To commemorate Edward Elgar's 150th birth anniversary the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, featuring cellist Wang Jian, brings to life the bittersweet beauty of the British composer's last great masterpiece, the Cello Concerto.
Composed during a convalescent period following a major operation, it was a lament for a world Elgar once knew which had been torn apart during the war years, and which he knew would never be the same again.
Wang Jian began studying the cello with his father when he was four. While a student at the Shanghai Conservatoire, he was featured in the celebrated documentary film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. Isaac Stern's encouragement and support paved the way for him to go to the United States and in 1985 he began his studies with renowned cellist Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music. Wang Jian's international career began when he first performed in 1986 at New York's Carnegie Hall. His recent recording of the Bach Cello Suites received excellent reviews worldwide.
The SSO, under Music Director Lan Shui, will also perform Haydn's Hundredth Symphony, nicknamed 'Military' and Dvořák's Eighth Symphony, a work which amply displays the composer's capacity for melodic invention and freshness. -- www.sso.org.sg
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