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Esplanade to roll out SG50 events throughout the year

 

SINGAPORE — The Esplanade yesterday laid out its plans to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday with not one mega-event, but a series of shows and exhibitions to be spread throughout the year.

These include one-off special events such as a jazz festival and several specially commissioned shows such as a full-length Chinese opera.

Its signature annual events, including the Baybeats music festival and popular Studios series, which features local theatre productions, will also get a new SG50 sheen, with the Studio series to feature 50 plays.

And kicking things off will be the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown 2015 show on New Year’s Eve.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday to announce its programme for the celebrations next year, Esplanade CEO Benson Puah said: “(Instead of) rah-rah events … it’s more about lifting the community up.

“We’re sowing seeds,” he added. “And there will be a lot of seeds.”

The Studios series will be titled The Studios: Fifty and will celebrate 50 works from Singapore’s English-language theatre. Curated by Chong Tze Chien and The Esplanade, it will feature five full productions, including Stella Kon’s Emily Of Emerald Hill, Tan Tarn How’s The Lady Of Soul And Her Ultimate “S” Machine, as well as Huzir Sulaiman’s The Weight Of Silk On Skin, reinterpreted by local directors including Tracie Pang, Zizi Azah and Oliver Chong. The other 45 plays will be performed in the form of dramatised readings.

The Pentas series, which showcasesMalay stage productions, will take a musical trip through time with collaborations by Malay rock band Black Dog Bone, pop outfit Gingerbread and Orkestra Melayu Singapura, performing interpretations of songs from the ’70s, while the popular Baybeats indie music festival will aim to “revisit and celebrate the spirit of independence” that bands of the past had to inspire in the next generation of musicians, said Ms Yvonne Tham, the Esplanade’s assistant chief executive.

A highlight will be Jazz In July — a programme looking at jazz music in Singapore, its “places and names … and what’s special about these places to the artistes”, she added.

There will also be several commissioned works, including a Chinese opera that will be directed by Toy Factory Productions’ Goh Boon Teck. The opera will be a collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and is based on Savage Land by Chinese playwright Cao Yu.

Another highlight is These Sacred Things — a visual art exhibition featuring various artists whom The Esplanade has showcased. Each artist will present an object that best represents what is most sacred to them.

However, the Esplanade’s SG50 programme will not be only about looking back, Ms Tham said.

“It’s not just revisiting the past, but also asking, ‘What stories are we telling for the future?’,” she added.

There is also the countdown show that the public can look forward to — a show Mr Puah said would be a tribute of sorts to late musician Iskandar Ismail. “His body of music works really is the soundtrack of Singapore,” he said.

“What has been written is a tremendous body of work. Everybody sees just the fireworks, but that’s only one part of it. The fireworks paint the sky through the music.”

Added Mr Puah: “There will be a wealth of different stories from this deep engagement. We hope to unlock and touch many hearts and minds … about what it means to come of age.

“It’s about revisiting and illuminating the treasures we have for the future. It should be a celebration of life.”

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