SSO Children's Concerts: The Listener, 6 Sep

SSO and mime artists from Magic Circle Mime join forces for a concert that proves Bizet and Britten are anything but stuffy.

"The conductor has planned to present a concert exploring the many art forms in which the orchestra is involved, but his efforts are complicated by the unexpected participation of two overtly enthusiastic spectators. A bugle playing mime who wants to sing opera and a tap dancing ballerina are just two zany characters bringing "the art of listening" to life." Suitable for 5-12 year olds and no admission for below-4s.

SSO Classics in the Park - 10 August

If your inner picnic pixie wasn't satisfied with Ballet Under the Stars, there's always the open air classics concert at the Botanics this coming weekend. 6pm, 10 August at the Shaw Foundation Stage.

Octoburst! activities: 1 - 5 October

Turns out there's more to Esplanade's Octoburst than just a drawing competition - it's going to be a full-fledged lil fest with theatre, music, ballet and Bharatanatyam which is great news for kids. 

Ticketed events include The Japanese Garden, another edition of the Tick, Tock and Tack series and The Nutcracker by the SDT. Free events include a concert by the young folks at NAFA's Chinese instruments programme, Mouse and Cookie by The Players Theatre and Shakuntala by Bhaskar's Arts Academy.

Opera in the Park: 21 June, Botanic Gardens

SDT has done it for years. Now SLO is going to try. I'm talking performances in the park, au naturel, under the stars, pinic baskets, wine in hand, you know what I mean.

The Lyric Opera is doing its inaugural Opera in the Park at the Palm Valley at Botanics next weekend and unlike Ballet Under the Stars, it's free.

I've only seen recorded broadcasts of opera outdoors; the last one I saw was Anna Netrebko and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Waldbuehne in front of 15,000 people. All I'll say is, even if it was a bit disconcerting to see the beads of sweat on the singer's face, I really wanted to be there.

There's no Russian soprano or Simon Rattle conducting here but I'm definitely going.

Update on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 05:18PM by MamaSez

Just learnt that June 21 is the summer solstice/midsummer's day and World Music Day. I can think of no better way to spend it.

Choir time

I'm a sucker for choirs, especially those featuring young people. I can remember a boys choir in a German church a few years back and they were just magnificent, made your hair stand on end. There's something about those unbroken voices ringing out....Anyway, a bunch of choir concerts coming up here too: The Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir sings at the Esplanade today but also a couple of talented local ones in the next few weeks. The Raffles Junior College Choir is on 6 May, then Cedar Girls Secondary Choir on 14 May, Anglo-Chinese Junior College on 6 July. Tickets are a very affordable $20 for the first two. But only for 6 years and above, sorry.

The Magical Baton - SCO Children's Concert - 9 & 11 May

Not to be outdone the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, which has always had an excellent promotions department, is having its own children's concert for 3-6 year olds with the choir doing Chan Mali Chan, Strauss and Bach. And I see from their website, which has a great deal of information about Chinese music and instruments along with audio samples on the Learning More, that they have their own educational CD for beginners to Chinese music.

SSO Children's Choir auditions - May 30

Check here for details if your kid is between 9-14 years of age. To hear what they sound like you can catch their next concert on April 20. The SSO also has loads of kids activities like babies proms, children's concerts and storytelling (for large group bookings). I hadn't seen it before but the Kids section of their website also has games to download and info on their new edutainment activity book and CD. Very impressive. Guess they're trying to pander to the young audience for Western classical music which though shrinking in other parts of the world seems to be growing in Asia.

Kids turn up in droves for Janell Yeo concert

I was really surprised at the number of kids at a charity concert by young Singaporean violinist Janell Yeo, at Esplanade Concert Hall on April 1. Janell is all of 14 years old, an over-achiever even by Singapore standards, recipient of a 200K award to boot and took the stage wearing a beautiful gown.

I'd wager half the audience were children under 10 and their parents. Some of them looked as young as 5 but the Esplanade doesn't usually admit under-6s so perhaps I'm wrong. I overheard the dad in front of me ask his son, do you know this piece. Sons nods no, irritated. Such idols to aspire to at such a young age.

I remember someone telling me that muzak maestro Richard Clayderman sells out the indoor stadium every time he's here because of all the kids and their parents who go and watch. Some even say that it's because of his popularity that the number of piano students in places like China surged. Clayderman has even shared the stage with other young pianists such as Clare Yeo (another HSBC award recipient) and Benjamin Boo. Wonder if Janell will inspire more to take up the violin.

As for her talent, we'll just have to wait and see. She obviously has more music in her than the average 14 year-old, and she doesn't appear to be hothoused or Suzuki-trained, but is she a child prodigy? Only time will tell.

I asked my piano-teacher friend the ideal time to start classes and he thinks if the child is musically inclined and sings and dances spontaneously, you could start at 4, else 5. Just in case anyone was wondering.