Silent Moon – an evening of music and poetry

While modern music has rightly been considered in many ways as breaking away from the musical past, it certainly has not fully escaped the influence of what has come before. Juxtaposing three modern works for violin-viola duo by composers Quincy Porter, Augusta Read Thomas and Darius Milhaud against Mozart’s Duo in G major, K.423. Silent Moon explores the subtle stylistic relationships between composers who worked (or are working) more than a century apart. The evening will also feature poetry readings that are curated by local writers Audrey Tan and Julius Li, which trace analogous stylistic relationships in the literary arts. Through interplay of the selected poems’ rhythm, form and content alongside the pieces of the concert programme, the performance invites the audience to consider to what extent music may be considered in parallel to speech, recapturing an 18th-century European aesthetic that was widely understood in Mozart’s day and bringing it into contact with the present.

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Duo in G Major for violin and viola, K. 423 (1783)

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Rondeau (Allegro)

Darius Milhaud, Sonatine for violin and viola, Op. 226 (1941)

I. Décidé

II. Lent

III. Fugue (Vif)

Augusta Read Thomas, Silent Moon (2006)

I. Still: Soulful and Resonant

II. Energetic: Majestic and Dramatic

III. Suspended: Lyrical and Chant-like — “When twofold silence was the song of love.”

Quincy Porter; Duo For Violin and Viola (1952-54)

I. Allegretto

II. Lento

III. Allegro molto

Music performed by:

Tan Tiag Yi (Violin)

Cindy Ow (Viola)

Poetry curated by:

Audrey Tan

Julius Li

Ticketing:

Concession tickets costing $21 each are available for full-time students, full-time national servicemen (NSF), senior citizens (60 years and above) and practicing artists. All other patrons should purchase general admission tickets for $26.

Admission Rules:

No children below the age of 6 will be admitted. Concession ticket holders should bring proof of their status, such as a driver’s license or student pass, as random checks may be conducted at the venue. Refunds will not be granted to ticket-holders who do not meet these admission requirements.

Latecomers will only be admitted at suitable breaks. Patrons may choose to sit anywhere during the concert, except on seats which are reserved for VIPs and guests. We reserve the right to ask parents to bring children out of the hall should they be disruptive during the performance. There is no admission without a ticket.

Photography/Video Recording Rules:

Photography and videography by audience members is not allowed during the performance. However, audience members may take photos during curtain calls. We reserve the right to ask audience members to leave the hall should they not comply with these rules.