The Lei Yu (Thunderstorm) performance was splendid. Yey!
The concert opera was played to a full house, all four levels of the grand Esplanade Concert Hall. The six opera singers were terrific, and the seventh character (arguably one of the most important), the conductor Yeh Tsung was his usual smiley perfect musical self. The Singapore Chinese Orchestra was impressive, and we the choirs, led by the Shanghai chorus (a.k.a. the quintessential choir), the Victoria Chorale and us NUS Choir did quite great despite a few hiccups here and there. The lights were stunning, the highly-charged passionate music was (of course) excellent. It was a performance so stunning you almost didn't mind that it was totally in a foreign language.
Charles was right. Singing at the Esplanade Concert Hall is indeed quite an experience. And this being his sixth time singing there, he still gets excited. You could tell I was in for a blast.:D
And, after the show, we were told to go to an Artists' Party! Coooolness. I never quite considered myself an artist, and here I was rubbing shoulders with these musical geniuses, and eating these yummy yummy first-class food! I got some tasty rice with seafood, some breaded fish with tomato sauce dip, some spinach salad (spinach isn't supposed to taste good, but this was grrreat!), some mozzarella cheese, some potato salad, some sweet fruitty puff with cream, some divine layered chocolate cake, some tortilla chips with guacamole dip. And got myself some red and white wine, and sprite. Fine dining people! And I didn't even finish touring the tables! Ahh.. I could stay there forever.
And the cool thing was, we were snapping away like crazy! Kurien started it, even in the back room, when he asked the lady who played Fan Yi to pose with him. It was like two minutes before the performance, and then I told him I wanted to have a photo with her too using his camera! The bass guys were teasing us at how starstruck we were, but I still think they were just envious. Haha. And then in the afterparty, everyone wanted the stars' autographs! Or photos! Or both. Well, I got both. Hee.
Went home at past midnight, and while we waited a long time at the Fullerton for a cab, we were in such high spirits that Derence, Kurien and I were singing loudly in the taxi queue. Man, we could sometimes even hit the soprano/alto notes. Way to go basses!
What a lovely night. Will post photos after I do some required school task. ;)
Music of the moment: all two+ hours of Lei Yu
Currently feeling like an artist!
