From its humble beginnings in 2003, Symphonia SMU’s resident wind symphonic group, has grown leaps and bounds over the last decade into a full-fledged wind symphony. Last week, Symphonia marked its 10^th year anniversary with a bang by attaining its top accolade yet – an Outstanding Award at Austria’s 7^th Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival, amidst 1300 musicians and singers from more than 30 countries from the far corners of the globe, such as Israel, China, Australia, Estonia, the Netherlands, South Africa and Japan.

Assessed and categorised into four tiers by the professional jury – Outstanding, Excellent, Good and Participation – Symphonia earned its place at the top, next to premier Japanese band Tamagawa Academy Symphonic Wind Orchestra, admittedly the strongest contender in the Symponic Band category.

[Photo: SMU Symphonia competing at the Wiener Musikverein (Viennese Music Association), home of the famed Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.]
[Featured photo (above): Berlin Outreach Performance at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche]

Besides the performances and workshops held around Vienna as part of the packed four-day festival, the whirlwind trip included an extended concert tour to Berlin, Germany. To wrap up the season, the band fittingly played A Festive Overture to a full house at Vienna’s Great Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus, as part of the exclusive Gala Winners’ Concert reserved only for the top-placed musical groups.

Said Symphonia president Sherri Chang Xiangyi, looking back on the experience: “The journey was definitely tough and stressful at the beginning, competing with musicians of very high standards. But in time, we focused, practiced harder, and took more initiative to better ourselves… Seeing fellow Symphonians mature as musicians and bond stronger than before within just a short period was definitely the most satisfying learning experience for us”

Congratulations, Symphonia, on this momentous achievement!

[Photo: SMU Symphonia outside the Wiener Musikverein]