Orchestra Singapore

Global Perspectives on Orchestras

Offering innovative approaches to thinking about orchestras, Global Perspectives on Orchestras: Collective Creativity and Social Agency adopts ethnographic, historical and comparative perspectives on a variety of traditions, including symphony, Caribbean steel, Indonesian gamelan, Indian film and Vietnamese court examples. The volume presents compelling analyses of orchestras in their socio-historical, economic, intercultural and postcolonial contexts, while emphasizing the global and historical connections between musical traditions. By drawing on new ethnographic and historical data, the essays describe orchestral creative processes and the politics shaping performance practices. Each essay considers how musicians work together in ensembles, focusing on issues such as training, rehearsal, creative choices, compositional processes, and organizational infrastructures. Testimonies of orchestral musicians highlight practitioners' views into the diverse world of orchestras. As a whole, the volume discusses the creative roles of performers, arrangers, composers and arts agencies, as well as the social environments supporting musical collaborations. With contributions from an international team of researchers, Global Perspectives on Orchestras offers critical insights gained from the study of orchestras, collective creativity and social agency, and the connections between orchestral performances, colonial histories, postcolonial practices, ethnographic writings and comparative theorizations.

50 Years of the Chinese Community in Singapore

"Singapore's success story is essentially a "people" story. Singaporeans have good reason to celebrate the nation's golden jubilee with pride. In the short space of five decades the country has moved from Third World to First, and its real GDP has grown by 40 times! For this phenomenal progress, credit must go to its people, the Republic's primary resource. Against all odds and amidst dire predictions, Singaporeans proved that a united and resourceful community could build a nation from scratch. This book is dedicated to one segment of these Singaporeans--the Chinese community. In particular, this collection of essays focuses on the Chinese speaking members of the community whose many contributions are less familiar to those brought up on a strict diet of the English language"--

Singapore