TLDR
Key Takeaways
- Pianist George Harliono and soprano Hera Hyesang Park will perform at Esplanade Concert Hall on 19 December 2026 in a recital titled Étoile: A Night of Music.
- The concert features Harliono playing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker suite and Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, while Park sings works by Mozart, Schubert, and Montsalvatge.
- This is their first concert together in Singapore, following individual performances in the city.
- Tickets range from S$20 to S$100, making it accessible for those new to classical music.
- For more details, visit sistic.com.sg/events/etoile1226.
Pianist George Harliono and soprano Hera Hyesang Park perform together at Esplanade Concert Hall on Saturday, 19 December 2026, in a recital titled Étoile: A Night of Music. The two have played together before in Jakarta, but this will be their first concert together in Singapore. It also falls on the Saturday before Christmas, when most of the city’s calendar is taken up by festive shows and year-end parties.
Both artists have performed here before. Harliono gave a solo recital at Victoria Concert Hall in August 2024, the year after he won the Silver Medal at the XVII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Park was last at the Esplanade in November 2025, when she sang Haydn and Mahler with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu. If you saw either of those concerts, you already know what each of them sounds like. This concert is a chance to hear how they work together on one programme.
What George Harliono and Hera Hyesang Park will perform at the Esplanade
The programme has four sets, with piano and voice taking turns in each half. Harliono opens with Mikhail Pletnev’s concert suite from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. It is a well-known piano showpiece and demands a lot of stamina from the player. It is also the most seasonal music of the night, and a good way in for anyone who knows the ballet better than the piano repertoire.
Park follows with Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, two Schubert songs, Die Forelle and Gretchen am Spinnrade, and Montsalvatge’s Cinco canciones negras, a Spanish song cycle that draws on Cuban rhythms. The set moves quickly from Mozart’s bright opening to the anxious, repeating figure of Gretchen at her spinning wheel.
After the interval, Harliono plays Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, three pieces based on poems by Aloysius Bertrand. Its final movement, Scarbo, is often named among the hardest works written for solo piano, and it is as interesting to watch being played as it is to hear. Park ends the evening with songs by Granados, Guastavino, Corbani and Obradors, mostly from Spain and Latin America, plus Fauré’s Après un rêve, a quieter French song among them.
Who are George Harliono and Hera Hyesang Park?
Harliono is British-Indonesian and was born in London. He gave his first full solo recital at nine and made his concerto debut at twelve. He has since played with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2024 he recorded his debut orchestral album with the Tokyo Philharmonic. He also teaches, and has given masterclasses at universities in Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Park is a South Korean soprano based in New York. She studied at Seoul National University and The Juilliard School, then trained in the Metropolitan Opera’s young artist programme. At the Met she has sung Pamina, Nannetta and Zerlina. She has also sung at Glyndebourne, the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Paris Opéra. She records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon, and her second album, Breathe, won an Opus Klassik award in 2024 for its music video.
Tickets cost between S$20 and S$100 on SISTIC. This is an easy recital to try if you are curious about classical music but haven’t been to one before.
For the full programme and tickets, visit sistic.com.sg/events/etoile1226.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Étoile: A Night of Music takes place on Saturday, 19 December 2026, at 7:30pm at Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore.
British-Indonesian pianist George Harliono and South Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park.
Harliono plays Pletnev’s Nutcracker suite and Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. Park sings Mozart, Schubert, Montsalvatge, Granados, Fauré, Guastavino, Corbani and Obradors.
Tickets cost S$20 to S$100 and are sold through SISTIC.