Pop go the Philharmonic Winds

JJ Abrams will take cinemagoers on an inter-galactic trip this week when the new Star Wars film opens; likewise music lovers can expect to be whisked around the world in the comfort of their seats at The Philharmonic Winds Goes Pop concert on Saturday.

Wrapping up its SG50 and 15th anniversary celebrations, the homegrown orchestra's final show of the year looks set to be its most accessible. It will feature a wide selection of popular tunes that have been specially rearranged; and a galaxy of stars as guest soloists.

Split into two parts, the first will comprise hits from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and America; while the second will pay tribute to local pop musicians Dick Lee and Liang Wern Fook. Musical guests include Lee, "xinyao" veterans Hong Shao Xuan and Pan Ying, as well as the orchestra's own Ang Yixiang.

The Philharmonic Winds' arranger Ong Jiin Joo says the full programme will remain a secret for now. "People (should) come just expecting to have fun and to be surprised!" he hints.

Without giving too much away, he reveals concertgoers can expect to hear songs made popular by Taiwanese rockers Mayday, J-pop girl group AKB48, K-pop boy band Big Bang; as well as Canto-pop legends Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Roman Tam, Paula Tsui and more.

"Our pop concerts have grown in sophistication and complexity; the technical requirements needed to make a good pop concert a success is tremendous," adds Ong, who also arranged most of the works in the orchestra's 2010 and 2012 pop shows.

Together with his co-arrangers Yap Sin Yee and Jay Ong, they listened to a wide range of songs before making the final selections for this year's edition.

"(The main challenge was) turning a pop song into a piece of music to be performed by more than 50 people and using more instruments than you usually find," shares Yap.

But while trying to convert some of the electronic sounds of the pop genre into a wind band arrangement, the orchestra accidentally discovered something new about themselves.

"We actually derived a new sound concept which turned out to be both exciting and unique," Yap reveals.

Not only that, the Philharmonic Winds also discovered a pop star in their midst in Ang, who will take centre stage with his rendition of the Eric Carmen power ballad All By Myself on the alto saxophone.

"He is indeed one of our stars - not only does he sound great and is extremely technically capable, he also has a natural flair and a stage presence that cannot be easily emulated," says conductor Adrian Chiang, "I suppose that's the X-factor that we talk about: he once performed a concerto with us where he had to play not just one instrument, but three - the soprano, alto and baritone saxophones!"

The Philharmonic Winds Goes Pop concert takes place at Esplanade Theatre on 19 Dec at 7.30pm. Tickets at S$25 and S$15 (concession) available at Sistic