announcement: young musicians on sunday

Meridien Hotel, Singapore (Sunday, August 23, 1987)

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Elaine Chew could not have known that one simple gesture of musical sharing would lead to another and another and finally provide the spark plug to ignite a concert series to help Singapore's young musicians.

On New Year's Eve -- a time when it is difficult to get people away from the night's festivities, she agreed to accompany two internationally known Canadian singers for their guest performance at a variety show, televised from the Kallang Theatre.

A few days later, Elaine accompanied the singers in a recital of French music at a hotel, Le Meridien Singapour. Her obvious gift, evident even in this cameo role, touched the heart of Jean-Claude Bailly, the hotel's general manager, and set him wondering how he could lend a helping hand to other young people, who, like Elaine, have a hard time persuading Singaporeans that they do have a talent worth supporting and promoting.

All this happened six months ago. This coming Sunday morning, at 11am, Le Meridien will open its lobby doors on a series of concerts, organised specifically to raise money for further concerts given by local classical musicians.

Entitled "Young Musicians on Sunday" and presented by the National Theatre Trust as part of the Music for Everyone series, these concerts are sponsored by the hotel and L'Union des Assurance de Paris.

There are four concerts in total, to be held on consecutive Sundays starting from August 23, with the last to be held on Sep 13.

About 100 musicians are involved. Many of these -- such as Alex Abisheganaden, SSO concert master Pavel Prantl, concert pianists Ong Lip Tat, Mary Humm and Martina Maixnerova, composer and teacher John Sharpley, cellists Herminia Ilano and Leslie tan, and percussion band master Syed Ibrahim and Anthony Chew -- are professionals who are giving their services freely and generously.

This Sunday's concert, entitled "Young pianists speak", features eight of the most gifted or promising talents in the community. Three of them -- 15-year-old Ho Jo Chu, 14-year-old Cynthia Goh, and 14-year-old Wong Su-En -- have just won major prizes in this year's National Music Competition.

Jo Chu sufficiently impressed one of the judges, Canadian pianist Lee Kum Sing, that she was offered a scholarship to attend a summer school in the United States, and a place inthe prestigious Academy of Music in Vancouver.

Cynthia, who was selected to perform in Canada's Pacific Wave Festival last year, has taken part in competitions in Japan and Taiwan and gave a recital at the Goethe Institut in March.

Elaine Chew was a finalist in last year's Diner's Club Pianist of the Year competition, has appeared in the Young Talents series shown recently on television, and is one of the competitors in this year's Rolex Best Performer awards.

May Phang Yoke Mui, 14, back on holiday from the US, has been awarded scholarships both by the famous Manhattan School of Music, New York, and the Esther Boyer School of Music, Temple University, in Philadelphia.

She played in another concert series, Fanfare for Youth, two years ago and was the youngest participant to give a solo recital in the Fringe Festival of the 1986 Festival of Arts.

Twenty-year-old Josephine Koh has just got her Fellowship of the Trinity College of London in Performance, has taken part in several recitals and chamber concerts, and is currently the youngest member of the teaching staff of the La Salle School of Music.

Of the two guest professionals, American pianist Mary Humm, who came to Singapore about a year ago with her family, did not hesitate when she was invited to perform in and present this concert, because, she said "there are so many lovely and promising young musicians here who just have to get the opportunity to go out there and play."

A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mary has performed extensively in Japan and the US, and is working on her final dissertation for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from North Texas State University.

Lastly, pianist Ong Lip Tat is not only one of the finest concert artists in the region, but is also building a sizeable reputation here and overseas for his work with promising young pianists.

The hour-long programme this coming Sunday includes works by Brahms, Liszt, Schumann, Ravel, Debussy and Granados. The whole series is produced and co-ordinated by Georgina Emmanuel, a music critic and head of La Salle School of Music.