Since 2018, Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) and Metropolitan Festival Orchestra (MFO) have been in a strategic partnership to jointly perform iconic full-length classical works as part of SDT’s annual seasons.

​

Over the past three decades as Singapore’s premier dance company, SDT has garnered international acclaim for the high quality and versatility of its performances, serving as a leading ambassador for dance and for Singapore. It has now reached a new stage in its artistic development by incorporating a professional orchestra into its full-length classical productions, becoming a home-grown dance company of truly international standards.

 

As Singapore’s first and only fully-independent professional symphony orchestra, MFO was founded to be a platform to showcase the growing pool of professional orchestral musicians in Singapore, mobilising them in innovative and sustainable ways that open up new performance opportunities across a range of both traditional and non-traditional genres and formats. Not only has it reached unprecedented numbers of new audiences and led the way for other local music organisations to follow, it has also emulated SDT in receiving international acclaim for the high quality and versatility of its performances.

 

This strategic partnership allows both companies to open up new artistic frontiers that were not previously possible for them as individual companies, and first bore fruit in December 2018, when SDT and MFO jointly performed the perennial classic Sleeping Beauty at the Esplanade Theatre.

 

Since then, Don Quixote (2019), Swan Lake (2019) and Romeo and Juliet (2020) have been successfully staged. The next production will be The Nutcracker (December 2021).

 

The public’s support will be crucial to sustaining this ground-breaking endeavour.

 

To cement this partnership, a new dedicated fund was created. Donations received into this fund are used exclusively to defray the costs of this endeavour, and donors also receive a 250% tax deduction on their donation, as well as see their support multiplied through matching funds provided by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s Cultural Matching Fund.

 

As such, no donation is too small, and we hope to enlist your participation and support to contribute towards the fund, as well as to spread the word among other existing and potential supporters about this very special partnership in the Singapore arts scene.

 

Please refer below for the list of other benefits that will be offered to all donors to the fund: