Warning: the following post could be offensive to the fans of Donizetti and Gounod… Professor Kenneth Hamilton of Cardiff University is here in Singapore to play his annual concert. This year’s offering is a whole recital of piano fantasies from various composers. Plink, Plonk, Plunk catches up with him to…
While Singapore mourned the loss of her founding father and first prime minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew the past week, the artistic community also mourns the loss of two giants in their own right, Nobel-winning Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer and British composer-pianist Ronald Stevenson. I never thought that I’d feel…
When I was 12 I came across the weirdest time signature in my life: instead of a single number on top of another single number, it was 2+2+2+3 over 8. And I thought to myself, “Who on earth would write a piece with such a time signature?!!” But true…
An edited version of this review will be published in The Straits Times on 27th Jan 2015. Stringing Generations Chamber.Sounds Esplanade Recital Studio 25 Jan 2015 As the nation celebrates its jubilee year and the pioneer generation with the SG50 events, the classical music world also celebrates one of…
Imagine an earth of the future, one so polluted that man cannot live on it anymore. To survive, man took to the skies. After all, the sky’s the limit, isn’t it? They built sky-cities to live in, but the pollution continued. It continued so badly that the skies were almost…
‘Good Brahms is like char kway teow’, a friend once told me, ‘it is complex and has different layers, but too much of it when played the wrong way can make one sick of it’. Also, one of my benchmarks of good Brahms music would be whether or not the…
They’re back again! The Philharmonic Orchestra is having their New Year’s Eve Countdown Concert yet again, so if you don’t want to be jostling with the crowds at Siloso Beach or around the Esplanade, then why not join TPO in the classiest way to spend the countdown? Programme: 1) Strauss-…
92steel&guts presents THE WAY NORTH Sunday, 4th January 2015 || 4:30pm – 6:15pm (incl. Intermission) Esplanade Recital Studio Free Admission || Donations welcomed, post-concert ___________________________________________________________________ Gelato and pizza by the Leaning Tower, a scorching 40°C; Star-gazing under the Aurora Borealis at a freezing –40°C. Mamma-mia! Basta! ; Uff da! Så…
Living with Brandon Voo Brandon Voo, cello, Lin Xiu Min, piano Living Room at The Arts House Monday, 1 Dec 2014 Titled ‘Asian Arpeggione and Romantic Rachmaninoff’, the programme consisted of Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor for Arpeggione and Piano, D821, and Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19,…
Whether it is playing a four-note warm-up exercise, demonstrating a phrase, or playing a concerto, cellist Natalie Clein plays every note with an infectious passion. She cares so much about her music that she would rather use her free time to warm up and practise than have dinner(!!!). Squeezing in…