Thursday, June 27, 2013

Renee Fleming and Susan Graham Look Back

Promoting their joint recital at Carnegie Hall, Renee Fleming and Susan Graham had a chat on camera about how they met each other decades ago,and how opera fans and administrators alike often mistake the mezzo for her soprano colleague. Its lighthearted and really quite funny.





And here's a video of Sam Ramey teaching kids how to spell:

Sunday, June 23, 2013

SCO Two-Day Composer Workshop


The Singapore Chinese Orchestra is organising a two-day workshop for aspiring composers and their fans. Here's more information:

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SCO organizes a two-day composer workshop

Singapore, 28 May 2013 (Tuesday) – Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) is organizing a two-day composer workshop on 21 and 22 July 2013 at the Singapore Conference Hall. Composers and experts from the Chinese orchestra industry and musicians will share insights of the Chinese orchestra and in Chinese music composition. SCO Music Director Tsung Yeh and SCO Composer-in-Residence Law Wai-Lun will host the workshop which includes a two-day symposium and a score reading and demonstration session of new works. The two-day workshop will be conducted in mandarin.

Programme

21 July 2013 (Sunday)

1. Symposium (7 – 10pm)

Speakers and Topics:
Chong Kee Yong - Compostional concepts and maintaining international standards in music composition

Hoh Chung Shih - How Chinese culture and artistic practices inspire composition with modern music techniques

Qu Jian Qing, Ma Huan - The importance of the pluck-strings in Chinese orchestra


22 July 2013 (Monday)

1. Reading and Demonstration of New Works (9am – 12noon)
– Demonstration of 3 works by Kong Su-Leong, Yii Kah-Hoe and Hoh Chung-Shih
– Score reading and demonstration of new works

2. Dialogue Session between Composers and Musicians (12noon – 1pm)

3. Dialogue Session between Composers and Audience (2pm – 3.30pm)

4.Symposium (3.45pm – 6.30pm)

Speakers and Topics:
Ricky Yeung Wai-Kit - Current situational analysis of Chinese orchestras in various countries and stature of the orchestras

Simon Kong Su-Leong - How do you enable the incorporation of the different sounds and acoustical ability of the Chinese orchestra and orchestration format into a composition

Yii Kah Hoe - How do you make use of elements from folk music in a composition


Event details:

Singapore Chinese Orchestra Composer Workshop 2013
Date: 21 and 22 July 2013 (Sunday & Monday)
Time: 7pm – 10pm (21 July); 9am – 6.30pm (22 July)
Venue: Singapore Conference Hall
Ticket Price (2-day pass): $33 and $20 (concession)
Prices include processing fees.

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Get tickets at the Events Page.

New Opera Singapore - My Nights with Dido and My Days with Aeneas 26 and 27 July 2013



New Opera Singapore returns with their second full-opera production and then some. My Nights with Dido and My Days with Aeneas contrasts the famous opera by Henry Purcell with songs of Ives and Britten, creating alternative realities where the star-crossed lovers get to choose their destinies instead of the one imposed on them by the gods. The cast is as follows:

Director: Mathias Behrends
Music Director: Chan Wei Shing

Dido- Teng Xiang Ting
Belinda-Rebecca Li
Second woman- Thai Lehlin
Sorceress: Rebecca Chellappah
Second witch- Lim Yan Ting
First witch- Moira Loh
Aeneas-David Charles Tay
First sailor-Jonathan Charles Tay
Spirit-Shaun Lee

Also, check out the company's new website at http://www.newoperasingapore.org. Find out how to get tickets on the Events Page.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Free Screening of Disney's "Tangled" this Friday


Rookie theatre company Yellow Chair Productions is offering a free screening of Disney's animated movie Tangled this coming Friday. Here are details:

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After screening the 25th anniversary edition of the Phantom of the Opera last year, Yellow Chair Productions takes a break from the showcase series to screen Disney's Tangled! This classic tale of Rapunzel and her famous long hair is brought to life by Disney in a charming and magical film which includes the hit song, "I See The Light".

What better way to spend a cozy Friday evening this June holiday at the library@esplanade with your loved ones! Tangled is the perfect way to introduce a musical to someone you know. Bring your children, bring your partner, bring everyone in the family!

