“Earth Beat” – KVSS’s Annual Concert - 1st October 2017

Kinta Valley Symphonic Society (KVSS) annual concert on 1^st October 2017 at Dewan Leong Wan Chin (Perak Girls School) is very different from they had before.

It is a celebration and a dedication to the Earth that we are living in and the nature that is surrounding us.

More often than not we always take the beauty of Nature for granted, the lovely hills surrounding Kinta Valley, the lush greenery and trees that we see everywhere, the air that we breathe.

But we spoil it all by destroying the hills, polluting the sea, chopping down trees indiscriminately.  

If we love our living planet so much and we wish that our future generations live in a clean and healthy world we need to do something now to protect Mother Earth from deteriorating.

KVSS wishes to do its bit in sharing the beauty of the Earth through music and creating awareness to the public that protecting our Earth from further contamination is of utmost importance.   

In this concert the Kinta Valley Wind Orchestra (KVWO) will be performing under the baton of guest conductor Mr Eric Lee, Artistic Director of Philharmonic Winds of Malaysia (PWM), Kuala Lumpur. Also conducting is KVSS’ very own student conductor, Mr Aaron Chin.

 

KVSS rehearsing hard for 1st October

The programme for this concert, carefully selected by Eric is inspired by Nature as can be seen by the titles such as To Be Vivid Stars, Versuvius, Mayday Medley and others.

Earth Beat highlights that there is an intimate connection between the beauty of music and that of Nature. The uniqueness of this concert lies in the sense that the audience have to visualize and interpret the colours of Nature.

Preparation was underway since June. Considered a huge orchestra with 61 performers and 2 conductors, KVWO is joining forces with PWM. There will be 48 players from KVWO, 12 professionals from PWM and one from KLPac Orchestra.

The objectives of organizing this concert are:

1) to raise funds to support KVSS programmes for 2017-2018
2) to promote an appreciation of symphonic band music in Kinta Valley and beyond
3) to support Visit Perak Year 2017
4) to contribute towards making Ipoh a city known for its performing arts

Annual fund-raising concerts are usually held to meet the expenses of running the society and to push through our objectives. As such we would like to appeal to generous sponsors to support the society’s mission to bring music and the arts to the residents of Ipoh.

For invitations and enquiries, interested parties may call 010-307 0360 or 012-506 2313.

Ipoh Music Festival 2017

Veronica Leong of Joyous Music Centre with Eugene Pook, Executive Director of Ipoh Music Festival

The recently concluded Ipoh Music Festival organized by talented Executive director Eugene Pook and supported by Joyous Music Centre was an astounding success. 

The two days of the Festival consisted of the competition offering categories of Piano solo, solo instrument, Chamber Ensemble and choir with attractive cash prizes. The first prize paid Rm8000.00, Rm 6,000.00 and the 3^rd prize Rm3000.00. 

24 Season Drums gave a thunderous impact at the Opening of the  Gala Concert

The adjudicators for the competition were all renowned and accomplished musicians  who doubled up to perform on the first night’s Opening Gala Concert.

Artiste and adjudicator. Dennis Lee and wife Chee Hung Toh both accomplished pianists.

Artiste / adjudicator. (l-r) Toko Inomoto (Violin, Japan), Rena Cheung (Piano, Hong Kong) and Dr Karen Lonsdale (flute, Australia) 

Artiste / adjudicator. (l-r) Brian Larson (Violin,Canada), Loo Bang Hean (piano, Malaysia), Leslie Tan (cello, Singapore) Dr Andrew Filmer (viola, Malaysia)

On the second day saw at the Closing Gala Concert where the first prize winners from the various category’s performing allowing them a platform to show their talents.

Soh Wei Qi, First prize winner Piano Category

It was an international event as the competitors consisted  of Singaporeans and Thai and the adjudicators and performers consisted of Japanese, Canadian and Chinese to name a few.

Eugene Pook the Festivals Executive Director said Joyous Music Centre approached him at the beginning of the year to organize a competition with attractive cash prizes.

