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On 7th November, Republic Polytechnic Wind Symphony (RPWS) presented their second concert -
Symphonie De République III under Reflections 2009, RP’s Community Arts Festival.
The musicians took their places backstage half an hour before the concert commenced. Some of them were excited and nervous as it was their first performance with RPWS. After the second house bell, the musicians took to stage. Under the cheers and applause of the audience, the evening of music began.
RPWS made history as this was the first time that two soloists and two student conductors were featured. The two soloists were Simon Lee (Oboe) performing
Autumn Soliloquy by James Barnes and Muhammad Arief B Salim (Euphonium) performing
Variants on an English Hymn Tune by Philipe Sparke. The two student conductors were Gena Ng Ping Ping (Assistant Concert Mistress) and Ng Ying Ying Daphne (Assistant Concert Mistress), and they conducted
Hymn to the Infinite Sky by Satoshi Yagisawa and The Prince of Egypt
by Hans Zimmer respectively.
Some of the other tunes played during the evening were Art in the Park by Robert Sheldon,
Jericho by Bert Appermont, Japanese Graffiti XIV, from the famous series of medleys by Hideaki Miura, and
El Camino Real (A Latin Fantasy) by renown composer Alfred Reed.
The Resident Conductor for the concert, CPT Muhammad Yusri was a familiar face to many of supporters and audiences as the group has been training under him for the past three years. Unfortunately,
Symphonie de République III also marked the end of RPWS’ journey under CPT Yursi’s baton with his departure due in Dec 2009.
After the final piece for the evening’s programme, the musicians surprised CPT Yusri with a Special Item,
Alla Turca, presented by the Percussion Section. This tribute to CPT Yusri was rehearsed in secrecy, and included choreography input from the rest of the band. The musicians’ crazy antics brought the entire Concert Hall to a high!
At the audience’s request, the band closed the evening with We are the World, popularized by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and Disco Party III. At CPT Yusri’s invitation, members of the audience stood up and danced to familiar tunes from the 80s, such as Earth, Wind and Fire’s September and The Stylistic’s
Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love).
The concert would not have been possible without the guidance from the polytechnic, TRCC, RPWS advisors (Wilbur and Kelly), the alumni as well as the Resident Conductor, CPT Muhammad Yusri. |
