In Song 2003 - Across Ages, Crossing Cultures

Yardsticks are meant to be exceeded and milestones, overtaken.

In this spirit, the Victoria Chorale has moved beyond her boundaries and charted a new path in an already illustrious journey with In Song 2003 – Across Ages, Crossing Cultures.

It was a first for the Chorale in many senses.

It was our first time performing at the Esplanade Concert Hall ever since the monument was opened in 2002.

It was the first time the Chorale had put together so many musicians on stage, in one enchanted night.

It was the first time that the Chorale had the honour to host two of Singapore's renowned composers-cum-arrangers for In Song, our annual concert.

Opening the concert with a bang is the impressive Dixit Dominus, a Latin sacred piece written by baroque master G F Handel. This 10-movement work, composed by Handel at the tender age of 22 in 1707, is based on the inspirational Psalm 110. Accompanying the choir was a string ensemble made up of talented musicians from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the La Salle-SIA College of Fine Arts.

Dixit Dominus is, arguably, a challenging piece for any chorister. It is vocally demanding, exacting wide ranges, quick rhythms and musical precision from the singers. In addition, the intricate nature of the piece necessitates that the choir and string ensemble work in synergy. With little time to spare, in between collaborations with Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Cultural Medallion holder Tan Swie Hian for Instant is a Millennium – A Musical Conversation with Tan Swie Hian, and Mr. Phoon Yew Tien, the Chorale has garnered rave reviews for their steadfast performance in Dixit Dominus, due in no small part of guest conductor Zechariah Goh's diligent conducting.

Following that, the Chorale traveled through time to move from the Age of Enlightenment to the New Millennium – the present. To pay tribute to the Asian culture that so uniquely defines us as Singaporeans, we chose to perform pieces that were composed/arranged by our local music ingénues, Mr. Phoon Yew Tien and Mr Zechariah Goh Toh Chai.

This is not the Chorale's first time in working with Mr. Phoon – we had previously premiered his epic work, Confucius – A Secular Cantata with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in 2000. His immense talent in crafting songs that is in such synchrony with our local grounding still awes us and it was indeed our great honour to have him there supporting us.

We performed four of his songs that are based on Mandarin folklore. Familiar stories such as the Romance of the Butterflies – Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai, were given alternative voices through his interpretation.

Following that, the Chorale moved on forward in time to salute our long-time friend and inspiration, Zechariah. The concert featured the Asian premiere of three songs, most notably Remembering Nanjing 1937, a heartwrenching song depicting the atrocities committed during World War II.

Most fittingly, the concert ended off with a song portraying Singapore's most symbolic cat at play, Kucinta. The audience was tickled pink by the Chorale, who had to exhibit vocal dexterity to imitate the smooth purring and, later, ferocity of cats.

The evening ended with a meet-the-conductors session, chaired by Mr. Phoon and Zechariah.