Philharmonic Wind Orchestra

Philharmonic Wind Orchestra

The Philharmonic Wind Orchestra is a Singaporean semi-professional wind orchestra. The orchestra was formed in 2000 with Robert Casteels as Music Director and currently has more than 70 members. It is currently under the artistic leadership of Music Director Leonard Tan. The Philharmonic Winds has performed a collection of landmark works of the wind band repertoire, ranging from the symphonies of Paul Hindemith and James Barnes, to the well-known favourites of Alfred Reed and Adam Gorb. The wind orchestra is also well-versed in a variety of musical styles, having explored the lush and humorous music of Percy Grainger, the genius of Mozart and Varèse, jazz standards in "All That Jazz", authentic "Sounds of Japan", and an "Absoluut Dutch" affair with highly acclaimed composer, Johan de Meij. The Philharmonic Winds has collaborated with renowned musicians from all over the world. Soloists featured include baritone Maarten Koningsberger, cellist Roeland Duijne and trombonist Jörgen van Rijen from the Netherlands, saxophonist Vincent Gnojek, marimbist Kevin Bobo and brass quintet Boston Brass from USA, euphonium player Kevin Thompson from Canada, saxophonist Shin-ichiro Hikosaka from Japan, trumpeters Dai Zhonghui from China and Yeh Shu-Han from Taiwan, as well as pianist Hae-Jung Kim from Korea. The ensemble has also worked with locally based soloists such as clarinettist Tang Xiao Ping, yangqin player Qu Jian Qing, and saxophonist Fabian Lim. The ensemble has also performed under the baton of distinguished conductors, both local and international, such as Johan de Meij, John Boyd, Robert Casteels, Zechariah Goh Toh Chai, Principal Guest Conductor Timothy Reynish, and Music Director Leonard Tan. The Philharmonic Winds staged two concerts dedicated to works of Singaporean and Singapore-based composers, such as Zechariah Goh Toh Chai, Leong Yoon Pin, Phoon Yew Tien and Kelly Tang. The ensemble also regularly performs compositions and arrangements of established Singaporean musicians. The Philharmonic Winds has also worked with the Penang Arts Council and Singapore Lyric Opera as the accompanying orchestra in Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Kurt Weill's Street Scenes. In 2008, the ensemble collaborated with the Esplanade to present an all-pop concert, with tunes specially arranged for wind orchestra, featuring well-known vocal artists Sebastian Tan and Tay Kewei. The Philharmonic Winds participates regularly in arts outreach programmes, with the intent to reach out to the masses and build new audiences for wind music. Working with the National Arts Council, the ensemble performed at several installments of the Concert in the Park series and the Singapore Arts Festival outreach programme. Past engagements also include the Arts In The City series, Beautiful Sunday series at the Esplanade and the Arts For Health programme at the Singapore General Hospital. Since 2008, The Philharmonic Winds has been part of the SPH Gift of Music series by Singapore Press Holdings, entertaining thousands at various locations with music scored by local composers such as Ong Jiin Joo and Tan Yan Zhang.

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