Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Chinese Orchestra
Orchestra
Singapore Conference Hall
Founded	1996
Concert hall	Singapore Conference Hall
Website	www.sco.com.sg

Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) is Singapore’s only professional Chinese orchestra. Inaugurated in 1997, the 85-musician orchestra took on the twin role of preserving traditional arts and culture and establishing new frontiers through the incorporation of Nanyang music elements in its repertoire. SCO has impressed a broadening audience with its blockbuster presentations and is fast establishing itself among its counterparts around the world. Known for its high performance standards and versatility, the SCO is recognized through invitations to perform at numerous prestigious events locally and internationally. In line with its vision to be a world-renowned people’s orchestra, SCO continues to inspire, educate and communicate through its music.

In 1968, an amateur Chinese orchestra was established as part of the National Theatre under the auspices of the Minister of Culture, and became a performing unit of the People's Association Cultural Troupe, the People's Association Chinese Orchestra. This became a professional orchestra in 1974. It later changed its name to Singapore Chinese Orchestra and the Orchestra was inaugurated in 1996 as a national orchestra at the initiative of the then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Since its inception, SCO has impressed a broadening audience with its blockbuster presentations and is fast establishing itself among its counterparts around the world. In 2002, it staged a symphonic fantasy epic Marco Polo and Princess Blue as part of the opening festival of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. The following year, SCO produced a musical and visual conversation with Singapore’s most eminent multi-disciplinary artist Tan Swie Hian at the Singapore Arts Festival 2003. The orchestra celebrated Singapore’s 39th National Day in 2004 with a spectacular concert – Our People, Our Music – featuring 2,400 local music enthusiasts at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. In 2005, it produced a mega musical production, Admiral of the Seven Seas, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2005. In 2007, SCO was part of the 240-strong combined orchestra that performed at the Singapore National Day Parade. In the Singapore Arts Festival 2008, SCO joined hands with Theatreworks to present the ground-breaking production Awaking, which brought together Kunqu opera music and Elizabethan music. In 2009, SCO made history by becoming the first Chinese orchestra to perform in the opening week of the Edinburgh Festival, and in 2010, performed in Paris as part of the Singapour Festivarts.

Well known for its high performance standards and versatility, the SCO has performed at numerous prestigious events such as the World Economic Forum and International Summit of Arts Council in 2003, and the 2006 International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meeting.