2015 | Volume I, No 1 | Not For Sale | www.Facebook.com/EuroasiaAssociationMalaysia

A New BeginningA New BeginningEuroasia plans aheadEuroasia plans ahead

Ciao, Italia!Ciao, Italia!Arioso Sinfonia visitsArioso Sinfonia visitsCremona and moreCremona and more

Nail on the Coughin’Nail on the Coughin’

with disruptions?with disruptions?How should you dealHow should you deal

Patron’s ForewordI WOULD like to congratulate the en-tire team at the Euroasia Association of Performing Arts (Euroasia) on the formal registration of the Association and the publication of this newsletter. Once any organisation commits to publishing a regular newsletter, they also commit to activity and achieve-ment – for there is nothing more embarrassing than to publish empty newsletters. As you will see from this inaugural issue, we are off to an excellent start!

I commend the team for taking this significant step, and I look forward to

the happy chronicling of the achieve-ments of the musical children of Neg-eri Sembilan and beyond. May this serve not only as a definitive record for all those involved with Euroasia, but also provide inspiration to other budding young musicians who wish to be involved in the growth of classi-cal music in Malaysia.

Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin

ibni Tuanku MuhrizPatron, Euroasia

Tunku Zain (right) receiving an impromptu masterclass from faculty member

Frederic Lagarde during the 2nd Euroasia Youth Music Festival (June 5, 2014).

Photo: Essence Photography

~~~~~~~~~The word “Parlando” refers to an Italian music direction for

a singer to sing in a conversational style - thus, this newsletter will be

Euroasia’s way of talking with our audience, while remaining true to

our roots in performing arts.~~~~~~~~~

Volume I, No 1 (2015)/Published Quarterly/Not For Sale

