User:SFO2007

Singapore Festival Orchestra

An initiative of the National Arts Council (NAC), the Singapore Festival Orchestra (SFO) was inaugurated on the 30th Anniversary of the Singapore Arts Festival. As the Festival's resident orchestra, the SFO is described as the third orchestra, alongside the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Chinese Orchestra, to be made up entirely of professional or professionally trained musicians.

The initiative to develop such an orchestra for the Festival was inspired by the success of the Competition Orchestra directed by Maestro Chan Tze Law at the 2005 National Piano and Violin Competition, which drew unanimous praise from the international jury panel.

The strength of the Orchestra is around 70 members, depending on the repertoire that it will be performing.

The SFO made its debut on June 15 2007, performing a repertoire of blockbuster video game music in PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, under the baton of Arnie Roth (music director for PLAY!).