Front Row

Based on the legendary story of the renowned Tang Dynasty monk Jian Zhen, the performance Voyage combines mindfulness-oriented performance with sound healing. Through a solemn and unpretentious performance, the audience is invited to temporarily set aside life's worries and gradually enter a state of inner calm while immersing themselves in the practice of meditation. We embark on a journey of inn...

Singer-songwriter and professional female sape’ player Alena Murang is set to perform in a solo concert called Sky Songs , titled after her second album, which was inspired by the elements of the sky, and contemplates how all of nature interacts. The Kuching native who was born to a Kelabit father and English-Italian mother, receives songs, music and stories from her Kelabit and Kenyah elders, and...

Why Do We Dream What We Dream, When We Dream What We Dream? is described as a play which explores themes of life, human connection, breaking the cycles of self-sabotage and insecurities, the disjunction between hope and reality, and more. The play will be experimenting with physical movements and the use of technology for visual effects through projection mapping as a means to push the narrative o...

A timeless tale of love and loss comes alive in the upcoming production of Dido and Aeneas , presented by VerSeS Music Ensembles . This modern interpretation of the 17th century opera by the English baroque composer Henry Purcell promises to take audiences on a journey of passion, betrayal and heartbreak. We speak to production's director Scott Woo, and soprano Sharlene Rani, to find out more. Ima...

The Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival (MJPF)  began a decade ago, when a few of Malaysia’s top jazz pianists got together to organise a festival which paid particular focus and attention to the role of jazz pianists, and also to the needs of young jazz piano students. 10 years on, the festival remains unique in the world of jazz festivals, and the MJPF has gone on to become the longest ongoing ja...

Come June, local dance organisation MyDance Alliance will present the sixth MyDance Festival , with the theme “Unity in Diversity”. The festival aims to reunite the dance community in Malaysia following the disruption of the pandemic, to enjoy live performances and to celebrate the diversity of local dance culture. The festival will present four different programs across various arts spaces in the...

A spectacular evening of operatic music awaits you at the 2023 KL City Opera Gala Spectacular , featuring iconic opera scenes from Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Puccini's La Bohème and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, to rare gems and excerpts from operas such as Bellini’s Norma, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and more. Conducted by the renowned conductor Lien Boon Hua , and featuring an extraordinary line-up o...

Tempus Fabrica: A Version of Time is visual artist Amar Shahid ’s first solo show. Named after the artist’s most significant series of works, this exhibition aims to encapsulate the twelve years of art-making that has gone into Tempus Fabrica and a glimpse into newer works. In these works, he has taken his late father’s considerable archive of photographs taken in the early years of Malaysia’s ind...

They All Die At The End is described as a show that combines poetic text, dialogue, music and movement to explore painful realities and joy-filled spaces. The devised production presents a world where brown men can be who they want to be, and say what they want to say. We find out more about this "brown boy fantasia" from director Dhinesha Karthigesu and actor/ ensemble member Ian Skatu. See omnys...

Mixtape For Maz is described as a memory play, and tells the story of Maz and Edi, teenage siblings who have returned to rural North Malaysia in the late nineties after years of growing up abroad. Not only do they face the stresses of secondary school life, they must also navigate the contradictions between their western influences and the conservative society engulfing them. As their identities a...

Mama Looking For Her Cat is a play about the communication differences and the estranged relationship between a mother and her children. Written by the late Kuo Pao Kun in 1988, the play revolves around the theme of Singapore being a multiracial, multicultural and multilingual society. Two decades later, this poignant piece remains as powerful, as relevant and as emotionally hard-hitting as ever....

As the saying goes, get them when they're young, and Bachfest Malaysia - an organisation dedicated towards promoting the music of J. S. Bach in Malaysia and beyond through performance and education - are planning just that. The group are holding their first-ever family concert called Hello, Mr. Bach ! which has been specially designed for children, where they will meet and interact with “Mr. Bach”...

After a brief hiatus, the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards returns, this time for its 18th edition, to celebrate outstanding Malaysian performances in dance, music, theatre and musical theatre. Themed "A New Day. Setia Pada Senimu," the awards aims to reflect the spirit of the performing arts community - back from black and with a renewed sense of purpose. We find out what's in store from Low Ngai Yuen,...

