Photos courtesy of photographer Hsieh Cheng Che, made available by Chinwei (NUSSO):

Been rather busy teaching, practising and rehearsing, and got chided by ex-colleagues for not updating. Haha. Anyway, managed to catch 3 concerts in May.

Went to support my students Hui Yee and Shu Qi. As per last year, MKu prepared some “additional entertainment” for the audience. I recall for last year’s concert, MKu threw the baton off the stage. This year’s antic was a MKU remote control that could control a live ensemble like a machine, i.e. change tracks, increase/decrease volume, among a host of other things. Well-executed and the audience was very much amused.

This time it was to listen to my teacher Mr Foo Say Ming’s and my colleague-friend Lim Shue Churn’s piano quintet – Take 5. Grabbed the front row seats this time and did not regret a single bit – the intensity was immensely satisfying. A sold-out concert as per previous ones. Read Mr Chang’s blog for the review.

Indulging in another favourite genre of mine – jazz – I caught the Jeremy Monteiro Trio & T’ang Quartet concert. Not much featuring of the quartet though – the limelight went to the guest artists instead. Was particularly thrilled by Ernie Watt’s prolific display on the saxophone, moved by Jeremy Monteiro’s composition “Life Goes On”, and surprised with Kelly Tang’s jazz(!) composition – Tang-ology.  Found a sampling of the collaboration between Monteiro and T’ang Quartet on YouTube: