In a world where musical boundaries are increasingly porous, Chamber of Wonder invites listeners into a space where traditions encounter and reshape one another. Much like Alice stepping into a world where familiar rules no longer apply, this concert explores the sound between cultures — where genres converse, histories intertwine, and transformation itself becomes both the journey and the destination. Here, Eastern and Western instruments meet not as strangers, but as fellow travellers in a landscape of curiosity and discovery.

Performance Program

• The Charm of Thai Folk Music Across the West – for Violin and Cello

Program Note

This Thai-contemporary composition explores the meeting point between the sound world of traditional Thai string instruments and Western classical strings. Drawing on the musical language and performance techniques of the saw khmer and saw sam sai, the work reimagines these traditions through the voices of the violin and cello.

Created as both an artistic statement and a pedagogical tool, the piece enables performers to experience Thai folk melodies, ornamentation, and phrasing while engaging with Western instrumental technique. It offers intermediate to advanced players an opportunity to navigate this intercultural terrain, deepening their understanding of Thai musical aesthetics while expanding contemporary Thai repertoire.

From this dialogue between Thai and Western sound worlds, the program continues into another form of cross-border musical collaboration.

Performers

Associate Professor Dr. Sreewan Wathawathana (Violin)

College of Music, Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Thailand

Dr. Smatya Wathawathana (Cello)

Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Thailand

Performance Program

• Viola Quartet - Diversity in Unity

Program Note

Although often overshadowed, the viola plays a unique and pivotal role in many musical ensembles. This concert brings together a viola quartet comprising musicians from Singapore and Thailand, showcasing music from different geographies, styles, time periods, and characters. While consisting entirely of violists, the music showcases the diversity of expression the instrument can achieve. Beyond the repertoire itself, this project embodies how music serves as a bridge across geographical and cultural divides.

It is also a celebration of how the viola has brought us together, opening up new ways of making and engaging with music and society. Through these shared creative processes and reflections on our individual musical journeys, the quartet members have forged meaningful social bonds. These relationships highlight the universal language of music as a vehicle for empathy, understanding, and friendship across borders. By tracing the diverse repertoire of this underrepresented instrument and exploring how social bonds are formed through music, we hope this concert will celebrate diversity and unity through a variety of musical expressions.

Performance Program

• York Bowen – Phantasy for 4 Violas

• Viskamol Chaiwanichsiri – Spark for Viola Quartet

From this celebration of connection and shared journeys, we end the program in a space of contemplation and stillness.

Performers

Assistant Professor Dr. Suppabhorn Suwanpakdee, Dr. Pongthep Jitduangprem and Rungsiman Suwan

Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Thailand

Benedict Ng Wei Jie

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore

Haylin Park

Studio Musikfabrik, Germany

Performance Program

• 静默祈祷 (Silent Prayer) – for Pipa, Guzheng, Viola, and Cello

      Composed by Dr. Kee Yong Chong

Program Note

In a world often marked by chaos and catastrophe, Silent Prayer invites listeners to cultivate inner peace through quiet contemplation. Inspired by Buddhist philosophy, the work reflects the experiential understanding of the fundamental equality of all things and events, embracing a perspective free from discrimination. Through the delicate interplay of traditional Chinese and Western instruments, it evokes a serene space for reflection and spiritual calm.

Performers

Tu Yicai (Pipa), Liu Zeping (Guzheng)

Nanjing University of the Arts, China

Assistant Professor Dr. Suppabhorn Suwanpakdee (Viola), Dr. Smatya Wathawathana (Cello)

Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Thailand