Front Row

A princess, a series of impossible riddles, a mysterious prince, murder, romance and some of the most spectacular music ever written for the stage. That's Turandot, Puccini's epic final opera, which is returning to Malaysia after more than two decades. It's big, dramatic, emotional and visually spectacular, and you don't necessarily need to be an opera expert to enjoy it. This new production by KL City Opera brings together a 50-piece orchestra, a 70-member chorus and an international cast, under the baton of Italian conductor Alessandro Mazzocchetti, with Eleanor Greenwood, starring as Princess Turandot. They join us to share more of what to look forward to at this staging.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music has a way of keeping memories alive, and The klpac Orchestra is celebrating 20 years of making music with a special tribute to the man who started it all, the late Maestro Brian Tan. Brian founded the orchestra in 2006, bringing together musicians and music lovers to build a community around their shared love of music. Two decades on, that community is coming together to celebrate his legacy under the baton of the orchestra’s current Resident Conductor and Music Director, Maestro Lee Kok Leong. The concert features a wonderful mix of music, from Chopin’s Romance and excerpts from the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto to Defying Gravity from Wicked, Cinema Paradiso and so much more. We find out what's in store from Kok Leong, and also Phinn Tan, a trumpeter with the orchestra. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some of musical theatre’s biggest hits, an all-star cast, eight dancers and a 73-piece orchestra. Brand New Day: A Symphonic Broadway Celebration brings the magic of Broadway to KL in a spectacular concert featuring songs from Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Dreamgirls and more. We speak to Sean Ghazi, director of the show and director of SWG Symphonic Concerts; Aaron Teoh, performer; and Melissa Teoh, producer of the show and Director of the Jeffrey Cheah Performing Arts Centre, about bringing this musical celebration to life. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Falcons, Sons of Adam, Freedom, The Strollers, Alleycats and Heavy Machine are just some of the names that feature in the history of Malaysian music. This October, their music and contribution to the local scene will be celebrated at a special night bringing together musicians from different generations. Rocking for a Cause is the fourth annual benefit concert organised by Musicians for Musicians Malaysia, supporting the wellbeing of working musicians while celebrating the people who have shaped our music history. Edwin Nathaniel, Deputy President of the Musicians for Musicians Malaysia Association, joins us to share more. 

Image Credit: Musicians for Musicians Malaysia

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ghosting, situationships, terrible first dates and the things we do for love. They’re all fair game in The Relationsh*t Chronicles, a comedy made up of nine stories inspired by real relationships. After it’s Penang run, the show is coming to KL for four performances, and we're joined by director and co-writer Karam Tabba, and cast member Andi Zephyr, to talk about turning relationship chaos into comedy.

Image Credit: © The Relationsh*t Chronicles by Big Nose Productions

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Contemporary Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook has spent more than four decades exploring some very big questions through very ordinary things: flowers, beds, words, the human body, and everyday encounters. Her work can be playful, strange, intimate, and sometimes quite confronting, as she considers subjects like desire, mortality and what it means to be human. Now, for the first time, a solo exhibition of her work is being presented in Malaysia. The Bouquet and the Wreath (Rebirth) brings together works from across Araya’s 45-year practice, including early pieces alongside more recent works, in an intimate exhibition at ILHAM Gallery. To tell us more about the artist, the exhibition, and his own long collaboration with Araya, we speak to the exhibition's curator, Roger Nelson, who is also an art historian and an Assistant Professor of Art History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Image Credit: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Has Girl Lost Her Memory? (1994/2025), courtesy of Ilham Gallery

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lisa Macuja-Elizalde has spent decades on stage and behind the scenes, from an internationally celebrated ballet career to founding and leading Ballet Manila. We last spoke in 2024, when the company brought Greatest Hits to Malaysia. Now, Lisa, the Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet Manila, joins us to talk about her adaptation of Snow White, and how she is bringing the familiar fairy tale to life through dance, and also to share about the romance, comedy and magic of the production.

Image Credit: Ballet Manila

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do the Big Bang, evolution, alien life, death and the possibility of nothingness have to do with the human experience? Presented by EJKLS Seni, Socrates in D# Minor explores these questions through four experimental theatre pieces, using science as a way into some very human questions about existence, identity and meaning. We speak to writer-director Asyraf Syahir Mohd Najib and actor Nandagopall Mohan about bringing this unusual work to the stage.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For its eighth edition, HANDS International Drumming Festival returns with Kaleidoscope VIII: Infinite Beats, bringing percussion artists from five countries together for a celebration of rhythm, culture and collaboration. We speak to Bernard Goh, founder and artistic director of HANDS Percussion Malaysia, about this year's festival, the international artists and collaborations on stage, and why percussion remains such a powerful way of bringing people together.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Classical music can take you just about anywhere, from the sounds of frogs and crickets in the Baroque era, to the mystery of Vivaldi, the drama of Shakespearean ballet, and even the music of Borneo. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a packed programme for the months ahead, with concerts for seasoned classical music lovers, families and anyone curious to hear what an orchestra can do. Joining us to share more is Gerard Salonga, Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.