This musical event,
co-organised by Science for Healthy Living (S4H) and the Library Subcommittee
of the Royal Lake Club, was held on 27 July 2017 at the Banquet Hall. It was a
sold-out dinner show, attended by enthusiastic music lovers from both the Royal
Lake Club and S4H. The performance was preceded by a simple yet delicious
dinner, which included a chicken curry that everyone still raved about many
days later!
Aptly titled “an Enchanted
Evening”, it was indeed an enjoyable evening of enchanting classical songs and
popular Broadway musicals, performed by Sonnia Chaing Yiling and her talented 15-year
old student, Jared Ngoh Jie Ern. Sonnia Chaing is an international opera singer
(mezzo-soprano) and a soloist/opera singer with the Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestra and Kuala Lumpur City Opera, as well as the OperaSiam. (Jared Ngoh,
who is very passionate about music and the performing arts, had passed his
piano grade 8 with distinction and is now preparing for his upcoming grade 8
singing examination with the Trinity College of London. He was awarded a Gold
Medal from the Musa Musica Young Musician at one of their recent contests.)
Sonnia is currently also the
adjunct music lecturer of UCSI, as well as the Sunway University. True to form,
she managed to cleverly weave a program for the evening that was not just entertaining,
but also educational for some in the audience. She introduced the theme of the
evening program as “Sun, Moon and Star”, and illustrated it using anecdotes -- including
a short pop quiz! -- about the three great composers Haydn, Beethoven and
Mozart. Moving on to a small dose of classical music appreciation, she talked
about their life stories, personalities and compositions that are associated
with the Sun, the Moon and the Star respectively. This “lecture” was
interspersed by snippets of music “Sunrise
Quartet (Haydn)”, “Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven)” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
Star Variation (Mozart)”. (By the way, contrary to what many believe, Mozart did
not write this famous melody, but he did compose some 15 variations on it!)
With the tone of the evening thus
set, Sonnia and Jared went on to sing various classical songs, opera arias and
Broadway musicals. There was also sing-along or audience participation for songs
like “You are My Sunshine”,“O Sole Mio”, and the immensely popular “Yue
Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin” (“月亮代表我的心”),
loosely translated as “The Moon Represents My Heart”, certainly very appropriate
for the theme of the enchanted evening. However, to many in the audience, the
highlight of the program had to be Sonnia’s exhilarating rendition of “L’amour
est un oiseau rebelle” (Habanera or “Love is a rebellious bird”) from Bizet’s “Carmen”.
Yes, no mezzo-soprano worth her salt would ever pass up a chance to perform on
stage this famous aria of all time. It
was indeed a superb performance by Sonnia who literally came alive as Carmen,
the vivacious man-magnet of Gypsy descent. The audience was enthralled, bowled
over by her beautiful voice and singing, not to mention the impressive vocal
range. Everyone craved for more, but alas, the performance came to end soon, with
the duo singing the all-time classical crossover hit “Time to Say Goodbye”, made
popular by none other than Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.
In a simple survey carried
out after the show by S4H, 92% of the respondents rated the performance as very
good, even though the music accompaniment was at times less than satisfactory. Many of them commented that more of such musical
events should be organized in the club for the enjoyment (and health?) of
members. Why not? After all, the President of S4H, Tan Sri Augustine Ong did remark
in his opening address that music has been proven by science to be vital for
healthy living!
Please follow the link https://youtu.be/vrEBDA1ATTA
to view the interesting
five-minute footage of “An Enchanted Evening”, as well as listen to “Love is a
rebellious bird”. Who knows? This “seductive” aria may help you tune in to the
life-affirming force of classical music, and perhaps entice you to turn up for
more enchanted evenings in the club in the near future.
