Front Row

The Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival (MJPF)  began a decade ago, when a few of Malaysia’s top jazz pianists got together to organise a festival which paid particular focus and attention to the role of jazz pianists, and also to the needs of young jazz piano students. 10 years on, the festival remains unique in the world of jazz festivals, and the MJPF has gone on to become the longest ongoing jazz festival in Kuala Lumpur, which focuses on two key aspects, namely education and performances. We find out more about this year’s festival from organisers Michael Veerapen (jazz pianist, composer, producer, record studio head, and educator) and Rizal Tony (jazz musician, educator, composer, and music arranger).

Image Credit: Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival

Come June, local dance organisation MyDance Alliance will present the sixth MyDance Festival, with the theme “Unity in Diversity”. The festival aims to reunite the dance community in Malaysia following the disruption of the pandemic, to enjoy live performances and to celebrate the diversity of local dance culture. The festival will present four different programs across various arts spaces in the Klang Valley, featuring traditional dances from Malay, Indian and East Malaysian cultures, alongside contemporary dance works too. We find out more from Rithaudin Abdul Kadir (Vice President of MyDance Alliance) and Bilqis Hijjas (Secretary, MyDance Alliance).

Image Credit: James Quah

The Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival (MJPF)  began a decade ago, when a few of Malaysia’s top jazz pianists got together to organise a festival which paid particular focus and attention to the role of jazz pianists, and also to the needs of young jazz piano students. 10 years on, the festival remains unique in the world of jazz festivals, and the MJPF has gone on to become the longest ongoing jazz festival in Kuala Lumpur, which focuses on two key aspects, namely education and performances. We find out more about this year’s festival from organisers Michael Veerapen (jazz pianist, composer, producer, record studio head, and educator) and Rizal Tony (jazz musician, educator, composer, and music arranger).

Image Credit: Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival

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Come June, local dance organisation MyDance Alliance will present the sixth MyDance Festival, with the theme “Unity in Diversity”. The festival aims to reunite the dance community in Malaysia following the disruption of the pandemic, to enjoy live performances and to celebrate the diversity of local dance culture. The festival will present four different programs across various arts spaces in the Klang Valley, featuring traditional dances from Malay, Indian and East Malaysian cultures, alongside contemporary dance works too. We find out more from Rithaudin Abdul Kadir (Vice President of MyDance Alliance) and Bilqis Hijjas (Secretary, MyDance Alliance).

Image Credit: James Quah

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A spectacular evening of operatic music awaits you at the 2023 KL City Opera Gala Spectacular, featuring iconic opera scenes from Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Puccini's La Bohème and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, to rare gems and excerpts from operas such as Bellini’s Norma, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and more. Conducted by the renowned conductor Lien Boon Hua, and featuring an extraordinary line-up of Malaysian vocal talents including soprano Cecilia Yap, the duo join us to share more about the celebration of the power and passion of operatic music in this concert presented by KL City Opera.

Tempus Fabrica: A Version of Time is visual artist Amar Shahid’s first solo show. Named after the artist’s most significant series of works, this exhibition aims to encapsulate the twelve years of art-making that has gone into Tempus Fabrica and a glimpse into newer works. In these works, he has taken his late father’s considerable archive of photographs taken in the early years of Malaysia’s independence and formation, and reproduced them as paintings, and they have been described as embodying "the materiality of old photographs" yet presenting "the boldness of contemporary paintings." We catch up with the artist to find out more about his works, and why they are his version of manufactured time.

Image Credit: Amar Shahid

A spectacular evening of operatic music awaits you at the 2023 KL City Opera Gala Spectacular, featuring iconic opera scenes from Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Puccini's La Bohème and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, to rare gems and excerpts from operas such as Bellini’s Norma, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and more. Conducted by the renowned conductor Lien Boon Hua, and featuring an extraordinary line-up of Malaysian vocal talents including soprano Cecilia Yap, the duo join us to share more about the celebration of the power and passion of operatic music in this concert presented by KL City Opera.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tempus Fabrica: A Version of Time is visual artist Amar Shahid’s first solo show. Named after the artist’s most significant series of works, this exhibition aims to encapsulate the twelve years of art-making that has gone into Tempus Fabrica and a glimpse into newer works. In these works, he has taken his late father’s considerable archive of photographs taken in the early years of Malaysia’s independence and formation, and reproduced them as paintings, and they have been described as embodying "the materiality of old photographs" yet presenting "the boldness of contemporary paintings." We catch up with the artist to find out more about his works, and why they are his version of manufactured time.

Image Credit: Amar Shahid

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They All Die At The End is described as a show that combines poetic text, dialogue, music and movement to explore painful realities and joy-filled spaces. The devised production presents a world where brown men can be who they want to be, and say what they want to say. We find out more about this "brown boy fantasia" from director Dhinesha Karthigesu and actor/ ensemble member Ian Skatu.

Mixtape For Maz is described as a memory play, and tells the story of Maz and Edi, teenage siblings who have returned to rural North Malaysia in the late nineties after years of growing up abroad. Not only do they face the stresses of secondary school life, they must also navigate the contradictions between their western influences and the conservative society engulfing them. As their identities are challenged and redefined, will they learn to reconcile the shattered fragments of themselves or will they succumb to the temptations of conformity? We discuss the play with actor Farah Rani, who is also a producer with Perempuan Productions, and director Tung Jit Yang.

Image Credit: CloudJoi