Liederabend - German Art Song Series 2008

Artists Platform in collaboration with Goethe Institute
Supported by Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht – Silent Night, Holy Night - A Christmas Celebration


Venue : Indicine @ KLPac
Date : 11th December 2008
Time : 830pm
Ticket : RM35
Enquiry : 03-4047 9000 KLPac/ 012-661-7654 Artists platform


Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht – A Classical Christmas Celebration
A Christmas programme with Lieder by Cornelius, Wolf, Strauss and Reger, famous Carols and Christmas oldies.

Programme

Six Christmas songs - Cornelius
1 Christbaum
2 Die Hirten
3 Die Könige
4 Simeon
5 Christus der Kinderfreund
6 Christkind

7 Nun wander, Maria – Hugo Wolf
8 Schlafendes Jesuskind – Hugo Wolf
9 Maria Wiegenlied – Max Reger
10 Ich steh an deiner Krippe hier
– Sigfrid Karg-Elert (Duet with violin)
11 Wiehnachtslied – Schumann

INTERVAL

1 Silent Night
2 Gesu Bambino (with violin)
3 Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (with violin)
4 The Christmas Song
5 I’ll be home for Christmas
6 White Christmas
7 Silver Bells
8 Angels We Have Heard on High
9 I Wonder as I Wander
10 The Holly and the Ivy
11 Go Tell it to the Mountain
12 Once in the Royal David’s City
13 The First Noel
14 O Holy Night


Performers
Chia Yee Yean - soprano
Evelyn Toh - soprano
Tan Wei Han - tenor
Eddy Chin - baritone
Kok-Ting Chong - piano

German Art Song Series - Die Schöne Müllerin

Artists Platform in collaboration with Goethe Institute
Supported by Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center

Die schöne Müllerin –
The Maid of the Mill


Venue : Indicine @ KLPac
Date : 2nd November 2008
Time : 830pm
Ticket : RM35
Enquiry : 03-4047 9000 KLPac / 012-661-7654 Artists Platform



Both of Schubert’s two great song cycles to texts by Wilhelm Müller, Die schöne Müllerin (1823) and Winterreise (1827) revolved around the theme of unrequited love. The original poetic form of Die schöne Müllerin began life as a Liederspiel ( a narrative play in verse and song), entitled “Rose, Die schöne Müllerin”.
Schubert came across these poems in 1823, a critical year of his life. He has just contacted syphilis. The songs came into being against the backdrop of a new and terrible realization of a death-sentence, some of the songs according to Schubert’s friends Josef von Spaun and Franz Schober were written in hospital. Schubert’s awareness of his own mortality seems to have heightened his artistic perception and in his setting of Müller’s rather simple lyrics are refined into a work of genius.


Programme

Die schöne Müllerin – The Maid of the Mill D795

1 Das Wandern
2 Wohin?
3 Halt!
4 Danksagung an den Bach
5 Am Feierabend
6 Der Neugierige
7 Ungeduld
8 Morgengruss
9 Des Müllers Blumen
10 Tränenregen

INTERVAL

11 Mein!
12 Pause
13 Mit dem grünen Lautenbande
14 Der Jäger
15 Eifersucht und Stolz
16 Die liebe Farbe
17 Die böse Farbe
18 Trockne Blumen
19 Der Müller und der Bach
20 Des Baches Wiegenlied

Performers
Eddy Chin - baritone
Kok-Ting Chong - piano

German Art Song Series - Liebesfrühling

Artists Platform in collaboration with Goethe Institute

Supported by Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center

Liebesfrühling – Spring of Love

Venue : Indicine @ KLPac
Date : 8th November 2008
Time : 830pm
Ticket : RM35
Enquiry : 03-4047 9000 KLPac/ 012-661-7654 Artists Platform


In March 1840, Robert wrote to his fiancée: “Why not write a song! Once you’ve begun, you just can’t stop. It is simply too tempting.” But Clara rejected the idea the very next day. It was not until December of the same year that Clara finally took up her husband’s suggestion. In September 1841 Robert and Clara published a collection of songs and duets under the title Twelve Poems from F. Ruckert’s Spring of Love for Voice and Piano by Robert and Clara Schumann. It was released just on time for Clara’s 22nd birthday.

