The SNCO (Soka New Century Orchestra) presented a concert at the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage @ Singapore Botanic Gardens on September 28. The band, consisting 26 SNCO members, 20 friends and 9 Fife & Drum Corps members, presented a wide repertoire of music that included free-spirited melodies of nature (Queen Park Melody & Yellow Mountain by Jacob de Haan), classic Japanese ballads (演歌Medley by Kojima Satomi), transformational Western American tunes (Gold Rush by Shin’ya Takahashi) to popular pop songs from Lady Gaga and Abba. The hour long concert started with a piece entitled Michael Jackson: Through the Years and ended with a medley of songs from Les Miserables.
Under fine weather and the darkening sky the audience was captivated. They responded with enthusiasm, clapping their hands in rhythm to the music, especially when the band played Lady Gaga’s song. Finally, the band performed the encore piece, 使命の人よ (Shimei no hito yo) in response to the audience’s shouts of encore.