Date: Friday, 14th June 2013
Venue: library@esplanade
Time: 7pm
Running Time: 100 minutes
Admission is FREE

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Opera in the Park 2013 (free concert, 15 June) + Interview with Su Yiwen


 Opera in the Park returns this coming Saturday with a cast of new and old faces including Soprano Su Yiwen, mezzo-soprano Anna Koor, alto Azura Farid, tenor Melvin Tan and baritone William Lim. We speak to China-born Su Yiwen about the upcoming concert, why she chose to come to Singapore and the success she has received here.



The Mad Scene: Good afternoon Yiwen, thanks for doing this interview with The Mad Scene! How are you today?

Yiwen: I'm fine, thank you.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Graduation - 2nd Time Round


And so my 4 year study trip in Taiwan is coming to a close and I will be heading back home soon. Its quite a  mixed feeling: anticipation for the future as a full-time arts worker (God willing), joy at having accomplished a few dreams (earning a second degree, being a music student and living overseas in a modern Chinese society), some wistfulness at leaving my home and the friends that have kept me company for the past four years, and not a bit of apprehension about how the next step will pan out. Ah well... will just have to take it one step at a time for now I guess.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Free Charity Music Festival by Sing'theatre and SGH - 21 June 2013

Sing'theatre and Singapore General Hospital looks set to present one of Singapore's biggest charity music festival ever! It features popular theatre personalities including Sebastian  Tan, Hossan  Leong,  Jonathan  Leong  and  George  Chan. Check out the details below:

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The world’s largest live music event comes to Singapore General Hospital on 21 June 2013!

For  the  first  time  in  Asia,  the  Singapore  General  Hospital  (SGH)  and  Sing’theatre  will  be bringing in “Fête de la Musique”, the world’s largest live music event, to fill each and every corner of the SGH campus with music on Friday, 21 June 2013.

Aptly  titled,  MusicFest@SGH,  this  unique  edition  of  the  event  that  started  in  France 31 years  ago  will  make  music  of  different  genres  accessible  to  everyone  on  the  SGH campus, including patients, staff, visitors and just about anyone who loves music!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

'Pursuant' the Musical - In Review


Hawk attended the opening night of Pursuant, SLO's new musical production, and shares his thoughts here:

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Pursuant: a musical
Written and Directed by Jonathan Lim
Original music composed by Chen Zhangyi
Presented by Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO)
starring Windson Liong and Mabel Yeo
Friday, 31 May 2013
Drama Centre Theatre, Singapore

Review by Hawk Liu

In his own words, the composer, Chen Zhangyi, took inspiration from musicals, and opera, jazz bossa nova, rock and anime music. There was indeed a clever blend of music genres in the work, with also a use of different voice types for the character roles. Musical numbers are quite long drawn out with no apparent structure. What seemed to be solo numbers often led into a complex interwiving of many voices. A common musical device Chen often used was after the solo vocal line hit a resolution note, it then moved on to different notes in a slow melisma, accompanied by changes in tonality. A ten piece orchestra provided much music that accompanied the action and scene changes. There was a good deal of ostinato used. The drum set took part in much of the interlude music. Unfortunately for me, the constant use of brush on snare drum was tiring for the ears.

The setting was a future of Singapore (most likely) where people who had creative ambitions and dreams were arrested and brought into a concentration camp, presided by a ‘camp’ warden (irony), for rehabilitation. The inmates were eventually rescued and they met an underground revolution group that remained free dreamers. The story and action were interesting and funny in many places. In storyline terms, I thought meeting the ‘old man’ and what he represented was a bit serious and preachy.

The good level of singing in general was enjoyable and a delight. I am so glad they wrote for soprano voices in two lead roles – something I noticed Singaporean musicals have been reluctant to do so throughout it’s history. There was the usual ‘Jonathan Lim’ humour one had seen in his ‘Chestnut’ series and that made the ride a fun one. The quick ‘pull-off’ costume changes were effective. The two clowns in Dwayne Lau and Candice de Rosario keep up the comedic energy. The comedienne in Crystal Cordial showed good things to come. The music score was also very generous to the beautiful voices of Windson Liong and Mabel Yeo.

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Find out how to get tickets at the Events Page!