Guadagnini Granted

During breakfast, I read a newspaper article, titled "Tang gets rare violin"

Tang refers to Tang Tee Khoon (董帝均). And she is the new recipient of the rare Guadagnini under the National Art Council's (NAC) instrument loan scheme. On 17 June 2009, she was selected out of five hopefuls for the Guadagnini violin by a panel of nine specialists. The 25 year old Singaporean is the second recipient of the instrument loan, after the US-based Siow Lee Chin received it in 2001 when this landmark loan scheme was launched.

Tang has been playing the violin since she was four and a half years old. In the past 20 years, her passion for the instrument has taken her across the world to places like Switzerland and Japan. And recently, she completed a tour of Indonesia with famous violinist Midori as part of a string quartet, performing to connect children and the communities in Indonesia with classical music.

This Guadagnini was crafted by J.B. Guadagnini in 1750, Milan. "It has big, powerful sounds," Tang praised of her 18th century delight valued at USD430,000. Reportedly, Tang was happy and relieved to get the fine instrument, as she had been playing another borrowed violin that had to be returned - a 1757 Bergonzi from a private instrument collection in the US. Tang will hold on to the Guadagnini for two years and the loan may be extended again then.

Personally, one of the most exciting beacon of the article was the mention of a $1 Million seed fund for the purpose of acquiring new stringed instruments to loan out to promising musicians from the southeast Asian city state. Accordingly, the fund which is known as "the Singapore Musical Instrument Bank" matches dollar for dollar donations made by corporations and individuals. At first I felt ridiculous to read that "Private instrument collectors are invited to donate their instruments to the bank." In any case, I sure look forward to see the first of such a notable act.

For the record, the 25 year old Miss Tang received the Shell-NAC arts scholarship in 2001 to pursue a degree in music at the Cleveland Institute Of Music in the US. A year later, she transferred to New England Conservatory Of Music in Boston. Then she did her post-grad studies at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and is now a fellow there. She had also won the 1st prize of Singapore National Violin Competition three times.

She will perform a recital titled “Portraits” on the 13 August, at the Victoria Concert Hall! It will be her debut solo recital with the Guadagnini.