Front Row

Sifu Production the company that to-date has focused on humor for millennials--’Never Eat Too Much Before Rapture’ aka 30 plays [sic] in 60 minutes; and more recently FIFTEEN or 15 plays [sic]--explains how it will bring humor to a Shakespearean tragedy. Its press release declares: “With lines such as “O Lo Mio, Lo Mio, whyforth mantao”, Lo Mio and Chiu Liet: Forbidde...

The author was invited by the Kapitan Keling Mosque chairman to document the history of the historical building. From there, the birth of a book 18 years after; and a related lecture in conjunction with an an exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. The book itself has won the ICAS 2015 Colleagues’ Choice Award. Kapitan Keling Mosque was founded in 1801. For a previous interview with...

The musician was in KL conducting a workshop with both ASWARA music students and with practitioners of traditional music.  He talked about his interest in weaving different kinds of music together and how his life in the world of performing arts began with steps as a clown.  He also painted the development of music from modern to contemporary, and the role non-European traditional music...

The gallery owner tells about the “Beyond Borders” exhibition, and the four participating artists whose shared medium lies in photography--or a medium close to it. Their various works challenge our traditional notions of photography, and at the same time push us beyond our personal borders asking how we see, what we see. Sometimes the mundane is made so spectacular that you’ll ne...

An unscheduled meeting, a happy second meeting, some conversations, a demonstration of skills, a rehearsal. All mostly behind closed doors. Then the performance. But before the eyes of many. And in that moment, improvise with the imagined music, improvise with the choreography. With the dancer listening to the musician, the musician watching the dancer. They communicate to create. Together they li...

The Japanese choreographer tells about Co. Un Yamada’s version of the influential ballet and orchestral classic which premiered in Chigasaki, Japan in 2013 to commemorate the centenary of  Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. Also on the table for exploration is Yamada’s seminal work which has since toured internationally. It will be performed  by an all-male cast...

At seven year old, the conductor, before he became one, discovered that Mahler’s music resonated with him. At 18, he founded the International Mahler Orchestra (IMO), which comprised of hand-picked members from over 25 countries. In the interview, he reveals why this music matters so much to him.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lim Soon Heng drove to an out-of-town dance studio in Kuang to observe Daniel Bear Davis, the instructor-facilitator, lead the workshop participants to create site-specific performances. Soon Heng watched the participants experiment, take risks; he talked to Daniel Bear Davis to get a view into the process and how he marries Contact Improvisation and Axis Syllabus into his own practice. See omnyst...

Gathered around a coffee table, some folks who caught the opening performance of "Marble Hearts" ponder their respective responses to an original play based on Shakespeare’s King Lear. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We caught the artist working one afternoon. The sun beating down on her while she stood on a platform some 15 feet above the ground. Next to her a bucket full of plastic clothespins, colors of the rainbow and other plastic household items.  Ru Yi Tan, a Malaysian artist based in Japan, is back for an exhibition of installations with stuff she got from Daiso over there. See omnystudio.com/list...

Nearly four years ago, shy only of a few weeks, Whitney Houston passed away. But she remains the 4th biggest selling female artist in history, the most awarded female act of all time (in 2009 Guinness World Records cited her thus)  and the voice in ‘The Bodyguard’--the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, in which she also starred. ‘The Bodyguard’ original soundtr...

The musician and organizer of the 3rd Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival discusses improvisation as practiced by musicians, especially those playing jazz. He will detail how a music instructor like himself imparts to his students creativity and the improvisational impulse. Together, we will explore how this creativity in musicians and artists can be taught to others in the workaday world in banks, law...

We take a look at Zac Lee’s works collectively called ‘Knotted Nests’.  His works are often described as “humorous, amazing, odd, intriguing, inspiring.” But they are also “dark, irrational, disharmonious, nonsensical.”  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The artist is interviewed in the gallery where his exhibition ‘Homeland’ is being held. He talks specifically about a few of the works on the walls, revealing stories behind them and how these shared tales find their shades and shapes on canvas. He also shares why the dark theme is painted with such lively bright warm colours. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A dancer, choreographer and curator of dancers herself Bilqis Hijjas eats, drinks and breathes dance. She is at almost every dance performance in the Klang Valley. In today’s conversation, she not only shares with us the dances to be performed in ‘Dancing in Place 2016’ but also dance and the stirring of social awareness. Dancing in Place features 12 short dance works performed o...

Pop Pop Music is presenting “Canto-Jazz Extravaganza: Hong Kong TVB Theme Songs Revival” this weekend, and Lim Soon Heng attended a rehearsal and watched the dancers choreograph their moves around the veteran singer Evon Low. The rehearsed dances suggest that the show will take its audience back in time to the glitz-and-glamour days of the chanteuse with her bevy of followers in tow. S...

Our guests tell about this documentary which kicked off its public appearance at the KBS and Busan International Film Festival’s Power of Asian Cinema series on 4th October 2015. The director, Ming Jin represented Malaysia as one of the 10 selected Asian filmmakers to participate in this segment. And ‘A Return to Nostalgia’ is the only Malaysian film to be featured in the Busan I...

A rendering - straight-up and/or rearranging - of a recorded song or music first made popular by another is called a cover. Our guests tell about the whys and hows they’ve decided to stage a covers-only performance when they are composers themselves. Go under the cover with us to uncover how this covers-show has evolved as it is in its third manifestation. See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Our guest participated in the 10th Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival and walked away with some accolades. He tells about the birth of the story and the making of the film.  Are ‘Jagat’ released just this past month (December 17, 2015), and this film ‘The Incredibly Strange Tale of the Man Who Lost His Love but Bought it Back with a Packet of Duck Rice’  in close ta...

PAN Productions is reprising its maiden show, Always in Wonderland? The producer and actors tell of  changes made to the script, the music and changes in the lineup of performers.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marble Hearts is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear that will open klpac’s 2016 season, and coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s passing in 1616. While some continue to debate the relevance of works by dead white men, the local writer-director couldn’t have staged something more timely - begging the question of how loyalty is expressed. We are joined by...

The reviewers look over their shoulders to evaluate the year of performances, sharing their delights and disappointments; and then anticipate the year to come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 The university professor’s wide interests--literature, theatre, culture and languages--have led her into looking at new works. Her most recently explorations take her into eco-literature and eco-theatre that few have heard of - let alone understand. Hear her take on the importance of theatre as a vehicle for highlighting ecological issues that plague our environments through her work w...

Front Row invites some local groups to provide the music for the holiday season. And interspersed between the songs, some time to reflect. Christmas Party - Russell Curtis Deck the Halls - Monday Show Entertainment Let’s Decorate the Christmas Tree - Philharmonic Society of Selangor Jingle Bells - Young KL Singers The Twelve Days of Christmas - Young KL Singers Have Yourself a Merry Little C...

Fresh out of an Master of Fine Arts programme in theatre directing and some time in New York, Kelvin Wong is running an 'Intermediate  Directors' Lab' (aka 'workshop') for theatre practitioners who want to hone their skills. He breaks down the director’s role and helps us understand how to evaluate the skills of one. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.