can-can? can, can

Please allow me to introduce a group of young musicians, the “AM String Ensemble” from Anne Musikschule, who will be performing today together with their teacher Miss Savy.

They will be playing three songs on the violin and cello:

1. You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

2. Matsuri by Kitaro

3. Can Can – a popular folk song

They would like to dedicate their performance today to Mr Brian Tan, their beloved violin teacher, who is also Resident Conductor of the KLPAC orchestra. Brian, unfortunately, is unable to be with us here this evening as he is overseas undergoing chemotherapy.

The children miss him a lot, especially his music instruction and great sense of humour. They wish him a speedy recovery and want him to stay strong and win his fight with cancer. They are confident that he will emerge the winner.

Here are the children:

1. Andrea

2. Andrew

3. Debra

4. Emma

5. Joshua

6. Joon Wei

7. Shu Wei

8. Suzanne

9. WeiQian

10. Edward

Performing the first song: You Raise Me Up, the children wish to say

“Uncle Brian, this is for you!”

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About two weeks ago, Josh and I were asked to be a part of the Anne Musikschule Strings Ensemble which would play at the Relay For Life organised by the National Cancer Society of Malaysia.

I was pretty excited about it and I went around wearing the awesome T-Shirt they gave with each registration. When the big day came, I must admit I was nervous, but all nerves went away when we got there because it was stinking HOT. Sound check was at 2pm. Here's a tip, at 2pm, in Malaysia, try to avoid playing a fragile, sensitive-to-the-elements instrument. But unfortunately there are times when it can't be avoided.

As you can see, everyone was feeling the effects of the heat. Fortunately the weather calmed itself down and we managed to perform in comfortable weather. The performance itself exceeded expectations. :) We had an awesome crowd who honoured us by asking for an encore which we had not prepared, so we repeated the Can-Can. I swear at one point during the Can-Can I saw one lady go wild. XD

Living in a tropical country like Malaysia, we have two main type of weather: extremely hot and thunderstorms. The weather gods decided to treat us to both in one day. In a stark contrast to the sound check, by the time we had begun our encore it was drizzling, and by the end it was pouring so hard that we couldn't get off the stage.

The whole experience was a whole load of fun, and it was all the more memorable as it was dedicated to Mr. Brian Tan, who was the conductor of the AMPAC strings ensemble and KLPAC. We all wish for his speedy recovery.

Sooo, this next month or so is scheduled to be crazy. There is the Jamboree on June 26th at the DFP, where Josh and I are performing a duet so come and watch/support/clap loud-loud/all of the above. :D And then I'll be performing the with the Philharmonic Society of Selangor on July 10th and possibly 11th. Again, come and watch/support/clap loud-loud/all of the above. :D Both sound like it's gonna be a good show!