Arts Pick: THE WONDER CHAMBER: MUSICAL CURIOSITIES FROM 17TH-CENTURY EUROPE

Straits Times, 30 April 2026

Set in The Arts House's chamber, this concert by Red Dot Baroque - Singapore's only professional group playing period instruments - could well be the perfect Mother's Day afternoon for music lovers and the
musically curious.

With acclaimed harpsichordist Olivier Fortin as guest director, the ensemble has ransacked a drawer of European musical curiosities and is presenting its spoils in two delightful chamber programmes on May 9. So, expect the same amount of Baroque drama, but not the standard serving of Bach and Vivaldi.

The title of this 70-minute concert is The Wonder Chamber, which is a nod to the wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) that had once intrigued Baroque composers. The programme will certainly throw up curiosities for even the intrepid concertgoer as most pieces are Singapore premieres.

Three of the pieces on the programme have not even been published and were discovered only through private manuscripts. They are Italian composer Antonio Bertali's Sonata A 6 "Tausend Gulden" (One Thousand Guilders), Italian composer
Alessandro Stradella's Sinfonia In D Minor For Violin, Cello And Basso Continuo and Czech-Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's Sonata Jucunda (The Joyful Sonata).

"Being able to bring these pieces back to life sometimes feels similar to premiering a new piece by a living composer, where we are bringing our own signature take to a piece that the audience is hearing for the first time," says Red Dot Baroque artistic director Alan Choo.

WHERE Chamber, The Arts House at The Old Parliament, 1 Old Parliament
MRT City Hall
WHEN May 9, 3 and 5.30pm
ADMISSION $38 and $20 (concession); eligible for SG Culture Pass
INFO str.sg/moqg