Programme

Robert and Clara Schumann
Zwölf Gedichte aus “Liebesfrühling” Op.37 (Rückert)
1 Der Himmel hat eine Träne geweint
2 Er ist gekommen
3 O ihr Herren
4 Liebst du um Schönheit
5 Ich hab in mich gesogen
6 Liebste, was kann denn uns scheiden?
7 Schön ist das Fest des Lenzes
8 Flügel! Flügel! um zu fliegen
9 Rose, Meer und Sonne
10 O Sonn’, O Meer, O Rose
11 Warum willst du andre fragen?
12 So wahr die Sonne scheint


INTERVAL

Robert Schumann
Frauenliebe und Leben op.42
Song cycle after poems by Adelbert von Chamisso

1. Seit ich ihn gesehen
2. Er, der Herrlichste von allen
3. Ich kann's nicht fassen, nicht glauben
4. Du Ring an meinem Finger
5. Helft mir, ihr Schwestern
6. Süßer Freund, du blickest
7. An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust
8. Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan

Gustav Mahler - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
(based on Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
1 Wenn mein Schatz Hcichzeit macht
2 Ging eines Morgen über’s Feld
3 Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer
4 Die zwei blauen Augen

Performers
Chia Yee Yean - soprano
Raymond Lee - tenor
Eddy Chin - baritone
Kok-Ting Chong - piano

Puccini 150

Puccini 150

A Gala Concert in celebration of Puccini's Birth-year

Presented by The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall Choir

Sponsored by The MUI Group
Supported by The Embassy of Italy

Date : 28th August, 2008
Time : 8pm
Venue : The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
No 1, Jalan Maharajalela Kuala Lumpur
Tickets : RM50/RM70
Ticket Hotline : 012-661 7654 (Monday to Saturday 10am - 5pm)



2008 marks the 150th birth anniversary of the renowned Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini, whose operas have long been regarded as the most popular in the repertoire and are frequently performed in opera houses around the world.
To commemorate this anniversary, Artists Platform is presenting a concert dedicated to the heroines of Puccini, who mesmerize audiences with their heart-rending vulnerability. In all of Puccini’s operas, these frail creatures live with all their hearts for love and die tragically through illness (Mimi, Manon), heartbreak (Anna) or suicide (Butterfly, Tosca, Liu and Sister Angelica).
The concert programme comprises arias and scenes from Puccini's operas such as Le Villi, Manon Lescaut , La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, La Rondine and Turandot. The roles of the heroines will be performed by sopranos Li Hong, Vivian Li, Tan Khar Gee, Ang Mei Foong and an ensemble of female voices, all accompanied on the piano by Kok-Ting Chong.

Concert Programme

Se come voi – Le Villi
Ancora un passo– Madama Butterfly
Un bel di – Madama Butterfly
Si mi chiamano Mimi – La Boheme
Donde lieta – La Boheme
Quando men’vo – La boheme

Interval

Vissi d’arte – Tosca
In quelle trine morbide – Manon Lescaut
Chi il bel sogno di Doretta - La Rondine
Signore ascolta – Turandot
Tu che di gel sei cinta – Turandot
Senza mamma and scena - Suor Angelica
O mio babbino caro – Gianni Schicchi

Soprano
Li Hong
Vivian Li
Tan Khar Gee
Ang Mei Fong

Female vocal ensemble
Tan Kai Jong,
Chan Nyim,
Wong Poh Ming
Tan Hong Peng
Chua Pih Siang
Loong Yoke Kum
Grace Low Kwee Chin
Chiew Sheau Fwu
Lee Yee Wee

Pianist
Kok-Ting Chong

Orchestrator
Ng Chor Guan


A lyric soprano with a sound technique and beautiful high notes, Li Hong was graduated from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. She has performed extensively around China and most recently in America and Poland. A winner of several singing competitions, she has worked with Professor Lu Hui Juan (Germany), Rao Yu Jian (Shanghai Opera House), Linda Brice and Richard Poppino (America). In 2007 she made her debut as Tosca with the Sichuan Conservatory of Music.

Vivian Li holds a BA Degree in Traditional Chinese Vocal Music from the Harbin University before graduating in 2007 at the NanYang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore. An avid competition participant since young, she has won many competitions including the prestigious Hei Long Jiang Singing Competition and the Chinese Winter Dream Young Singer Singing Competition
Since residing in Singapore, she has performed at the Esplanade Concourse, Victoria Concert Hall and the Lee Foundation Theater. She made her debut with Bangkok opera in 2007 singing the role of Gerhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre

Homegrown coloratura soprano, Tan Khar Gee was a graduate of the Malaysian Institute of Arts before obtaining her Masters Degree at the Conservatory of China, Beijing. Subsequently she left for Italy to further her studies at the Accademia Lirica Italiana under the tutelage of Maestro Pier Miranda Ferraro and the renowned repetiteur Maestro Roberto Negri, both from the famous opera house Teatro Alla Scala, Milano. In Italy, she actively participated and represented the conservatory in major performances and received excellent reviews from the press. Consequently, she was awarded the Young Vocalist and Artist Certificate.
Since her return to the country in 2004, she has given many recitals in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to great acclaim.

