(Translation)

Red Dot Baroque, a baroque ensemble founded by young Singaporean musicians, presented its successful debut concert last Tuesday. 

They performed canonical works from the Baroque era (1600-1750) on period instruments. Instruments from this period differ greatly from the modern instruments we know today; musicians from the Baroque period used gut strings and concave bows that create softer and more transparent colors in a more dance-like style. 

While we may view these differences in instrumental structures as limitations for composers of that era, these differences also contributed to establishing characteristic traits of the Baroque period. In recent years, an increased interest in the Baroque repertoire and performance style has been observed in Singapore, with a growing number of musicians playing on period instruments in an attempt to present Baroque works in ways that are closer to what Baroque composers intended for them to sound like. The T’ang Quartet collaborated with Melvyn Tan a few years ago, and Red Dot Baroque was founded in 2018. 

As for how exactly one should perform works as the composer had originally intended has always been a topic of serious debate in the historical performance world. 

Red Dot Baroque’s debut concert was filled with passion and artistic flair. The program was also very well thought-out; other than the well-respected and recognized Johann Sebastian Bach, they also presented a vocal piece by the lesser-known French Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Stuck. Red Dot Baroque closed the evening with John Playford’s “John Come Kiss Me Now”, an English folk tune that conjured up a rousing atmosphere of communal singing and celebration with the audience. 

I personally thought it was an extremely good performance.