Member’s Name: Nicholas Cheah Zhen Ze
Instrument: Gaohu

“The discipline and coordination of the musicians in the ensemble were truly impressive, especially in their precise tempo changes and synchronised endings. I particularly enjoyed the piece 红丝绒—the tone colour of every huqin was remarkable. It’s amazing how just a few huqin could fill the entire concert hall with such a rich sound. Among the repertoire, 红丝绒 was my favourite. It was full of depth and texture, evoking a vivid emotional journey. Listening to it felt like tasting red velvet cake in a dream — bittersweet and deeply moving.

This concert also reinforced an important lesson: in an ensemble (or orchestra) setting, eye contact and synchronised breathing are crucial. Beyond playing in unison, eye contact plays a key role in maintaining cohesion, even when musicians are complementing rather than mirroring each other.”

Member’s Name: Yumi Goh Yu Ning
Instrument: Erhu

“This is the second bowed strings concert I’ve went to, and it really gave me a completely different experience! Last year was mostly classical and well-known pieces, this year there’s lots of Singapore premiere and I’ve not heard most of the pieces before. I think especially 《红丝绒》I really liked its music and the corporation of yangqin which up the level even more! Another piece is 《热舞哈萨克》which started with a pretty lively atmosphere for this concert. Generally, I feel it’s quite worth a trip after school and learn how strings can be arranged and played in ensembles.”

Member’s Name: Chong Zer Kai, Arther
Instrument: Zhonghu

“The concert experience was great as we got the VIP seats, as well as got to listen to only the strings music of the huqin. The pieces played were very enjoyable as they became very nice to listen to towards the end. Learning pointers from the concert was that the melody is not only played by the Gaohu and Erhu all the time, but also played by the zhonghu and cello sometimes, creating a contrast in pitch as the instruments switch from a brighter tone to a mellower tone. A suggestion for this concert should be to include more western pieces such as a segment of the butterfly lover’s concerto.”

Member’s Name: Chang Le Le
Instrument: Yangqin

“我感觉整场音乐会给我带来最深刻的印象就是无论是乐队还是室内乐，每个声部，以及声部内的每一把乐器都被演奏家拉的特别齐。尤其是几首室内乐的演奏，每个声部间衔接都特别有默契，即便没有指挥，演奏家之间也都互相交流配合，衬托彼此，将不同乐器，不同声部融合到一起，形成一首完整的室内乐。相信演奏家们都花了不少的时间一起排练，最后才达到这个效果，加深了我对乐器间合奏时默契的重要性的理解。这样的演奏不仅要求技术上的精准，更需要演奏者高度的协作和音乐感知能力。相信每一位演奏家都在倾听彼此，调整自己的节奏与音色，最后的整体效果才如此和谐统一。

除此之外，在演出后的分享会里，我也了解了在策划这场音乐会时，李宝顺老师在众多拉弦乐曲目中选择这几首风格各异，能展现不同地域的文化魅力的曲子的用意。我也确实非常享受这场音乐会，许多风格不同的曲子，让这个没有中场休息的音乐会增添了些许趣味（like 听不同曲子时会有新鲜感，不会觉得都差不多/无聊），我也见识了更多种风格的弦乐乐曲，加强了我对弦乐的认识以及欣赏。”

Member’s Name: Ho Jun Yi Xayden
Instrument: Zhongruan

“Personally, it was a relatively new experience for me as I never listened to a pulled string ensemble before, so I was relatively enjoying the whole concert all together. I felt that my favourite piece was . This was because the mix of the huqin section together with yangqin playing chords majority of the time were beautiful. However, the most memorable part of the concert was when Mr Quek injected so much emotion into conducting that is conducting baton flew as I never seen it happen on stage before. All though it wasn’t planned, but really showed the passion for that repertoire that Mr Quek had for “Yellow River”. Overall, amazing concert!”

Member’s Name: Zeng Canran
Instrument: Erhu

“The overall concert showcases a blend of harmonic colours and the different timbres of the instruments. The piece that I particularly enjoyed was the second piece because of the rich harmonic colours which just so happened to blend together so beautifully. It might also have something to do with my personal bias with the instrument as I play the erhu but that aside I love the harmonic changes and how the four huqins blend together. The piece playing the flower drum also left a deep impression because of the percussion effects that was able to permeate just by the use of stringed instruments. One suggestion will be longer duration with possibly an intermission in between:)”