~~~~~~~~~Editor/Communications Associate

Ahmad Azraieuroasia@email.com

~~~~~~~~~Cover

Isabel Chan plays for EYMC2013Photo: Essence Photography

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Euroasia Association of Performing Arts

Official Hotel Partner

Official Media Partner

Multimedia Partner

Euroasia gets ready for a New ActBEGINNINGS are always exciting for performers - and for the newly-forged Euroasia Association of Per-forming Arts, 2015 is set to be the start of a debut to be remembered. Having been active in the background over the past few years, the Associa-tion feels that the time is right for it to come forward and do even more of what it does best: nurturing practi-tioners of performing arts, as well as developing appreciation for these arts in the surrounding society.

It certainly has been a busy few years. Its core members have been engaged in various charity performances and comemorative shows, with the various musicians affiliated to Euroasia having won various awards and achievements that validates their efforts.

The main highlight of the past has to be the estab-lishment of the annual Euroasia Youth Music Festival (EYMF) in 2013. For two years in a row, the Festival featured workshops, masterclasses and the Euroasia Youth Music Com-petition (EYMC), facilitated by a Teaching Faculty made up of professional musicians and an international panel of jury members.

Concerts were performed with Italian flautist Dante Milozzi and pian-ist Roberto Galletto, and French violinists Saskia Letheic, Amaury Coeytaux and Maud Lovett, cellists Valerie Aimard and Florent Audib-ert, and pianist Frederic Lagarde, as well as local musicians the Sutera Trio, conductor Mustafa Fuzer Nawi, pianist Loo Bang Hean, and even Euroasia’s Patron Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz. The year 2014 also proved to be an amazing one for Euroasia’s affiliate string ensemble Arioso Sinfonia (see page 6).

For this debut year, Euroasia will be ably supported by official hotel partner

OVERTURE

The Royale Bintang Resort and Spa Seremban, official media partner Sin Chew Daily and multimedia partner LeongTow Design. The Royale Bintang

Seremban, which has been a long-standing Euroasia supporter, is set to host the vast majority of the events that the Association has planned.

The biggest event of 2015 will, of course, be Euroasia’s official launch

on Feb 1, 2015. The celebrations will take up the whole day, and will see a

special exhibition of French Bows, featuring handcrafted master-

pieces by Archetier-Bowmakers Jean-Pascal Nehr and Pierre Nehr, who will be present to talk about their creations. There

will also be two concerts on the day itself. In the afternoon, the

“Royale Overture” Concert will feature the musicians of Negeri Sembilan, whose efforts will joyfully send the positive signal that the Association has launched and is here to stay.

The evening of the launch will see the special invitation “European Treasures” Gala Concert, which will be dedicated to DYMM Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir on the occasion of the 67th Birthday of His Royal Highness. The special guest performers for the night will be legen-dary local composer/conductor Dato’ Johari Salleh, violist/conductor Andrew Filmer, piano virtuosos Ng Chong Lim and Loo Bang Hean, and sopranos Cecilia Yap and Christine Seng.

There will be a continuation of The Royale Sunday Matinee Concerts, a series of free concerts performed at the Royale Bintang Seremban on se-lected Sundays of the month. A well-received series which was started on January 2014, the concerts are organised to highlight talents from Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, and to present opportunities for all kinds of music performers - of all ages - to develop performing arts in Serem-ban, at no cost to themselves.

The EYMF will also be returning, with the regular series of workshops, masterclasses and concerts facilitat-ed by an All-French Teaching Faculty and international panel of jury mem-bers. EYMF3 will also see the exciting debut of the Euroasia Violin Com-petition, for which more details will be made available soon, as important discussions and negotiations are on-going at the time of publication. The year will end with the annual Euroa-sia Christmas Concert at the Royale Bintang Seremban on Dec 24, 2015.

However, the most important project we are starting is the Gift of Music project, where it will visit various children homes within Negeri Sembi-lan to identify potential music talents.

The children selected for this programme will be sponsored by the Association for mu-

sic lessons and train-ing. We certainly look forward to reporting more on this, and

we look forward to having you all join us in making

the year of Euroasia’s debut a successful hit.

The Negeri Sembilan Royal Family (centre back) poses with the orchestra at the end of the 2nd Euroasia Youth Music Festival on June 5, 2014). Photo: Essence Photography

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Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France soloist and EYMF2014 faculty member

Amaury Coeytaux shares a light musical moment with the children of the orchestra.

(June 5, 2014). Photo: Essence Photography

Chong Jia Yuan (right) plays during EYMC2013. Photo: Essence Photography

