The Drama Centre Theatre has been sort of my latest hangout of late, for the latest 3 performances that I've catched were held there. In fact, I just returned from another performance there; it's "Optical Identity", a music concert by UK's Theatre Cryptic and Singapore's very own T'ang Quartet.
For those who doesn't know (I believe many of my close friends don't know either), I'm a big fan of T'ang Quartet, to the extend of giving up another show just to catch them in action. Well, I had actually intended to watch Hainan Province Hainanese Opera Company's opening show "The Pearl Pagoda" at Kreta Ayer's People Theatre tonight, but when I realised that T'ang Quartet's performance schedule clashed with that show, I decided to give that a miss, although it was already in my plan for over a month (but I haven't got the tickets to "The Pearl Pagoda" yet). There was another occasion years back where I actually go all the way down to Plaza Singapura to see them perform at Yamaha Music Plaza, even though it was just a small informal performance to promote their range of silent violin products. Sounds like a very die-hard fan? Well, not really. I'd try to make it to their performances as and when I knew of any, but for the past 2 years or so, I had been too busy with work, and keeping up to date with the latest arts happenings around me was hard, let alone spare time to catch performances.
So why do I like them? I don't quite know, but I supposed it's not just their talent in music, but they simply had this captivating charm which I don't quite see in other bands or quartets. Especially their cellist Leslie Tan. I like to observe him when the quartet is performing, because he's so full of expression. I always believe that in order to play music well, one has to blend into the music, and I think he is a good example of that (I could be slightly biased, because cello happens to be my most favourite musical instrument!). Besides that, I like their music too. Although all four members were classically trained, they play contemporary repertoires equally well. Tonight's performance is one example, but is unlike their previous concerts which I have attended.
Tonight's performance "Optical Identity" is not just purely music, but more of "visual music". The quartet was playing contemporary pieces from Kevin Volans, Rolf Wallin, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and Joby Talbot in "award-winning furnitures and designer clothes". A lot of other visual effects like video backdrops and co-ordinated lighting were used to enhance the performance, all thanks to the highly creative director Cathie Boyd. As she said in the post-performance talk, the turn-out for such concerts are dropping over the years, and hence she's making use of technology to create a more "complete" experience for audiences. Despite being non-traditional, the quartet didn't seemed to have much problem adapting themselves to this form of performance, as they said the production was still more music-focused, and every department, from lighting to video has to listen to what the quartet was playing and follow accordingly, instead of the quartet having to play according to the various stage or lighting cues. The quartet even said that the stage manager had to read their scores by the side of the stage to know exactly where they had played to, and therefore they don't even have to worry much as they knew they're in safe hands. Well, that's one aspect worth learning!
Now as I type, my mind was still on the concert. It has been so long since I last saw them in performance, and 80 minutes of music was simply not enough. But anyway, I'm still quite happy I managed to catch it; the quartet is still the fabulous T'ang Quartet I had known, and this is the first time I've actually seen them talking so much on stage (other than during the promotion of the silent violin series at Yamaha Music Plaza, but that doesn't quite count!). Hopefully they'll hold another concert soon, and am really looking forward to it!
For those who doesn't know (I believe many of my close friends don't know either), I'm a big fan of T'ang Quartet, to the extend of giving up another show just to catch them in action. Well, I had actually intended to watch Hainan Province Hainanese Opera Company's opening show "The Pearl Pagoda" at Kreta Ayer's People Theatre tonight, but when I realised that T'ang Quartet's performance schedule clashed with that show, I decided to give that a miss, although it was already in my plan for over a month (but I haven't got the tickets to "The Pearl Pagoda" yet). There was another occasion years back where I actually go all the way down to Plaza Singapura to see them perform at Yamaha Music Plaza, even though it was just a small informal performance to promote their range of silent violin products. Sounds like a very die-hard fan? Well, not really. I'd try to make it to their performances as and when I knew of any, but for the past 2 years or so, I had been too busy with work, and keeping up to date with the latest arts happenings around me was hard, let alone spare time to catch performances.
So why do I like them? I don't quite know, but I supposed it's not just their talent in music, but they simply had this captivating charm which I don't quite see in other bands or quartets. Especially their cellist Leslie Tan. I like to observe him when the quartet is performing, because he's so full of expression. I always believe that in order to play music well, one has to blend into the music, and I think he is a good example of that (I could be slightly biased, because cello happens to be my most favourite musical instrument!). Besides that, I like their music too. Although all four members were classically trained, they play contemporary repertoires equally well. Tonight's performance is one example, but is unlike their previous concerts which I have attended.
Tonight's performance "Optical Identity" is not just purely music, but more of "visual music". The quartet was playing contemporary pieces from Kevin Volans, Rolf Wallin, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and Joby Talbot in "award-winning furnitures and designer clothes". A lot of other visual effects like video backdrops and co-ordinated lighting were used to enhance the performance, all thanks to the highly creative director Cathie Boyd. As she said in the post-performance talk, the turn-out for such concerts are dropping over the years, and hence she's making use of technology to create a more "complete" experience for audiences. Despite being non-traditional, the quartet didn't seemed to have much problem adapting themselves to this form of performance, as they said the production was still more music-focused, and every department, from lighting to video has to listen to what the quartet was playing and follow accordingly, instead of the quartet having to play according to the various stage or lighting cues. The quartet even said that the stage manager had to read their scores by the side of the stage to know exactly where they had played to, and therefore they don't even have to worry much as they knew they're in safe hands. Well, that's one aspect worth learning!Now as I type, my mind was still on the concert. It has been so long since I last saw them in performance, and 80 minutes of music was simply not enough. But anyway, I'm still quite happy I managed to catch it; the quartet is still the fabulous T'ang Quartet I had known, and this is the first time I've actually seen them talking so much on stage (other than during the promotion of the silent violin series at Yamaha Music Plaza, but that doesn't quite count!). Hopefully they'll hold another concert soon, and am really looking forward to it!
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