“I agreed but since the judges who were coming were professionals I suggested to turn it into a festival. Besides it was also Visit Perak Year. And that was how it was the first Ipoh Music Festival came about”

Finalists for the Solo (Open) Category

We had over 200 applicant’s for the preliminary round. They each sent their video and a panel of fourteen judges filtered down to 100 competitors and selected the finalists to come to Ipoh.

In the Chamber Ensemble category we set a minimum of three and a maximum of nine players.

Overall the event being a higher level of competition attracted a competitive crowd consisting of graduates and even professionals partly due to the cash prizes.

Above - Finalist in the Chamber Music Category

Pook who is Ipoh born when asked why did he want to have it in Ipoh said unlike in KL Ipoh does not have the quality musicians

“I’ve brought this festival home so our student don’t have to travel far to be inspired and motivate them”

First prize winner, UiTM Chamber Choir, Choir Category

PSPA Singers. Choir category

deVokalis@UPSI Choir

Veronica Leong the Chairman of the Festival and Principal of Joyous Music Centre said the event was to cultivate young talent and more musicians.

“The Festival aims to provide a platform for budding young talents to be inspired and broaden their musical horizon.

“Playing to an audience in a concert and to an audience is totally different to showoff ones skill and technique. We want to allow student a platform to give their all out to perform”  

Joyous very generously put up the cash prizes which amounted to Rm70,000.00 excluding other expenses.

Joyous Music Centre started in 2009 and to date has 4 branches. Besides music education it also sells music products and organizing concerts.

Dr Andrew Filmer on Day 2 at a workshop, Purposeful Practice; Strategies and Approaches

First prize winner in the Piano category Soh Wei Qi from Singapore described the competition as unique.

“I learnt a lot. It was very competitive and international, mixing with other musicians and exploring music. It was a unique experience”

For Stephen Tseu Tze Jie (cello), Keng Xin Tian (violin) and Wong Hui Yun (piano) winners of the Chamber Music category from Kuala Lumpur this was their first time ever they had played together in a competition.

First prize winner Chamber Music Category, Keng Xin Tian (violin) Stephen Tseu (Cello), Wong Hui Yun (Piano)

“For chamber musicians this is a great platform as it gives us an opportunity to show our skill. Other than that the prize money is very motivating” said Stephen Tseu who declared that the trio had just started playing together as a group at the beginning of this year.

First prize winner Jirajet Thawornsiri (Tenor Trombone)

Jirajet Tharwornsiri the first prize winner in the solo category playing Tenor Trombone said in Thailand the competition was confined to similar instrument.

“Here the solo is open to all instruments and is much more challenging. The prize money was good and it was of international standard. I will come back again.”

It looks like the Festival is going to be a permanent feature for Ipoh. Will it. Time will tell.

JAG.

Laid Back Lizard

It’s been raining most mornings this month of September with the temperature being cold and damp till just before noon.

Not surprising then that this small water monitor lizard came to warm itself on this  Japanese incense burner about noon.

As the sun came out at noon it moved itself onto the stoneware firstly warming its tail then slowly its tummy and till it spread its whole body all over the stoneware till it was sufficiently warm before slipping off into the habitat again.

what blissful warmth ........

Ahh ….. the simple pleasure one gets from a sun warmed Japanese incense burner.

JAG

Bright Future For Tourism In Perak.

The road map for the future of tourism in Perak is bright said Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohd Radzi at the opening of the seminar entitled “Industrial Heritage Business Development And Marketing Approaches”.

“Heritage is the key product of our tourism industry. The idea is to alleviate the tourism industry in our state while at the same time providing community benefits to learn and obtain long term sustainability” said Nolee.

Datuk Nolee with Presenter Fergus Tyler Maclaren and Moderator Kenneth Wong.

The seminar, organized by Tourism Perak with PIC Consultancy was held in conjunction with the Perak Festival of Ideas and Pangkor International Development Dialog and held at the Kinta Riverfront Hotel. It was attended by industry players, tour operators and heritage enthusiasts.

Among the factors announced by Nolee was

1.The approval of Kinta Valley Geopark by the National Geopark Committee on the 20th July 2017 to be recognized as a National Geopark.

“The branding of our tourism activities is very important and with the Kinta Valley Geopark status will bring in a lot more variety in terms of packages, activities and support services that we can offer to tourists.

