Singapore Chinese Orchestra launches public digital archives of its concerts and music

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) announced the launch of its first public Chinese orchestral digital archives on Tuesday (Jun 21). 

This grants the public access to over 20 years of SCO concerts, music compositions and information on the development of Chinese music scene and commissions. 

The collection is now available online and will continue to expand in phases. When fully completed in 2023, the archives will hold more than 2,000 Chinese orchestral resources. 

The digital archives were first introduced in 2019 to collect, organise and preserve SCO’s archival records. It also serves to electronically document SCO concert materials, compositions and commissions as part of preserving the legacy and development of Chinese orchestral music in Singapore. 

It already holds more than 600 materials, including SCO programme booklets from 1997 till early 2021, published music scores and selected concert videos. More materials such as annual reports, posters, selected audio and CD recordings will be uploaded in the later phases of 2022.

To make Chinese orchestral music more publicly accessible, SCO has also announced a series of upcoming performances and educational outreaches to bring communities together. This includes a collaboration with acclaimed home-grown conductor Kahchun Wong and the Singapore Chinese Music Competition (SCMC) 2022.

The initiatives will be supported by Temasek Foundation, which has been involved in over 290 SCO outreach concerts since 2011. Together, they aim to forge greater orchestra music excellence and connect with more people in Singapore and beyond through music.

Mr Lim Hock Chuan, head of programmes at Temasek Foundation, hopes that these initiatives can encourage more to learn about Singapore’s rich local musical heritage, as well as celebrate its traditional roots and strengthen local community bonds.

Updates regarding the programmes can be found on SCO’s website, Facebook or Instagram.