Always interacting with the orchestra, yet always stylishly.

As arts groups take their first, cautious steps toward restarting performances, the question that’s often been asked is ‘how many audience members can safely watch a performance in a given venue?’ Not so often asked, but just as important is ‘how will Covid-19 have affected performance standards?’

This evening’s hour-long performance by the Orchestra of the Music Makers was part of a National Arts Council (NAC) pilot with several arts groups, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Chinese Orchestra included, to iron out the logistical issues with contact tracing.

All 50 audience members were asked to use TraceTogether, either in dongle or app form, before entering the hall. Seats were preassigned and audience members were reminded to wear their masks at all times, not to change seats even if empty ones were available, and not to hang around and mingle in the foyer after the concert, effectively removing the social element of the concert.

This hardly detracted from the relief and joy I felt at being back in the concert hall.

The pared-down OMM – reduced to about 20 or so string players and two winds (2 oboes and 2 horns) – all wearing masks, took a while to warm up to the SCH’s dry acoustic.

Qin Li-Wei’s performance of the first movement Haydn second cello concerto was the evening’s highlight. He swallowed the piece whole and delivered it with an impossible mixture of suave refinedness and bravura virtuosity.

Always interacting with the orchestra, he underlined passages like a seasoned orator while traversing the entire fingerboard effortlessly, yet always stylishly.