PPO scaling new heights

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ORCHESTRA enthusiasts can look forward to an interesting musical outing in Penang when Prof Chan Tze Law takes the baton tonight to conduct the Penang Philharmonic International Festival.

Prof Chan, who is the associate director of Singapore’s renowned Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, will be leading the live orchestra to play the classical numbers of Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Franz Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No.1 in C major and Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No.6 in D major.

The Penang Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) members had the opportunity to hone their skills under the tutelage of Prof Chan during the past weekends by attending workshops conducted by the maestro.

According to Prof Chan, who is also the Singapore Festival Orchestra musical director and the founding chief conductor of the Australian International Summer Orchestral Institute, this is the first time that he is collaborating with PPO.

“I have been travelling to many other countries to work with their respective philharmonic orchestras but, have never collaborated with PPO,” he said.

Prof Chan also paid tribute to the PPO musical director Woon Wen Kin, saying the orchestra had grown by leaps and bounds under the latter.

Tonight’s international music festival will not only see its current members performing. Classical musicians from all over the country, would also be displaying their skills.

They are former members of PPO while nine performers from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory will also be on hand to perform jointly with Penang’s own players.

Prof Chan said the main person behind this idea was not him, but a student from the conservatory, Woon Sze Ting.

“When he presented his proposal to us, we thought it was an excellent idea and decided to allow him to plan this event so he could earn his academic credits in the conservatory.”

Gaining experience: Sze Ting (left) will be playing the French Horn. Prof Chan (right) who will conduct the orchestra, is the associate director of Singapore's renowned Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.

Sze Ting, who is the son of Woon, said the reason why he proposed this idea was because he wanted to help PPO gain more experience in the classical musical field.

“I hope by doing this, the members of PPO would gain an invaluable experience,” the 24-year-old said.

Sze Ting, who plays the French Horn, will be among the 70 live orchestra players performing during the festival, which begins at 8.15pm at the Grand Ballroom of E & O Hotel.