It began in April, gathered momentum in May and continues exuberantly through June; something for everyone; an intoxication, an assault almost, a delirium of offerings - and these are my picks.

The Singapore Arts Festival: 14 May - 13  June  
www.singaporeartsfest.com

Between You and Me: the month-long carnival showcases a collection of local, regional and international events focused on getting the general public closer to the arts. Having witnessed a few events, it is easy to lose oneself in one exceptional performance after the other, be it cooking introduced in verse and song, soaring classical arias, the musicians of the Rajasthan deserts, plastic packets as installation art or shadows in interplay with gunpowder paintings.

There are free and ticketed programmes at various venues all over the island, workshops, chats, behind-the-scene-tours for specific productions and pre and post show discussions.

Newly introduced this year is the outreach programme com.mune.  The Festival guide is available online here and the com.mune guide can be downloaded from the website. ArtsFest Club membership is available here.

 FlipSide: 14 May - 13  June  
www.esplanade.com/flipside

Phantoms & Specters / Otherworldly (ongoing)

Chopin, Mozart, Vivaldi, Piazzolla, Beethoven, Mendelssohn

Singapore Arts Festival 2010: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields & Joshua Bell: Grammy® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell needs no introduction. He will perform on the 12th and 13th of June with one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras at the Esplanade Concert Hall.

In 2007, Mr. Bell took part in what the Washington Post described as an experiment in context, perception and priorities - as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend? Mr. Bell played the violin outside the Metro, seemingly a busker. Pearls Before Breakfast commented: No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. 

Joshua Bell: Stop and Hear the Music

The Irish Chamber Orchestra will perform at the Esplanade on 22 June; their Singapore debut (one night only) after performing at the Shanghai Exposition. They will feature an exciting mix of celebrated classics and virtuoso pieces … spanning four centuries, blending precious gems from Vivaldi with the magic of Mozart to the wild passions of Piazzolla (SISTIC).

The CIMB Singapore International Piano Festival 2010

(23 – 26 June @ the Victoria Concert Hall) The Singapore International Piano Festival has been an annual phenomenon since 1994, bringing to Singapore world famous pianists such as Angela Hewitt, Nikolai Demidenko, Vladimir Feltsman, Marc-André Hamelin, Pascal Rogé, Boris Berezovsky, Piotr Anderszewski and Yevgeny Sudbin. This June, the Festival features Piotr Anderszewski, Benjamin Grosvenor, Pietro De Maria and Wang Yuja performing the works of Frederic Chopin.

Famed Russian classical pianist Katya Grineva performs at the Esplanade on 24th June. Known as an artiste of ‘exceptional romantic/poetic expression’, she is the only female solo pianist to have performed eleven times at the Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, New York. 

Circus Theatre (extraordinaire) : 17 June – 30 September

Live in Singapore (1)

Engelbert Humperdinck (pictured above), Patrizio Buanne, MIKA & Air Supply

Italian crooner Patrizio Buanne’s second concert in Singapore was held at the Max Pavilion@Singapore Expo on June 3rd. In the tradition of the inimitable Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Julio Iglesias, Mr. Buanne performed Italian and American classics, as well as new compositions. For more on Patrizio, click here.

Bigger, better, bolder … Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, the London-based, Grammy-nominated and BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter - aka MIKA - performs on 14th June at The MAX Pavilion @ Singapore Expo. His concerts are more party than performance – check out his website http://www.mikasounds.com/. He has been compared to Freddie Mercury, Scissor Sisters, Elton John, Prince, Robbie Williams and David Bowie, and as it says on his site, by now it is clear that Mika is not as other artists are. His surname could just as well be ‘Singular’. Enveloped in an imaginative musical world of his own creation, he is one of the few British male pop stars of his age that doesn’t run with the pack. Classically trained, racially mixed and prone to theatrical physical gesture, he has become a scion of ambitiously delivered self-expression.

Celebrating their 35th anniversary and their first studio recording of original material in eight years, Mumbo Jumbo, Air Supply, the ever popular soft rock duo (who met in 1975 at the Australian production of Webber/Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar) will perform at the Resorts World Convention Centre™, Compass Ballroom on the 20th of June.

Arnold George Dorsey aka Engelbert Humperdinck, the treacle-voiced spinner of romance of the 1950’s and 60’s performs on June 24th  @ the Singapore Indoor Stadium as part of his latest romantic tour-de-force that will take him from Paris to Pennsylvania, Moscow to Manchester, Vegas to Vienna … and Singapore, of course.  

Live in Singapore (2): @ Fort Canning Park
Mzansi, Firehouse

On the 11th of the month, Fort Canning will pulse to the rhythm of South Africa when Mzansi (Xhosa for south and the nickname for South Africa) stages a live concert party featuring afro-fusion groups and afro-dance music. More than a name, Mzansi is an attitude; experience music as it is enjoyed in the taxis, townships, clubs and the streets of South Africa, from Mafikeng to Gugulethu.

The Best New Hard Rock / Metal Band of the 1991 American Music Awards, Firehouse (pictured above) returns to Singapore after thirteen years on the 30th of June. Their musical style has evolved over the years - though rooted in hard rock - and in the process they are estimated to have sold seven million albums globally.  

Eonnagata (4 & 5 June @ The Esplanade Theatre, pictured left) is the story of Chevalier d’Éon, Charles de Beaumont – diplomat, writer, swordsman - and probably the first spy to use transvestitism in the course of his work.

This piece of dance, theatre and sword dancing about the abstruse world of androgyny in the time of King Louis XV also draws on Kabuki Onnagata (male actors portraying female roles in an extremely stylized fashion), showcasing the talents of internationally acclaimed dancer Sylvie Guillem, theatrical wizard Robert Lepage and award-winning choreographer Russell Maliphant, as well as those of the late, acclaimed fashion designer Alexander McQueen and lighting pioneer Muchael Hulls.

The Full Monty (18 June – 4 July), is a Broadway musical (adapted from the 1997 British hit comedy) about six unemployed men who create a striptease act. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as eleven Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical.

The Broadway production played for 770 sell-out performances. This Singapore premiere is produced by the newly formed local theatre company pANGDEMONiUM.

Children’s Season 2010 by the National Museum of Singapore: (14 May – 18 July)

Introducing young people to contemporary art is the goal, and this Children’s Season pays tribute to the art of oral tradition through performances, activities, workshops, tours and storytelling. The Singapore Art Museum has been transformed into a magical garden with artworks and projects inspired by nature. Details available here

Visit Anita’s website Singapore For Kids

* Some photographs were taken by Anita, others are courtesy SISTIC, from their website.

Anita Thomas | 07 June 2010