KonTra is an on-going experimental dance series helmed by choreographer Zhafir Muzani which honours our traditions while forging a new way forward through contemporary dance. The latest edition, KonTra: Borneo , promises to be a showcase of five talented choreographers from East Malaysia along with one more from Peninsular Malaysia, who have all drawn inspiration from the people of East Malaysia,...

Rhythm in Bronze (RiB) has been championing to conserve Malaysia’s musical heritage since its founding in 1997, and the ensemble has been raising awareness of the richness of Malay Contemporary Gamelan through creating new compositions and experimenting with new approaches to performing on the instruments. The award-winning team are set to stage their first public performance since 2018 with Gema...

Material Woman in the Beauty World is a new one-actor play written by Leow Puay Tin, which presents a fascinating sociological portrait of an ‘ordinary’ woman in her 50s. In the staged reading, we encounter a woman who shares with us episodes, experiences, and stories from her work as a beautician. She takes us for a peek behind the scenes of the beauty world and along the way, she also reveals ot...

Set to the poetry of Xu Lizhi (1990 – 2014), I Swallowed a Moon Made of Iron harnesses the human voice, piano, theatre and video imagery to create a tragic but powerful cry of protest in solidarity with immiserated workers everywhere. Described as powerful, haunting and gut wrenching, Xu’s words gave voice to millions of workers around the globe whose existence is often forgotten. Created and perf...

The Japanese word "Ondo" translates into temperature, referring to the fire or heat that is used to shape and stabilise the sounds of a handpan, which takes centrestage at Hands Percussion 's latest performance, done in collaboration with independent musician Jian Hao. Ondo! the concert will be a fiery performance, showcasing the vibrancy and versatility of the handpan as it is performed in a vari...

Come Home and Eat explores the different notions of home and its anxieties, seen through the lens of food. How do we find a sense of belonging – and ourselves – through ancient myths, eating trends, passed-down recipes, in the kitchen, and at the dining table? This production is the sequel to Don’t Like It Here? Then Leave, which was presented last May. Using a variety of immersive storytelling fo...

Back after a three-year hiatus, Dama Asia Productions are set to present All That Glitz & Glamour on the Silver Screen , a musical theatre concert that will relive the magic of signature songs of the Mandarin Golden Oldies era, from the 1930s-1960s. The show marks a comeback of sorts for the multiple award-winning and multilingual theatre company, who are renowned for their blending of East-We...

A new monologue by theatre legend Chin San Sooi is set to be presented over two weekends, starting from the 1st of April. Titled Ah Kong , the titular character is a retiree who recalls his youthful days in Tanjong Pindang and Ipoh, and his other memories of days gone by. We find out what's in store from Alvin Looi, who will be playing Ah Kong in this monologue performance. Image Credit: https://w...

Described as a family-friendly show, Spooks, the Musical is a production by the Cempaka Performing Arts Company (CPAC), and is a modern tale set at Transylvania High which follows the half human, half vampire teenage girl, Drusilla, attending her first day at the gothic school. Accompanied by other classic monsters on stage, the spooktacular show also promises some “fang-tastic” music composed by...

Dreams We Tell Ourselves is described as a 60-minute solo performance exploring the emotional turmoil that comes with leaving behind the familiarity of home and embarking on an uncertain journey through the lens of the narrating protagonist — the Dreamer. This intimate exploration is also said to delve into the complexities of human aspirations and the delicate balance between chasing a dream and...

“Another day, another egg,” - the hen's at Mr Chan's farm have had it, with the daily egg laying that is demanded of them, and... hatch a plan to take a day off, with some help from a hapless rooster. A Hen Made Tale - The Musical is based on the illustrated children’s book of the same name by Lim Soon Heng. We catch up with Soon Heng, Dominic Lucien Luk (Artistic Director) and Sabrina Hassan (cas...

This year marks Johann Sebastian Bach’s 338th birthday - he was born on the 31st of March, 1685. To celebrate, Malaysia's renowned artists soprano Ang Mei Foong and pianist Ng Chong Lim will join the Malaysia Bach Festival Orchestra led by international conductor Dr. David Chin in a concert called All Things New , performing two solo cantatas and keyboard concertos. All three join us to discuss Ba...