Front Row

We catch up with world renowned concert pianist Bobby Chen, a local lad, who is back home to perform works from Beethoven and Chopin in a one-night-only performance. Bobby is among the select few who studied at the highly exclusive Yehudi Menuhin School in Britain, and later at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he graduated with First Class Honours. Part of the proceeds from the performa...

Swiss photographer Michel Roggo has documented 30 important freshwater environments from across the globe, focusing on underwater images - his contribution to safeguarding the future of the world's wetland areas. He joins us to share his experiences. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The UK’s Earl Okin, part time jazz and bossa nova singer-songwriter and fulltime funnyman, Tommy Dean from America and Canadian Ron Josol are joined by local jokester Kavin Jay in a series of comedy shows across the Klang Valley this March. Kavin drops by to tell us about his career as an engineer/ comedian, and to give us a preview of what's in store at the comedy fest. See omnystudio.com/l...

Based on the best-selling children's classic by Jill Tomlinson and performed by the Blunderbus Theatre Company from the UK, this gentle, reassuring tale is brought to life with an irresistible blend of live music, puppetry and storytelling. We find out more about what's in store from performers Helen Crevel, Mark Collier and Chloe Phillips. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Go on a wild and hilarious ride through Shakespeare's works - think Monty Python improvisation as classics like Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Hamlet are mashed up with cookery shows, British Premier League football games and more. "The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr - Abridged" originally written and performed by The Reduced Shakespeare Company, is set to be staged here in Kuala Lumpur for the...

Back for it's 17th instalment, we find out more about all the events lined up to celebrate French language and culture here in Malaysia, from Pauline Vey, the Linguistic Attachee at the Embassy of France in Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Harmony with God, Harmony in Community and Harmony with Nature is the tagline for the BaliSpirit Festival - a festival of yoga, dance, and music which is held annually in Ubud, Bali. Former festival director Amsalan Doraisingam fills us in on all the activities in store, and the way the festival is serving both attendees and the community of Ubud too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

Dancer/ Choreographer Ng Teck Voon, who is based in the Netherlands, is back in Kuala Lumpur for a short holiday, and has put together a performance in just a little over a week! We find out about his career in dance thus far, and what to look out for in this latest performance, which features Malaysian dancers Steve Goh and Hoi Cheng Sim. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Celebrating International Women's Day, the event Stand Out will feature some of KL's foremost female filmmakers, musicians and poets. Part of the proceeds will be channeled towards Home of Peace, a shelter home for girls, and the event will also feature readings by some of the girls from the Home. Jasmine Low, Managing Director of Go International Group and organiser of the event, tells us what ex...

Described as a romantic comedy that juxtaposes life and death, duty and love, isolation and connection as well as what's real and what's not, we find out more about this Malaysian staging of Sarah Ruhl's play from castmembers Payal Vashist and Amir Yunos. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to the revered sitar master Ustad Usman Khan, whose lineage can be traced back to the court musicians of Mysore, about his long and illustrious career playing and teaching the sitar. Usmanji, the founder of NAAD in Pune and the Temple of Fine Arts' International Dean of Music, is being honoured by some of his former students in the concert, "Sitar Saptak." See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Having made Kuala Lumpur their current base, we find out what two French DJs - DJ French Chris and DJ Emmanuel - have been up to during their stay here. We also find out about their first collaboration which is part of the French Embassy's annual French Language Week celebration.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Returning for a second offering, this workshop performance of The Merchant of Venice sees the Shakespeare Demystified ensemble continuing its mission – to share the Bard of Avon's genius and to make less murky the ins-and-outs of his masterful storytelling. We find out more about this current staging from castmembers Nabihan Yaacob and Tung Jit Yang. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

The newly, fully professional ASWARA Dance Company present their first major production on stage, the aptly titled "3 Faces", which is a triple-bill performance of bharatanatyam, makyung and contemporary dance. Joseph Gonzales, Artistic Director of the performance and Dean at the Faculty of Dance at ASWARA, shares the journey of the dance company thus far and the significance of having a professio...

Said to draw inspiration from the messages of Islam, Native Deen's music is a call to listeners to keep the faith, to live better lives, and to not succumb to the pressures and temptations of modern society. The trio made up of Americans Joshua Salaam, Abdul-Malik Ahmad and Naeem Muhammad, share stories of growing up as Muslims in America, and how they fuse Islamic teachings with Hip-Hop and R&amp...

The art lecturers at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjung Malim (UPSI) organised six sessions of art classes/workshops in 2011 with the visually impaired students of Sekolah Menengah Pendidikan Khas (SMPK). A total of 55 artworks have been created by the students as a result, which are being exhibited at NN Gallery. We find out how all about the project, the students and the artworks create...

Actress BB Ostella Adam tells us about the Asian premiere of 'Boom', a play by American playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. Directed by local director David Lim, 'Boom' is described as a zany, warped and ultimately hopeful look at the apocalypse, which follows a young marine biologist as he prepares for the imminent end of the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Described as an all-round sensory experience, 'Longing' is based on Knut Hamsun's novel 'Wayfarers'. This cross-over art performance blends music by Malaysian composer Adeline Wong with digital art projections by Norwegian artistic director Are Andreassen, who both join us to discuss what the production has in store. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Set premiere on the 70th anniversary of the fall of Malaya to Japan, the documentary "Rising Sun Over Malaya" tells the stories of ordinary heroic Malayans who resisted Japanese rule and lived to tell the tale. Producer/Director Lara Ariffin and Director/Cameraman Harun Rahman of Novista Sdn. Bhd. walk us through the making of the documentary and share some of their discoveries and experiences wit...

The group art exhibition, Interface Bandung, showcases the works of five young artists, Aliansyah, Theo Frids Hutabarat, Satria Nugraha, Jabbar Muhammad and Panca Dz, who all live and work in Bandung. We find out from the exhibition's curators, Eva McGovern, Yogie Ginanjar and Rifandy Priatna or Darto, how Bandung, as a site or place, generally influences these young artists in their artistic prac...

We get a preview if Projek Disko Baldi's latest production "Love" from singer-songwriter Sharifah Fafa and Kpop star Thunder, who will also share their respective takes on love. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rimbun Dahan Residency Exhibition, now in its seventeenth year, will be showcasing artworks by Malaysian Haslin Ismail and Australian Rob Gutteridge, who are recipients of the year-long Rimbun Dahan Malaysia Australia Visual Arts Residency 2011. We find out more about both artists and the residency from Rob and Haslin themselves, and we also hear from Anum Mohamed, the Arts Manager for the Rim...

This four-day music festival, presented by The Temple of Fine Arts, will celebrate Indian classical music and honour the great legendary composers Thyagaraja and Tansen. Sitarist Kumar Karthigesu and vocalist Sveta Kilpady from The Temple of Fine Artsfill explain the contributions from both the great composers and tell us what to expect at the festival, which includes lectures, workshops and perfo...

Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM) is a coalition of Malaysian non-governmental organisations which  cut across racial, religious and political lines, in their effort to seek a prompt and sustainable resolution of the conflict in Palestine. Among their many initiatives is the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Palestine Film Festival, and Yuzaidi Yusoff, the Head of Viva Palestina Malaysia's Media Team speaks...

Dr. Debra Diamond is an Associate Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, in Washington's Smithsonian Institution. Here in Malaysia for a visit, she will, among other things, deliver a talk titled "From Idea to Exhibition" which will touch on the curatorial development of an idea into a groudbreaking exhibition. She also speaks a...