It was a great opportunity to have had masterclasses with Mr. Isaac Malkin, faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music (USA), during my participation in the Euro Music Festival held at Vienna, Austria.

The place we have our lessons at – a music school in Klosterneuburg, Vienna.

At the end of all classes, there was a class concert held at the music academy, where most of the students of Mr. Malkin played for, including myself.

We were also able to catch concerts by other classes and by Professors Eszter Haffner (violin, Austria), Erika Lux (piano, Germany) and Jan Gottlieb Jiracek (piano, Austria). In all, a great learning experience!

I also took the chance to travel about Vienna, and then on to Salzburg, Hallstatt and Innsbruck after the Festival. Some of my trip highlights:

Vienna and Salzburg

Hallstatt and Innsbruck

Hi, I’m now in Klosterneuberg, Vienna, for the Euro Music Festival. I’ll be moving around Austria after that, but will have access to the Internet. If you need to contact me, please drop me an email at violin@jaycheng.com or use the contact form, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Meanwhile, enjoy a melange, wiener schnitzel and a little Pleyel piece by the Resonance Violin Duo!

On another note, Wen Jin from Resonance Quartet will be performing solo for part of the all-time favourite classic – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – with the SMU string ensemble, Obligato. Here’s your chance to listen to the complete Four Seasons, live, in one seating!

August 25 · 7:45pm – 9:00pm at the Esplanade Recital Studio. Tickets are at $15. Contact Maybelline at 96391891 for tickets or email to obligato@sa.smu.edu.sg for details.

Fellow musician and teacher Iris Koh is conducting a Vocal Workshop: Caring For Your Voice, for anyone to learn simple and effective ways to take care of his/her voice, so as to communicate and perform more effectively.

Iris is an experienced performance and vocal coach, choral conductor, music composer/arranger and pianist, and the Director of Athenarts Pte Ltd, a company that is dedicated to developing Musical Talents. In her career, she has groomed many young performers to fame and was herself the Musical Director of School House Rockz ( a Kids Central Musical) and the Artistic Director of the launch of President’s Challenge 2006. You’d be sure to learn something! ;P

Click on the flyer below to see details. The first workshop is on 6 Aug and places are limited, so register fast!

Sometimes, we need to take a break and do something fun. Shane (of Reverie) and I met up at a void deck and jammed (to the amusement and weird stares of passer-bys), and then we did a recording of Sometimes When We Touch on his Macbook. Hope you enjoy it

12 July 2010

Alana wanted to celebrate her son’s first birthday and his progress with hearing aids – how else better to do so than with live string music?

Resonance Quartet played to an audience of mothers and little children, a mix of classical, jazz, tango and broadway, and ended off with a Happy Birthday song with everyone singing along. It was heartwarming to see the cute birthday boy break out into a smile and clap when we finished.

An email from Alana later in the day: “thanks so much for today. Can you send me your standard marketing materials and i will email to my friends -everyone thought you were fabulous. Thanks again, you made the day special.”

We are very happy to have been able to share our music with everyone, especially the kids, too!

23 May 2010

A bunch of girlfriends decided to surprise Jodie, the bride, on her wedding day with violinists performing Pachelbel’s Canon in D for the march-in, and so we did. Wen Jin and I, as Resonance Violin Duo, played the enchanting piece in the quaint Viet Lang restaurant at The Arts House, Singapore, as a jubilant Bryan and radiant Jodie marched in to the guests’ confetti and cheers.

Need some live string music to add a touch of class to your dream wedding, or some glam for your event/function?

We first met when we played for Butterfly Dreams, and a year on, after many rehearsals and recordings amidst our busy individual performing/teaching schedules, we’re proud to say that you can now see and listen to Resonance Quartet in action through our videos on our website www.resonancequartet.com and our YouTube channel.

Resonance Quartet, a string quartet based in Singapore, is open for hire to perform for events such as weddings and functions! Our repertoire includes Classical, Jazz, Tango, Movie/Broadway and Musicals, among others. In addition, our quartet comprises of 2 composers/arrangers who can arrange music of your choice!

To see, hear, and contact us, go to www.resonancequartet.com

Some sample videos (go to our website for more!):

Pachelbel Canon in D – the perennial wedding favourite!

How about some tango? Por Una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel

Up the glam factor with some Broadway/Movie themes – Theme from New York, New York

Add a touch of class with some familiar Classics – Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Performed for Mayday’s concert back in April as part of string ensemble re: mix. I wasn’t familiar with their songs (Mandarin rock), so I went to take a listen, and surprisingly found myself hooked. On rehearsal night, we went up on stage and found ourselves with a bunch of rather tired-looking guys who rehearsed with us. It was late so I figured the band went back to rest and left some backup guys to rehearse with us. We did a run-through, finished, and were quickly packing up when the guys turned around to face us, bowed and thanked us profusely. We were caught unawares and scampered off the stage. The next day was concert day, and during my free time, I took notice of my crew pass, and stared hard. The faces on the crew pass appeared vaguely familiar.

And I realised that the night before, we were face-to-face with the same bunch of non-assuming guys also known as the Taiwanese superband Mayday.

Mayday worked the crowd well and the enthusiasm was infectious! Was extremely elated to have been part of the performance!

Shane (Reverie) and I playing a couple of songs at a fine restaurant called White Rabbit, at Dempsey in Singapore. A couple of sweet girls engaged us as a surprise for their best friend’s birthday. Handing the birthday girl a bouquet of fresh flowers, we began with a romanticised Happy Brirthday song before serenading them with romantic, jazzy numbers such as Fly Me To The Moon, L.O.V.E., and So Nice. The girls were thrilled – you can hear their giggles! Thanks so much Jasmine, Shihui and Gabrielle for engaging us, taking the videos and sending them to us! We hope you had as much fun as we had!

Happy Birthday and L.O.V.E.

Fly Me To The Moon

And we had a spy cam planted across the restaurant!

So Nice

Almost a year back, I performed as part of a violin-piano duo for my ex-student, Phei Yee’s wedding lunch at InterContinental. A few months ago I finally saw some of the wedding photos posted on Facebook and grabbed a few of them.

I thought I looked like I was in pain, but Xuefen, my pianist, and Phei Yee, the bride thought I was focusing with intensity.

Actually, I think I was squinting hard due to the low light.