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 Leonard Tan is a trinational-based, Singaporean music director, conductor, tubist, violinist, and music educator at scholastic, collegiate, conservatory, and professional levels Tan was awarded the National Institute of Education-Nanyang Technol ...

. 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 Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

. 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 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

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 Jörgen van Rijen (born 20 February 1975, Dordrecht) is Principal Trombone (jointly with Bart Claessens) at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) in Amsterdam. He is also a founding member of the Dutch trombone ensemble, New Trombone Collective, ...

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 ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

'' and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

's ''

Street Scenes The street scenes are a work of art by the artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made between 1913 and 1915. They are dubbed to be one of the most important works of German expressionism. It consists of eleven paintings, 32 pages from sketchbooks, 15 ink b ...

''. 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.

History

The Philharmonic Winds, also known as PhilWinds, was formed in 2000. In 2002, The Philharmonic Winds initiated the Philharmonic Youth Winds, providing an opportunity for young musicians to further their ensemble experience. In 2008, the young orchestra was named the top Division 1 band at the inaugural Singapore International Band Festival, under the baton of its Resident Conductor Adrian Chiang and the guidance of musicians from The Philharmonic Winds. In July 2005, The Philharmonic Winds participated in the

World Music Contest In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

held in Kerkrade, the Netherlands, and became the first wind orchestra from Singapore to be awarded a Gold Medal with Distinction in the First Division (Harmony Band). In 2006, The Philharmonic Winds was commissioned by the National Arts Council of Singapore to write a symphony, Second Symphony, for the Singapore Arts Festival which The Philharmonic Winds also performed at. In 2007, The Philharmonic Winds was the orchestra-in-residence at Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts. In May 2009, the band was invited to perform at the 40th anniversary of the

Japan Band Clinic Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

held in Hamamatsu, Japan. In 2022, The Philharmonic Winds and Philharmonic Youth Winds merged to become the Philharmonic Wind Orchestra.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Philharmonic Winds Singaporean concert bands