Bring together friends who have a passion for strings, and you might just get a professional string quartet just like Singapore’s very own T’ang Quartet. Having made a name for themselves through their precision and balance, the quartet’s skillful contemporary blend of Eastern and Western musical influences have gather quite the cult following who have been enchanted by their music. The ensemble has had recorded four albums under their wings and was awarded the Artistic Excellence Award (classical) presented by the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore that recognized their talent and ongoing passion that has brought them today.
Formed in 1992, founding members Ang Chek Meng, Ng Yu-Ying, Leslie Tan and Lionel Tan first became acquainted in the 1980s through their musical involvement in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). The four then went on to form the T’ang quartet in 1992, with the intention sharing the appreciation and joy of classical music with a wider audience. The best of friends, they then credited the name of the ensemble from the initials of the members’ last names. Coincidentally, it played to a reference to the Tang Dynasty, a period of notable cultural achievements in the history of China.
As part of their attempt to popularise classical music, the group was intent on shedding the conservative image commonly associated with their occupation. The four musicians presented themselves as stylish performers through their fashionable concert attire and their glamorous publicity material. The ensemble also posed topless in a 1993 photograph that received much attention from the media and the public. As a result, the quartet gained a considerable following within a short period of time and performed for a sold-out concert at the Victoria Concert Hall.
Through finely crafted musical expression and an unparalleled repertoire, they have brought Singapore to the world stage, and unearthed new dimensions to buried treasures in musical history.
To mark the end of Dreams & Reality: Masterpieces of Painting, Drawing & Photography from the Musée d’Orsay, the T’ang Quartet will be gracing the halls of the National Museum, closing with two performances on 26 and 27 January in Of Friends and Followers, featuring the only string scores composed by Debussy and Ravel. The quartet will also perform works by Stravinsky, a good friend of Debussy’s, and English composers Vaughan Willams and Frank Bridge. But before catching them at the closing of the exhibiton, we catch the young violinist of the group, Ang Chek Meng to find out a little bit about how much does the quartet love Dreams & Reality: The Exhibition.
How does it feel like to be performing with such masterpieces of art in the background?
We will not be thinking of the performance as us being in the foreground and these great works of art being in the background. That would be disrespectful! The idea is for the music that we are presenting to enhance the ambience of the gallery. The Quartet’s last performance in September at the Esplanade titled “Death of the Harlequin” also had a backdrop of paintings as well as some interesting props and furniture around the performers. Hopefully this bringing together of great pieces of art and the music of great impressionist composers like Debussy and Ravel will bring the audience into a whole different era in European history.
You will be performing in a completely different venue unlike before, so how does performing in the museum compare to performing in a concert hall or a recital studio?
It should be a nice intimate setting for us and the audience. Totally different experience for the audience than listening to music in a concert hall setting. Every venue has its own challenges. The quartet has played in discotheques, churches, in public parks as well as shopping malls and each has required a certain amount of adjustments. The main difference between this venue and a concert hall perhaps is the challenge of creating a sound that reverberates without the help of acoustic panels or electronic enhancements. We will be going into the venue for rehearsals to find the right balance and sound that will be most pleasant for the audience!
Dreams & Reality features some of the world’s masterpieces, what is your personal favourite?
My favorite has to be Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night for its vibrancy of colours and the very intimate look into the artist’s state of mind!
With a focus on the Imperesionist era, does it inspire a renewed joy in the music movement of this era?
For me the music of the impressionists challenge the performer in a whole different way to the rather calculated and structured way of the Classical era. In Nationalist and Romantic era, music you tend to follow the heart whereas you need a lot more imagination and life experience to play music from this era.
Wow, that does sound profound. So what can we expect next for the T’ang Quartet?
There will be concert trips to KL, Chengdu and Europe, amongst some other trips for the rest of the year. We will also be performing at the Singapore Arts Festival in May. And, there is also our work with our students at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore, which takes up the rest of our time! It will be a real busy year preparing for a big celebratory bash in 2013, our 21st Anniversary as a quartet!
We are giving away a pair of tickets to a lucky reader to catch the T’ang Quartet performing at the National Museum next week. For more information and details, follow Fever Avenue on twitter at @feveravenue to find out more.
Otherwise, you can catch the T’ang Quartet at Dreams & Reality: Music at an Exhibition; tickets are sold at S$48 (inclusive of handling fees) for each performance, and ticket holders are entitled to one re-entry to the exhibition on a different day at their convenience. A 20% discount is applicable tothe purchase of four or more performances. Tickets may be purchased from the Stamford Visitor Services Counter at the National Museum of Singapore or via SISTIC at www.sistic.com.sg and +65 6348 5555. For more information, visit the event at www.nationalmuseum.sg
Image Credits: T’ang Quartet. National Museum of Singapore
