Bold vision, hard work and relentless determination have made the Singapore Symphony Orchestra a musical organism capable of standout excellence by anyone’s standards – the sort that led Gramophone’s Rob Cowan to write that ‘it would be difficult to imagine a more compelling or indeed idiomatic account of Rachmaninov’s First Symphony.’

That same determination to stand at the forefront of the Asian orchestral scene will see the SSO inaugurate its third Music Director later this month – the Austrian conductor and former Houston Symphony Orchestra chief, Hans Graf.

After years of fruitful work together, a new era will begin when Graf becomes Music Director at inaugural concerts on July 28 and 29, presented in collaboration with the Temasek Foundation. On these special evenings, the maestro will salute his own roots and show just how tall the SSO can stand in works from classical music’s Austro-Germanic heartland.

Ray Chen plays Sibelius (photo: Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Jack Yam)

The concert opens with Richard Strauss’s swashbuckling lothario Don Juan and closes with the mahogany elegance of Brahms’s Symphony No 2. In between comes Mozart’s charming Violin Concerto No 5, played by Singaporean soloist Chloe Chua – also named Artist-In-Residence for the season.

Since it was founded with an audacious commitment to excellence in 1979, the SSO has worked with the best conductors and soloists from all over the world and won no shortage of accolades along the way – from Editor’s Choice reviews to invitations to play at the Proms, at the Philharmonie in Berlin and at Avery Fisher Hall in New York.

In the first half of the new season there are opportunities to hear Sibelius under Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Vasily Petrenko, Beethoven under Han-Na Chang, Vaughan Williams under Stephen Layton and Shostakovich, Beethoven and far more under Graf. All of it will play out amid the world-class facilities and acoustic excellence of the Esplanade Concert Hall.

Also in the first half of the new season, Krystian Zimerman will play-direct Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4 and conduct the same composer’s Symphony No 4 at the SSO Gala Concerts on 7 and 8 December.

Joining the 2021 Gramophone Orchestra of the Year-nominated ensemble in the first half of the season are soloists James Ehnes (Barber Violin Concerto), Vadim Gluzman (Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No 2), Steven Osborne (Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 24), Pacho Flores (Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E flat major) and Alexei Volodin (Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra) - to name but a few.

Most proudly of all, the SSO welcomes local talent, Chloe Chua, as Artist-In-Residence throughout the season. Still in her mid-teens but a multiple prize-winner at worldwide competitions, Chua has charmed generations of music lovers in the concert hall and on social media with her outstanding talent and infectious enthusiasm for musical communication. As well as joining Hans Graf for his inaugural concerts in July, Chua will appear in a handful of other performances throughout the season.

Complementing the SSO’s headline concerts are the usual array of Symphony in the Gardens, SSO POPS, Lunchtime, Children’s and Christmas Concerts and performances from the Singapore Symphony Brass Ensemble and Singapore National Youth Orchestra and the regular President’s Young Performers Concerts at which the next generation of talent can be glimpsed.

An array of new Singaporean music can be heard under the baton of Darrell Ang in August, with premieres of brand new works by Wang Chen Wei, Alicia de Silva, Tsao Chieh, David Loke and more. For details of all the concerts in the first half of the season, visit the SSO’s concert calendar.

You don’t have to be in Singapore to experience the SSO live this season, with multiple concerts streamed on YouTube (including Hans Graf Temasek Foundation Inaugural Concert) and other, specially-filmed performances added to the SSOLOUNGE.

So wherever you are, log on – and see for yourself why Gramophone has concluded that the SSO is ‘one of the most impressive orchestras outside Europe or North America.’