An Evening with Tchaikovsky – Noah Zhou and the Last Minute Artist Orchestra at Victoria Concert Hall
An Evening Devoted to Tchaikovsky
On Saturday, 24 October 2026, a sold-out audience gathered at Victoria Concert Hall for An Evening with Tchaikovsky, presented by BespokeArts. British-Chinese pianist Noah Zhou returned to Singapore to perform with conductor Amanda Kye Tan and the Last Minute Artist Orchestra (LMAO), in a programme of three well-loved works: the 1812 Overture, Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 5.
The evening followed the orchestra’s debut last November at SOTA Concert Hall, where Zhou performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
The Programme
The first half paired the ceremonial grandeur of the 1812 Overture with the evening’s centrepiece, the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor. After the interval came Symphony No. 5 in E minor, in which a recurring “fate” theme links all four movements.
The 1812 Overture
The evening opened ambitiously with the 1812 Overture. Violas and cellos led the solemn opening hymn, and the music built towards the battle, with the French and Russian themes in direct confrontation. The tubular bells rang out for the triumphant closing section.
Noah Zhou in the First Piano Concerto
Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto places formidable demands on its soloist, from its commanding opening to its energetic finale. Zhou played with power and precision, with a big, full sound in the concerto’s chords and clear technical command in its virtuoso passages. One reviewer described the playing as Horowitzian, praising the octave passages in particular.
As with any performance, listeners will respond in different ways, but the audience in the hall was warm: there was applause after the big cadenza that ends the first movement, and cheers when the finale came to its close.
The Instrument
Zhou performed on a C. Bechstein D282 concert grand, brought in specially for the concert, with Bechstein Music World an official partner of the evening. The piano more than held its own through the concerto’s heavy demands.
The Orchestra
Under Amanda Kye Tan, the Last Minute Artist Orchestra gave a solid account of a demanding programme, supporting Zhou with energy in the concerto. The orchestra brings together musicians from many backgrounds, and the programme notes shared that several of the players were performing these works for the first time, after years of hearing them in concert halls and on recordings.
Encores
Zhou offered two encores in contrast to one another: Tchaikovsky’s Chant élégiaque, Op. 72, No. 14, a gentle, lyrical miniature, followed by the Liszt–Horowitz arrangement of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15, also known as the Rákóczi March, a virtuoso showpiece to close the evening.
What’s Next
BespokeArts’ next concert will be Greg Niemczuk in Recital: Chopin, The Poet of the Piano, on 16 January 2027 at 7 pm at the Bechstein Muaic World Event Hall, supported by Bechstein Music World.
