Front Row

The inaugural concert under royal patronage for a brand new professional orchestra in the Klang Valley.  The founder explains why we need another classical orchestra in the valley and what it needs to do to get bums in seats. And more importantly, engage young audiences.

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Instant Cafe Theatre is gathering its current and alumni actors and singers for a big reunion celebration. ICT is now 26 years old, and in this country it is no mean feat to have this kind of history.

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Literally grandparents tales in four dialects. The artistic director tells that through Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese folk songs, four tales are told in this musical journey. And the reason for such a performance: the preservation of four voices; the preservation of four cultures.

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The conductor has a second love: perfume. And he has his own personal line of perfumes. We get the opportunity to ask him how one passion informs the other and how these two interests inform his sensibilities.  He also shares why he likes Mahler, Beethoven and Bruckner.

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South Korea’s soft power comes from its exporting of its TV-soaps, costume-dramas and of course kookie-kutter K-pop kuties. In images the artist--from Taiwan who spent an art residency in KL-- tells the story of transformation and the presentation of the ideal perfection. Isa Ho details her project Mr Peony Pavilion in which she investigates the Asian obsession with K-pop.

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Southeast Asian curators of and academics who write on traditional cultures gather in KL for conversations on culture & arts, look at and explore our what we share in common: our traditions, histories and cultures.

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After a hiatus - ok, ok - an extended hiatus, she is back singing and in a solo performance. I recall her on stage parodying our culture’s preoccupation with whitening cream and skin-deep beauty. Shanthini tells what she did during her hiatus and how that time away from the stage has prepared her to come back.

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Because it has the Government’s ear now, dare anyone say that the visual arts industry has arrived? Gallery owner, Mohammad Nazli Aziz and the Director of Lifestyle Section, MATRADE, Abu Bakar Yusof tell of ventures overseas to market our ‘cultural assets’. They also tell of other steps necessary to ensure a sustainable, creative ecosystem for this industry.

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To celebrate Halloween and to engender the mood, we create just for you our version of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’.

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When artists are asked to take selfies what do they reveal about themselves through their choices? Some 20 artists were invited to turn the camera on themselves, take self-portraits and through these pictures inquire our ‘social, political, geographical and technological state.’

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