Gorgeous music from Ming Yen as Jeremiah reads from "The Night by the Beach..."
One of my young (though slightly older now) and more interesting Singapore Art Centre colleagues Phan Ming Yen launched his first book last Friday, 9 March, at the Living Room of the Old Parliament House. The talented piano-playing gentleman who was once a music reviewer with Straits Times joined the SAC programming team as Music Programmer in the mid-90s.
"The Night by the Beach.." by Phan Ming Yen
“The Night by the Beach..” is a collection of short stories written to film scores and “gorgeous pieces of music” that Ming Yen has heard. In contrast to his elegant and flawless piano playing, Ming Yen stuttered through the talkback session chaired by Jeremiah Choy, betraying what I think to be his innate shyness and discomfort with the limelight that he so richly deserves.
Ming Yen shares the inspiration for "Night by the Beach..."
His stories are poetic, most of them ending also cryptic leaving the reader to piece the pieces together. Reading them proved to be a meditative experience and I discovered how “mindful” Ming Yen is, observing so many little details about people and about situations which the rest of us are rushing around too much to spot. It made me wonder what his observations were about the on-goings in the SAC Co. offices in the mid-‘90s and whether he has truths to share about a cryptic situation.
Like a teacher who is proud when her students succeed in life, I’m also the proud former boss of staff who have overtaken me in their careers, doing what they love and are passionate about. Tisa Ho who worked with me in the mid-80s and hatched the first-ever Singapore Arts Diary, is now the CEO of the Hong Kong Arts Festival! So when Tisa lured me over with tickets to “see what she’s doing” with her sixth arts festival, it was difficult to resist her invitation and I flew over for a weekend.
On touch-down at 6pm on Friday, 24 Feb, I headed straightaway to the IFC by the airport express to meet my friend Jasmine. Together, we cruised over to Tsim Sha Tsui to catch “Sixteen”, an English music group that specializes in Baroque music. The group of sixteen singers and musicians sang a repertory of Handel songs which provided a fitting start to the Lenten season for me.
As one cruises on the harbour, one immediately feels one’s tensions melting away as if instantly blown away by the cool breeze. I thought this was a great way to unwind after a hard day’s work in high-paced Hong Kong, relaxation therapy at only S70 cents a go. The Hong Kong skyline was beautiful as ever with the hills serving as a canvass. A delightful surprise find on the walk back to our hotel was the canopy of hats at Times Square and a clothes line suspending clothes constructed from flowers. Window displays at their best! The vibrancy of Hong Kong is still unmatched in Singapore.
On Saturday, we caught the HK Contemporary Ballet’s matinee performance, boasting interesting choreographies executed with precision by very skilful dancers. In the evening, we saw the eagerly-anticipated Mozart opera “Cosi Fan Tutti”. The opera was exceedingly long – 88 minutes in the first half and 90 minutes in the second but the two gentlemen lovers who re-appeared as Arab oil barons to test the fidelity of their beloved were too hilarious to walk out on.
In addition to the shows, I enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Grand Hyatt on Saturday c/o Tisa and a champagne breakfast at the Peninsula on Sunday, c/o Margaret and her very elegant mum. It was Margaret who whisked me to the Wong Tai Sin Temple last year, to get our fortunes read. There was no time for temples on this trip but I did manage to find the Turkish delights shop Ali Baba to satisfy my year-long craving for their pistachio nut brittles coated with rose petals. We accompanied a mutual friend jewelry-shopping and I enjoyed the jewelry inspired by Chinese luck symbols – fishes, lingzhi, bats – but vicariously only as with retirement around the corner, I am conscious about cutting back on unnecessary expenses.
I also attended Sunday mass at St Joseph’s Church (known to taxi drivers as the “blue church above the Bank of China building) with my friend and marveled at how well integrated the Filipinos were in the community. There was an all-Filipino choir and all the church wardens were also Filipinos. In fact, the church seemed to be manned by the Filipinos. I thought that countries and companies could learn the true meaning of “good manpower deployment” from this experience that is, we allow each and everyone to use their strengths and God-given talents for community good.
It was all in all a wonderful weekend. Filled with gatherings of old and dear friends, new ones, good art and good music, this trip helped me to finally overcome my dislike of Hong Kong as a holiday destination.
TNS M1 Festival: "Tongues" by Sean Tobin & Jason Wee (18 Feb)
We are taught not to talk about politics or religion in social situations. I don’t recall a similar restriction on sexuality but judging from the response to “Tongues” last Saturday, we should perhaps, add sexuality to the trio of taboo topics.
Several members of the audience walked out during the no-intermission 90- minutes play. Both the structure and the content of “Tongues” proved challenging even for an experienced theatre audience. Anyone expecting to be lulled into the darkness and a narrative may have felt irritated or disoriented when the house lights rudely came on, twice, to have director Sean Tobin step in as the absent “God”, to answer the prayers of the play’s sex-centric characters in search of divine vindication.
