In Sunday’s (8/17) Straits Times (Singapore), Aqil Hamzah and Shawn Hoo write, “The founding musical director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, conductor Choo Hoey, died on Aug 11, aged 90…. The maestro died at his summer house in Greece with his wife Alexandra Avieropoulou by his side…. Former SSO co-leader and Cultural Medallion recipient Lynnette Seah [said] ‘He placed SSO on the classical world map.’… Choo, who established the orchestra in 1979 alongside former deputy prime minister Goh Keng Swee … was its music director between 1979 and 1996. Choo led the orchestra on four European tours, said SSO, adding that he ‘built up the orchestra from its modest beginnings, and developed an extensive repertoire ranging from the early baroque to contemporary masterpieces’ ” as well as works by Chinese composers. “Born in Palembang in 1934, Choo moved to Singapore in 1946 … After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London, [he] started his career conducting the Belgian National Orchestra in 1958…. He went on to conduct some of the world’s leading orchestras … From 1968 to 1977, he was the principal conductor of the Greek National Opera. In 1978, he gave up his conducting career in Greece to set up Singapore’s first professional orchestra…. Today, the orchestra performs more than 60 concerts a year.”
