Orchestral Institute: The Age of Becoming

The YST Orchestral Institute under Principal Conductor Jason Lai traces the outlines of a world in flux — one in which artistic voices wrestle with power, beauty, loss, and human dignity.

At the heart of this dialogue is Francisco Goya, whose work spans the elegance of 18th-century court portraiture to the dark, unflinching visions of conflict and suffering that defined his later years. Animated projections by YST alumna Stephanie Tan (BMus ‘21) bring Goya’s works to life in real time, offering a vivid counterpoint to the music and revealing the shared emotional terrain between sound and image.

The evening opens with Manuel de Falla’s Interlude and Spanish Dance No. 1 from La Vida Breve, a work rooted in Andalusian culture and shaped by the flamenco pulse. Beneath its brilliance lies a story of love constrained by class and fate — a portrait of life’s intensity in the face of impermanence. The programme then turns to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”, a revolutionary work originally dedicated to Napoleon, then famously retracted. What remains is a deeply personal and expansive musical statement — not about a single hero, but about the human struggle to become one.

Both Beethoven and Goya stood on the edge of Enlightenment ideals, where reason met rupture, and hope contended with disillusionment. Eroica bears the weight of ambition, collapse, and renewal. Through the lens of Goya’s art, beautifully reimagined by Tan with empathy and invention, this performance invites us to reflect on an age (and its heroes) that was not yet what it imagined itself to be.

An age in flux – not so different from our own – still becoming.

PROGRAMME

YST ORCHESTRAL INSTITUTE

with

JASON LAI, conductor

MANUEL DE FALLA

Interlude and Spanish Dance No. 1,

from La Vida Breve

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 3, Op. 55, “Eroica”

Out of respect for the participants and other spectators, no children under 6 years of age will be allowed admission.

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