I understood from Sean during a lunch conversation months ago that “Tongues” would explore the attitudes of the different religions towards sex. I grew up with a Catholic perspective (sex is only for procreation!) and was anticipating to hear a diversity of attitudes inspired by classics like the “Kama sutra” and especially after reading the news about the “Obedient Wives’ Club”. Out of the cast of four tumbled a montage of experiences underscoring the paradox of why God endows humans with bodies that feel pleasure only to sanction them for indulgence in such pleasures.
I survived the play by approaching it like a Cubist painting. No clear narrative but an eclectic juxtaposition of viewpoints – front, back, top, bottom, sides – all valid. I identified with confession boxes, having done my share of confessions as a Convent girl. I also recognized people swaying, praying in tongues as they attain spiritual ecstasy. I came away amused that words and turns of phrases that may connote depravity on the one hand can also connote piety on the other – “coming”, “tongues”, etc. Clever word play by both writers – Sean and Jason Wee.
Chingay 2012 (Fri, 3 Feb 2012, F1 Pit Building)
Chingay 2012 was arguably our best to date. Finally, after years of trying, we see floats and props that are “lighter” and more flexible and I especially loved the “flying” dragon and phoenix that kicked off the Parade. Many segments of the Parade seemed to mimic the cinematic scenes from Zhang YiMou films. They were dramatic impressive but I found them “dark” as I saw fallen soldiers, pilgrims in exile and most disturbing of all, slaves tugging at large vessels, representing Singaporeans extolled to a life of slavery in hard work. It was a respite and relief when the Japanese and Malay floats / contingents popped up as they were happy and joyful.
“Song Moving Masterpiece” (Sat, 4 Feb 2012, Singapore Expo Hall 3)
I joined the Press Club’s tour of the “A Moving Masterpiece: The Song Dynasty as Living Art”, courtesy of Irene Hoe. This was a 110 metres long, 6 metres high digital version of the epic Song painting “Qing Ming Shang He Tu” by Zhang Ze-duan which depicts life in the capital of the Northern Song dynastyKaifengin the 12th century. Night and day scenes alternate at four minutes intervals and the 1068 characters are animated – boy chasing pig, peddlers, boatmen stilling swaying vessels, camels carrying merchants and items of trade, donkeys carrying maiden, etc, etc. If not for the pieces of paper tossed into the “river” to test whether it was real, I would have been fooled into thinking that the virtual river was a physical set built by the exhibition organizer to enhance the experience. This was an amazing experience not to be missed. People queued hours to catch five minutes of the film at theShanghaiexpo but here inSingapore, for just under $20, one could enjoy it for as long as one wanted, with audio-phone guide. I could not resist buying a lamp depicting the night scene of the inn segment of the painting. The evening was topped by my 2012 annual “no agenda” meal with Clement Chow at “Oh Deli” on East Coast Road, with Irene and Angela Loke.
Happy Together (Sun, 5 Feb, Substation)
I partook of “Happy Together”, a contemporary dance event performed by former Arts Fission dancers and friends Elysa Wendi and Scarlet Yu. “Partook” because the event started with a simple meal of porridge served up to performers as well as audience. Dancers were accompanied by the Traditional Southern Fujian Music Society. This was a fitting end to the Lunar New Year celebrations on Mon, 6 Feb.
Art Works (10 Feb 2012, Old Parliament House)
I attended an art exhibition at Old Parliament House featuring some of the over 300 art pieces donated by a collector to the Straits Times Budding Artists Fund. The Fund is sharing proceeds with the Community Chest, Singapore Lyric Opera and Ramakrishna Home. I was half-expecting substandard pieces of unwanted art pieces that someone had outgrown but on arrival, was stunned by the very credible and eclectic, international collection of works of by French, Ghanaian, Indonesian, Indian and Yemen artists. I am tempted by a couple of pieces but with no more wall or floor space to spare, I resist.
When skiing in Austria, it is not possible to resist the cultural offerings. Before skiing at Schladming and the adjacent slopes in the winter of January 2012, I squeezed a few days in Salzburg and Vienna– the skiing being on slopes between these two charming cities.
Salzburg is small enough to walk to much of the attractions in the city. On January 5th, after a pleasant dinner at the hotel restaurant next door, I got to the Landestheatre for a performance of La Cenerentola (Rossini). The singers were competent and the antics of this production provided an entertaining evening if you like this silly opera. The auditorium is cosy traditional old European opera house. Walked back to my accommodation in the snow feeling quite rewarded.