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The audience applauds during the closing concert of the EYMF2013. Photo: Essence Photography

Low Zi Yang plays in the Junior Category (EYMC2013). Photo: Essence Photography

SHOWTIME

EYMC2013 Junior Category 2nd Prize Winner Addison Lee Jin Hang, aged 8,wows the crowd. Photo: Essence Photography

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(Above, from left) Y.A.M. Tunku Abidin, H.E. French Ambassador Martine Dorance, Association President Angel Lee, and H.E. European Union Ambassador Luc Vandebon pose during the intermission at EYMF2013. Photo: Essence Photography

(Below, from left) EYMF Producer Maria Jazsmine, H.E. Philippine Ambassador Jose Eduardo Malaya III, and Philippine Cultural Attache Helen Grace Bobis Cuisia at the A French Affair concert. Photo: Essence Photography

Multi-talented starlet Mariah Izabelle Merican (left) and Maria Jaszmine (right) performs The Prayer with Anita, a girl from Yayasan Chow Kit. Photo: Essence Photography

Soprano Maria Jazsmine performs Habanera from Carmen, one of Bizet’s

most well-known and popular works.Photo: Essence Photography

(Below) One of the coveted trophies at EYMC2014. Photo: Essence Photography

(Above) Jenny Loo playing for the Youth Category (EYMC2013).

Photo: Essence Photography

Photos: Arioso Sinfonia. Background Photo: Cremona by I, Sailko/Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Arioso’s Italian Job

WHAT a year 2014 has been for Arioso Sinfonia! Along with being specially chosen to perform at the Residence of the French Embassy in honour of the French National Day Celebration, the group was invited for the second time in a row to be the Ensemble-In-Residence for the Euro- asia Youth Music Festival (EYMF).

August was a great feather in our cap, as Arioso became one of four finalists selected across Asia for the prestigious HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana In-ternational Ensemble Competition in Bangkok, Thailand - emerging as the Second Prize Winner! September saw Arioso performing for the “Baroque Treasures” concert in conjunction with the JB Arts Festival, featur- ing Antonio Vivaldi’s

Four Seasons and another

collaboration with super local pianist

Loo Bang Hean.

ON TOUR

Those were great starters, all right - but the main course was to be an Italian delight: Arioso was specially invited by Maestro Dante Milozzi for a special three-city concert tour of Italy! Mamma mia! The tour would see us travel to Cremona (for a concert on Nov 22), Turin (Nov 24) and Mondovi (Nov 26). The mem-bers were super excited - especially since the Negeri Sembilan Tourism Board generously sponsored our lug-gage for us. Hooray!

First up was Cremona - and even though it’s most famous son was the incredible Antonio Stradivari, Ari-oso paid a visit to another amazing native: the legendary luthier Maestro Francesco Bissolotti. In case you didn’t know, Maestro Bissolotti is

famous with making instruments modelled on Stradivari’s pieces and work habits as a guide,

but with his own designs and ingenuity shaping the final pieces.

Arioso not only got to see these incredible instruments - including

the stunningly gorgeous bi-coloured “Picasso” viola, which sounded divine

- but the group got the immense honour of play-ing on these instruments

for our concerts!

Under Maestro Milozzi’s baton, the group performed the “L’Estro Ar-monico” Concerto for Two Violins in a (RV522, Op. 3 No 8) by Vivaldi (of course); the Flute Concerto in G major (Op. 29) by Carl Philipp Stamitz (Maestro Milozzi was the soloist); an arrangement of Domenico Zipoli’s Adagio for Oboe, Cello, Organ and Or-chestra; Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite; Chong Yew-Boon and Ahmad Muriz Che Rose’s respective arrangements of traditional Malay folk songs Ikan Kekek and Rasa Sayang; and Leonard Yeap’s arrangement of the patriotic song Tanah Pusaka. The concerts were a hit, and we got ovations for the Malaysian pieces (You can see these performances on our YouTube page).

It wasn’t all work and no play, though. The ensemble also got to take a short tour of Torino - which had the best gelato ever! - as well as Milan, where we got to visit the legendary Teatro alla Scala opera house! The only downside was that absolutely every-one fell sick, due to the cold - but that didn’t dampen our spirits!

The group happily headed home soon after - and dessert proved to be just as delicious! It seemed that Arioso won the 125th Year Ensemble Competition Peninsula Malaysia of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) for the Advanced Category (String Ensemble). Icing on the cake indeed! Not bad for a small string ensemble established in 2011, eh? Arrivederci, Italia, and grazie! Arioso Sinfonia really looks forward to visit-ing you again! Next up, France!

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Arioso Sinfonia in concert with the Coro Voci Bianche in Mondovi.

Danish Mubin tries out the bi-coloured Viola ‘Picasso’ in Cremona. P

Concentrated DisruptionsTHERE’S nothing quite like the experi-ence of a live show or concert: the thrill and joy of seeing music, words and movements come to life right before your very eyes. There are many rewards in acknowledgement of a performance - and few can compare to the feeling one gets when the audi-ence showers genuine enthusiasm and applause when a show is well done.