Born in Kuala Lumpur, soprano Ang Mei Foong started her musical training as a pianist. After obtaining her Bachelor degree from the National Taiwan Normal University, she furthered her studies at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia Roma under the guidance of Maestra Rebecca Berg. Subsequently she received a full scholarship to pursue her Master’s at the University of Melbourne. In Melbourne, she studied with Merlyn Quaife.
An active recitalist, Mei Foong has performed in Malaysia, Taiwan, and Australia.

The Star

Friday August 22, 2008
Puccini’s heroines
By N. RAMA LOHAN

Puccini 150 Gala Concert celebrates the famed Italian composer’s works.

He was deemed a poor and indisciplined music student by his uncle, yet Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), the famed Italian composer renowned for his operas, went on to write classics of the genre like Tosca, Madamme Butterfly and La Boheme, among others.

The great man’s works will be celebrated in Malaysia come Aug 28 at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at 8pm. Marking his 150th birthday, the event dubbed Puccini 150 Gala Concert comes under the auspices of the MUI Group and is supported by the Embassy of Italy.

To commemorate this anniversary, Artists Platform will present a concert dedicated to the heroines of Puccini, who have mesmerised audiences with their vulnerability.

The concert programme comprises arias and scenes from Puccini’s operas such as Le Villi, Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Madamme Butterfly, Tosca, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, La Rondine and Turandot. The roles of the heroines will be performed by sopranos Li Hong, Vivian Li, Tan Khar Gee and Ang Mei Foong as well as an ensemble of female voices, all accompanied on the piano by Chong Kok-Ting.

As the guiding force for the production, Chong took some time off to elaborate on what the event is all about and what concert-goers can look forward to.

“Puccini 150 is about the female characters from nine of his operas. For me, it’s the female character that touches me most. The arias I’ve selected are the most popular and alongside them, an excerpt from Sour Angelica, an opera that’s not performed often worldwide.

“People attending the show can expect an evening of great music and singing,” claims the 43-year-old pianist who hails from Sungai Siput, Perak.

Drawing his four sopranos apart proved no easy task but the obliging Chong – who is one of seven siblings – describes them as individuals in their own right. “They are four singers of very different backgrounds, training and exposure. They all have distinctive vocal styles and colours,” he shares diplomatically.

Chong’s own musical roots lay embedded in the sands of time, a period when he grew up sharing a seat with his sister on the piano chair in his home in Sungai Siput.
His father had gifted his younger brother and sister a piano and it was on this set of keys that he developed a love for the instrument. “I’d sit with her after her class and we’d practise together. I had my first lesson at the age of 16,” concedes the late bloomer.

After college, Chong pursued his music actively and studied at the Trinity College of Music in England. “I was exposed to vocal accompaniment while at college and the great accompanist Graham Johnson was my mentor.
“I fell in love with the art of accompaniment and the soprano voice. I love poetry and, for me, opera and art song from the romantic period are the ultimate art forms, a true marriage between word and music,” he says, admitting that it was his willingness to work with anyone that got him around the block rather quickly.

Chong has a number of accolades to his name, including the John Ireland Trust, The English Singers and Speaker, highly commended in the great Grimsby Competition and at The Young Musician of the Year Competition in Stockholm.

Acknowledgement is always a heart-warming experience and Chong appreciates it, but also insists, win or lose, he would have remained honest to his craft. “It was great encouragement and yes, a good sense of self-worth that I was good at what I did. It opened up many doors for me.”

Music has been rewarding to Chong who says that nothing fascinates him more than the experience of two musicians getting together and making music agreeably. “That attracts me most in my job, rather than, say, being a soloist.”

Over the years, Chong has travelled to a number of countries, including England, Sweden, Italy, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. His travels have taught him a lot about the classical music culture abroad and the way of life in those places.

“It certainly broadened my horizon and the way I live my life. Western classical music, for me, is part of their culture, just like fine art, food, weather and the distinctive characteristics of the people there.”

Puccini is close to Chong’s heart for many reasons. “I adore opera, especially Puccini’s. My first experience of an opera performance was Puccini’s Madamme Butterfly. I guess it’s the raw, passionate and totally human emotion of this Italian composer that speaks directly to me.”

Raw and passionate performances should probably be on display come the Puccini 150 Gala Concert, and you can pretty much bet on it that Chong will be leading the way.