I did manage to attend a Latin mass at the Franciscan Church on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany. It was a Schubert Mass and what a nostalgic e experience for lovers of religious music. In Roman Catholic Austria, the Latin mass is sung to a high standard. Another mass was sung at the larger Dom mid-morning but I wanted to get to Mozart’s house to see his rooms. The exhibits there about his life and works were quite informative.
In the afternoon, I headed for the New Year’s concert at their new Grosses Festspielhaus. This great hall is the main performance venue for opera with international stars. The programme starts in February and I was thus too early in the season. A New Year Concert on January 6thwas offered. I had missed the January 1st New Year Concert at the Landestheatre having arrived a week too late. Anyway, it was very interesting to see the Salzburg community turn up in formal attire – the men in their typical Austrian jackets. The performance was by the Blaserphilharmonie MozarteumSalzburg. The program was mostly Austrian and included a number of Strauss pieces – Johann Strauss of course. The encore with the Radetsky March prompted spontaneous participation by an audience who modulated their rhythmic applause in response to the baton. This was an occasion to enjoy Austrian music inAustria with the locals. The auditorium was part of old stable buildings attached to the rock face of the mountain but the interior was modern with excellent acoustics.
After 12 days skiing in Schladming (host to the world championship skiing competition in 2013) on the expansive slopes of Hauser Kaibling, Planai, Hochwurzen and Reiteralm, we headed for Vienna. I love train rides in the winter. One is warm and comfortable in the train as the snow covered fields and quaint villages glide past. One could see clumps of mistletoe in the bare trees. I looked out for ice crystals glistening like diamonds in the sunlit landscape.
It is not possible to experience everything Vienna has to offer in a few days. I had pre-booked on-line for Verdi’s Otello at the superb Vienna State Opera. The Neo-Renaissance building, foyer and magnificent lounge for drinks during the intermission were just grand Viennese decor. The Staaatoper gave me a wonderful seat nine rows from the front and practically in the centre of the main parterre. One could read subtitles if one wished in a selection of languages from the individual electronic display on the back of the seat in front.
The most memorable experience was the amazing orchestra which dominated the opera from the first bars of the opening storm scene. The conductor is placed relatively high and visible. Every note was clearly heard and with this orchestra the music was more dominant than what was happening on stage. This is partly because the production is contemporary, mostly in blue light and semi darkness. The intention was to depict the horror of the plot but I have never found productions very revealing where the mood is not varied for the entire length of the opera. Even the singing by village children happened in sinister lighting – not quite what they were singing and none of the dramatic relief that Shakespeare and Verdi used to heighten the drama. At times the singers did seem to sing at the audience rather than interact as one expects. But the singers were fabulous. Peter Seiffert was an Otello with a large presence and sang this difficult role comfortably. It was interesting to catch his spot-on response to the conductor’s stretched hand from the pit. Krassimira Stoyanova wasn’t a fragile Desdemona – a little more gutsy than usual with an attempt to strike Otello after being called a whore! The Willow Song and her singing in the last act were movingly tragic. The audience appreciated the portrayal of the villainous Iago by Franco Vassallo who delivered a hair raising Credo in deo crudel. One leaves the opera with a warm satisfaction that deserved to be complemented by a snack, Austrian confectionary and peppermint tea with honey (Viennese coffee if you preferred and able to sleep thereafter – there being many cafes in the vicinity. I did not try the Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel having had one too many.)
By the way, our group started earlier that day with Sunday mass at the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle – the small Hofburgkapelle at the Hofburg palace. As it was winter, we managed to get free seats at this service accompanied by the Vienna Boys Choir. They sang a Joseph Haydn mass. The mass was also supported by a shorter orchestral piece from Mozart. Listening to angelic voices in this royal chapel on a cold winter’s morning was a magical and meditative experience.
One cannot do justice to the many museums in Vienna. On this visit, the Rene Margritte exhibition at the Albertina was quite a highlight – The Betrayal of Images – This is not a pipe,Golconda, The Dominance of Light. Art that changes one’s mindset. This exhibition was crowded with groups of children taken around by guides whom they seem to respond to.
In Vienna, you don’t want to miss the Gustav Klimt collections. It is not just the art of course as he reflects Vienna at the turn of the 20th century.
At the KunsthistorischesMuseum– a building to enter and marvel at – the collections that overwhelmed me were the Durer paintings, the enormity of the Rubens and the Bruegel collection. I managed a part tour of the famous Schloss Schonbrunn palace and gardens and a performance by their resident orchestra of some opera and Viennese music. This was held at their Orangerie where Mozart performed in a competition against Salieri.
Also interesting was the insight into Sigmund Freud at his former residence. A recording of him speaking haltingly in English after his flight to Londonto escape the Nazis was rather moving.
The next visit will have to beVienna in the summer. So much more were missed.
