic last statement of Paganini’s theme. Tumultuous applause was reciprocated with an encore by Rachmaninov, also in A minor, the “Little Red Riding Hood” Étude-tableau.  

Equally trenchant was the performance by 19-year-old Adrian Tang, 1st prizewinner of the National Piano and Violin Competition (Senior category, 2023), in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 1 in D flat major. An early student work by Russia’s enfant terrible, the short-winded single movement concerto melded strident dissonances with lush lyricism, prompting critics to question his soundness of mind. Tang's approach was no holds barred, rushing his fences in the opening Poco piu mosso solo, almost getting derailed in the process, but he never looked back. 

In this high risk, high stakes venture, timidity was the last thing on his mind as he ripped through the thorny thickets with fearless abandon. The slow Andante assai central section provided brief respite of hyper-Romantic wallowing (sounding like Rachmaninov, whom Prokofiev disliked) before a resumption of the early lashings to brilliantly close. Another round of hearty applause yielded Moszkowski’s Étincelles as scintillating encore, before the return of Toby Tan to join Tang in an over-the-top four-hands version of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance from Gayaneh with glissandi galore. 

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor Rodolfo Barráez filled the balance of the programme with the common theme of youth. Mendelssohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, composed as a 17-year-old, was a miracle of precocity. While opening with woodwinds, it was the feather-light prestidigitation of the strings that delighted. The performance was not short of humour, with the repeated donkey brays (Bottom and his asinine transformation) milked for its comedic value. 

The concert concluded with Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 1 in D major, also known as the “Classical” with its witty pastiche of Haydn or Mozart. Its outer movements were led at a rip-roaring pace, contrasted with a graceful Larghetto and a Gavotte graced with a generous helping rubato. An ebullient end to an enjoyable and memorable celebration of youth.