Front Row

The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, continuing its celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary (of his death), offers in the coming week seven scenes from different plays by the Bard. But with twists which might cause the original playwright to have terrible turns in his grave.

Seven crazy directors have chopped, cut, diced, julienned, sliced, slivered and taken apart these scenes; reassembled, pieced, pasted, glued, cemented, slapped and knocked together anew; and tossed in their directorial idiosyncrasies like condiments, as if to create fusion food--Synthesized Shakespeare. And in the vernacular.

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The harmonica is perceived as a musical instrument for the not-serious musicians: campers who require some entertainment around a fire, backpackers on the road alone; and cowboys on the range in Westerns. Two members of the Fresco Harmonica Ensemble disabused us of the notion, and provided some insights into playing the ‘mouth organ’. They also told us about the competitions in which the ensemble played European classical music and won.

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After a couple of shows based on the use of created shadows on screens--a kind of modern ‘wayang kulit’--the founder, producer and artistic director of Masakini Theatre Company, Sabera Shaik offers a third, that promises “to take you on a nostalgic journey of discovery through Malaysia” in an attempt to “make you remember why you love Malaysia.”

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So very rarely do we get a local theatre company, based outside of the peninsula, come over here to present its performance. Front Row gets the opportunity to hear the artistic director of Pitapat Theatre not only detail the performing arts landscape in Kota Kinabalu and Sabah but also about the creation of this performance which echoes Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen’s ‘An Enemy of the People’.

If you’re a theatre practitioner, hear what Soo Ming has to say about growing the audience in far-flung spaces.

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The dancer-model shares how one discipline (dance) helps the developing of the other (modeling), and the artistic director details how Vanizha who was “too tall” some years ago is now the right stuff for dancing with the troupe in public performances. Ramli Ibrahim also reveals what it is to make a classical dance form relevant to contemporary audiences, here in Malaysia and in India.

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The visiting conductor, who has led orchestras all over the world, opens the classics up to music lovers in the Klang Valley.  He is in Kuala Lumpur to conduct music by Mozart and Shostakovich in two different concerts. Find out about his ways of hearing and creating music and what he says about tones and the emotions evoked.

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The conductor and soloist share their insights into the composition and performance of Handel’s oratorio,  ‘Messiah’.  The last time this choral piece was performed occurred late last year in Sitiawan, Perak. So folks in the Klang Valley are in for a treat.  More so for students who are studying ‘Messiah’ as part of their GCSE or IB syllabus; they will not only be able to learn from the discussion but also experience the performance itself.

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The producer and music director detail how they brought together young drummers from schools and universities to perform in a drumming concert. These young people were gather to collaborate and to create; and then to revisit successful competition-winning works composed by their predecessors with the intent to find the unadulterated form.

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We get an education into baroque music, learning about its characteristics and the intellectual ideas that undergird it. This music which was composed approximately between 1600 and 1750, is sandwiched by the Renaissance on one end and the Neo-Classical on the other. Violist, Dr Andrew Filmer demonstrates with a baroque bow. Our guests will be in an upcoming concert with Ensemble Virama and presenting music by Handel, Purcell and Haydn.

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The TV and stage-performer is taking steps to expand her tray of offerings. Having performed and sung in musicals, she takes the formal steps to put her in the position to become a serious singer. She tells about learning to sing formally and about her upcoming performance ‘Friends on the Other Side’--the dark side?

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