Unlike the recognition that comes with the USESCO World Heritage status this is less restrictive and very relaxed as the Geopark activities.  There are no restrictions to what we can do except when it comes to conserving the area as part of the Geo-park itself so the potential is going to be huge.

2. We were chosen as one of the pilot projects as part of the national Eco Tourism Plan for the Taiping- Kuala Sepetang – Larut Matang - Selama –  Batu Kurau cluster for development starting next year where we will be improving high impact projects to become catalysts to further growth activities geared toward tourism.

3. We are also geared towards repositioning our Eco-tourism area namely Taman Alam Kinta or Kinta Nature Park

It is now gazetted under the Perak State Park and we are in the midst of promoting and opening it as a state park other than a normal park.

4. We are also repositioning Lembah Tempurung and Gopeng as a eco-tourism haven so that for any eco-tourism activities if will be included in the same area

Healthy workshop by the participants.

5. UNESCO World Hertiage site  Lenggong Valley.

We received the recognition before we were ready to receive more visitors to the site. This is an important because it is situated in rural area and is a main area which is community based tourism. With this status we will be able to create more job opportunities.

The challenge here is for the local community to grab the opportunity but at the same time not exploit the area but ensure a long term sustainable program for a heritage site.

6. Heritage Buildings are at the core recognition given by Lonely Planet to Ipoh and the region. Sustainable Development of novelty products such as Kellie’s Castle and TT5 the Last Tin Dredge and have value beyond words and so too the sustainability of Old  town and Taiping.

JAG

Richard’s 80th Birthday.

Children Raymond (left) Angeline ( in pink) and Robert (in black shirt) with dad Richard and mum Alice and their children.

What do you say about a 80 year old man who moves around in a wheelchair, plays Scrabble on the computer AND  a computer game, Zuma which is a tile-matching puzzle video game AND loves to do crossword puzzles AND goes up to Genting Highland every 6 to 8 weeks for a 2 night stay.

You bake him a cake and show to everyone how he spends his time.

“I thought of something special and unique for my dad” and that’s what his daughter Angeline did for her father Richard Hor for his 80^th birthday.

She made him a simple white cake (maybe not so simple) which had a Scrabble board, her dads icon of the computer game Zuma (that’s how he keeps his mind active), his days as a stringer with the Straits Times and later the Herald, his favorite fan club his Family and books depicting Fiction (I love to read) and Accounting ( he was a commercial studies teacher).

Richard was born in Tronoh, Perak, worked 6 years in Pekan Pahang and met his wife Alice in Kuantan, had 3 children Robert, Angeline and Raymond, retired and at 58 converted and became a Catholic.

It was a most memorable occasion for Richard when Parish Priest Rev Fr Joe Stephen and Fr Robin were present together his family, siblings and friends.

Guests were given lottery tickets for the next upcoming draw and it turned out to be a novelty for many of the guests.

For many it was opportunity to share joyous and a memorable afternoon.

JAG

Super Sonic Sessions - TOF 2017 - Day 5

Tonight i skipped the other programs to get some culture..this group named Radiowave was playing 'Brit Pop' and they were good. .

Held at the open expanse of ground at Dataran KTM it was the perfect venue.  

The audience was having a relaxing time listening to the music. It had rained earlier but had since stopped.

Another notable mention was a Beatbox performer called Skillzow who really was good. 

Good show. Hoping for good weather on the last day. 

Cheers!

Day 4 TOF 2017 Hilights - Spooky Bus

Day 4 highlight of The Otherfest was the Spooky Bus....the bus stand was at Plan B.

The bus was late.... so the passengers had to wait..then you had to be registered to get on board...

I hope everyone notices these boards before you board the bus.

The bus driver (with hat) and his bad tempered bus conductor had to bring their pet along for ride .. a black feathered chicken.

A word of advice .... be careful who it is you allow to sit next to you .... the whole journey after that was fuzzy ....

,,,and after the 'Bus' ride after which the bus conductor asked us to disembark quickly ...i  went to the Night Tales Session by Commander Anderson.

This is the session at Kinta Riverwalk , it was more lively due to the weekend.

 The Supper Sonic Session will have to wait due to the weather.

JAG