There is a key caveat, though, which seems to hold true: all performance art requires at least some degree of concentration. Even for the best of us, this is an undeniable fact. It often takes years to master a particular skill and gain enough experience to convey the points and nuances of a piece, whether it is a sonata, a bharatanatyam or a soliloquy in a one-man play.

How, then, do we deal with disrup-tions from beyond the stage set-ting; disruptions that are from the audience themselves, particularly those for which it was within their power to control? Mahler is magical, especially in the quieter moments of his stunning symphonies - but even the most dedicated of Mahlerites will be hard pressed to enjoy it if there is particularly caustic coughing that bodes ill for the sufferer’s mortality?

“I think these typical disruptions are not just a distraction for the per-former, but for the audience trying to pay attention as well,” said violinist

VARIAZIONI

Graeme Norris. “Live music requires concentration to be appreciated properly - and even if the performers can filter it all out (which is very dif-ficult), most of the audience won’t be able to, and that can detract from the experience as a whole.”

“I’ll tell you what disrupts my per-formances: enthusiastic audience members clapping out of time!” said singer/songwriter/performer Mia Palencia. “That can really throw the whole song out the window.”

In modern times, the worst culprit would be the ringing of the hand-phone - especially when the newer models allow someone to have a ringtone reproducing a faithful recording of Nicki Minaj defiling yet another pop classic. And although sometimes performers can shrug it off in a playful manner - like piano virtuoso Marc-Andre Hamelin’s playful Valse Irritation d’après Nokia (Ringtone Waltz) - others go to the other extreme, like when Michael Tilson Thomas actually threw cough sweets at the audience.

On fairly recent such incident in-volved violinist Chung Kyung-Wha, who during her comeback concert in December 2014 allegedly berated the parents of a small coughing child. There were people who criticised her, and there were also many who leapt

to her defence - but one thing is for sure, the issue looks set to be

a continuous one.

Euroasia had put out the question online on what its fans and followers thought about the issue - and though there were various answers of all sorts, the general consensus was that it is part and parcel of taking part in a live performance. “Unless the per-formance involves utmost precision and concentration, it shouldn’t be such a big issue,” said journalist Yeoh Oon Chuan, who plays the piano. “I once played the piano during my com-pany annual dinner. Everyone was talking while I played. But as long as nobody cared, I didn’t care too.”

Pianist Tay Cher Siang concurs. “Jazz musicians put up with a lot of distractions during their gigs - and no matter what happens, the show must go on. What does not need to happen is for the performer to be rude about it when addressing the issue.”

Euroasia fully concurs with the latter. We have to accept that the world has moved on, and that the so-called “golden age” of the past - where a music hall was akin to a temple that demands silence from its devotees - was a construction of its time that is not really that relevant anymore. But humour will never go out of fashion - and neither do manners.

VARIAZIONI discusses issues that affect practitioners of performing arts. The purpose is to provide a plat-

form for discussion and tips. You can read the full discussion

and join in with your own comments on our

Facebook fanpage.

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Illustrations: Ahmad Azrai

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EVEN though it has gained modern amenities that are noteworthy, the town of Seremban still retains all of its rustic charms and natural beauty. And in this admirable balance be-tween progress and serenity is The Royale Bintang Resort & Spa Seremban.

Located a short five minutes away from downtown and within sight of the beautiful Seremban Lake Gardens, the hotel offers 345 guest rooms and suites, as well as 18 multi-functional meeting rooms (including three ballrooms). Guests have the option of dining at Asiatique coffee-house or at the Han Pi Yuen Chinese restaurant, which is famous for its dim sum. A regular venue for events and functions, the hotel has seen many collaborations with the Asso-ciation in the past few years.

rable project that we are pleased to continue supporting, and we look for-ward to doing more with the Associa-tion. We would like to wish Euroasia congratulations on its launch, and all the best for its future endeavours.”

Euroasia is indeed proud to have The Royal Bintang Resort & Spa Serem-ban as its official hotel partner.

“We at The Royale have been very happy working with Euroasia throughout all this time,” said hotel general manager Mashor Din.

“The monthly Royale Sunday Mati-nee - held on every last Sunday of the month - was started in 2014, and has garnered great response from the local community. It is an admi- P

Getting to know the Royale

Hotel GM Mashor Din (back row, fifth left) poses with Arioso Sinfonia after the annual Royale Christmas Eve Soirée on Dec 24, 2014. Photo: Euroasia

GRANDIOSO

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