3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION / Winners Announced

The results of the 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition were delivered shortly after 10.20 pm, which did not take very long to arrive. According to Chairman of the Jury Vladimir Ashkenazy, the decision was unanimous. By 10.30 pm, everybody was ready to go home, but many stayed behind to meet and greet and have their photos taken.

The final placings were as follows:

FIRST PRIZE: Giuseppe Andaloro (Italy)

SECOND PRIZE: Sato Keina (Japan)

THIRD PRIZE: Tsai Min Hao (Taiwan)

FOURTH PRIZE: Ann Soo Jung (South Korea)

FIFTH PRIZE: Elmar Gasanov (Russia)

SIXTH PRIZE: Chen Han (Taiwan)

Giuseppe Andaloro learns he has just won the 3rd HKIPC.

Even at 14 years of age, Tsai Min Hao (red and white stripes) stands out among the throng.

Prof. Li Mingqiang congratulates Andaloro as Ashkenazy looks on.

Garrick Ohlsson has some words for the winner too.

All the winners, Jinsang Lee (2008), Ilya Rashkovskiy (2005) and Giuseppe Andaloro (2011) with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Drs Andrew and Anabella Freris. Winners all!

A lovely Korean pair: Jinsang Lee and Ann Soo Jung.

Chen Han with the Boss.

Peter Frankl congratulates Sato Keina.

The winners have a victory smoke.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Finals Day 3, Part 1

HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Finals Day 3 (Sunday, 30 October 2011)

CHEN HAN (Taiwan)

The second of two Taiwanese boys, 19-year-old Chen Han, opened the evening with Howard Blake’s Speech after Long Silence. Playing from a score, his was a glacial account, very slow to the point of being stultifying. Soporific might be the more appropriate term, and it sounded very much like a struggle. However there was some method to this madness, as if it were a protracted rubato, making the faster passages sound more brilliant in comparison. This extreme swing in dynamics also had the uncanny effect of reminding one of Scriabin’s more frenzied pages, so it all worked out in a weird way.

Only in a piano competition will one get to hear two performances of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto in the space of one evening. It’s either piano heaven or an overdose of romantic excess. In either case, the results can be quite exciting, as tonight proved. The first performance of Rach 3 came from Chen Han, who is studying at The Juilliard School. His was a steady and quietly confident account, as if keeping his emotions in reserve until some pivotal movement. I waited, and that moment did not occur in the first movement, which sounded for most part restrained and small scaled. The lyrical second subject was lovingly shaped, which underlined the young man’s sensitivity and sensibilities. The choice of the lighter and more scintillating cadenza was the right one, as the brooding chordal alternative would not have been appropriate here.

The slow movement’s orchestral introduction was taken a little too slowly, in fact it dragged, but Chen’s entry was excellent and it was here when his performance began to take wing and soar. The whimsical little waltz episode was brilliantly dispatched, a good prelude for the finale’s fest of prestidigitation. His fingers did not fail him for a second, and if there were a point of regret, it was he did not shape the movement’s soaring (and more vital) second with greater clarity. There were two chances for it, and he did not make the big melody happen. And there was also a tendency to rush the fences, almost leaving the orchestra in his wake. Nevertheless, this was a performance which grew in stature, and one that made a listener care about the music and the performer.

My verdict: This young man has potential and bears watching, and even if he does not win here, the experience would have been immense.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Finals Day 3, Part 2

HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Finals Day 3 (Sunday, 30 October 2011)

ANN SOO JUNG (South Korea)

Appearing in a stunning orange gown, the pretty young Korean is an artist who can also make heads turn in many ways than one. In my humble opinion, she gave the most beautiful account of Bake’s Speech. Even playing with a score, her conception of the work as a nocturne was breathtaking, delighting in its lyrical beauty yet revelling in its turbulence. In fact she combined the best qualities of the earlier readings in a sumptuous whole which bears repeated listening.

Her Rach 3 was to be totally different from Chen’s. While the young man was happy to go along with the flow, Ann seemed to dictate the pace and proceedings. She had better sound projection and articulation, and one could sense her going for broke even at an early stage. Although always conscious of making a beautiful sound, the risk-taking had its drawbacks, the number of lapses and flurry of wrong notes was to dog the performance, most notably in the opening movement. Like Chen, she played the shorter mercurial cadenza, even though she might have succeeded with the bigger-boned one. Perhaps it was a case of damage limitation.

The second movement worked much better for her, and it was sheer delight through its rapturous pages, and the ensuing rush into the hectic finale. One has to feel for her as not all the notes were there for the Alla breve finale, and there was an uneasy sense of an accident waiting to happen. However she delivered the big melody well, on both occasions, as the performance worked to a heady conclusion. Here she gave her best shot, and even if this was not to be her day, it was an admirable effort. Her conception and view of the music and its trajectory was close to perfect, it was the execution which fell short.

My verdict: A very musical if flawed account of Rach 3 may have put paid to her chances of a top three finish. Would still definitely want to hear her again.

Having not heard the earlier rounds, I hazard to make any predictions of the final placings, lest one gets egg splattered on the face. However based on the showings in the concerto finals, my choices were as follows:

Winner (Numero Uno): Giuseppe Andaloro

Most raw potential: Tsai Min Hao

Best performance of Blake: Ann Soo Jung

3rd International Hong Kong International Piano Competition / People Watching and Behind the Scenes

The audience waiting at City Hall Concert Hall.

Pianists Ann Soo Jung and Colleen Lee (finalist in the 2005 competition) with family and friends.

Tsai Min Hao now looks like a 14-year-old, with his teacher Lin Yiling (right) and Christine Khor, Director of the National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts (left).

Almost the LCO Quartet: Violinist Magnus Johnston, cellist Pierre Doumenge and violist Louise Williams (violinist Andrew Haveron was serving as concertmaster in the orchestra).

Hong Kong celebrity pianist KJ Wong (right) with his admirers.

Piano technician extraordinaire Yoshi Nishimura travelled from Hawaii to look after the competition's four grand pianos.

A segment of the audience.

French pianist Pascal Rogé obliges with an autograph.

Dr Andrew Freris speaks... which means the concert is about to begin.

IS THIS "OCCUPY STATUE SQUARE", HONG KONG?

Is this "Occupy Statue Square, Hong Kong", part of the worldwide movement of peaceful protests against the evils of capitalism and financial institutions? No, its just a usual Sunday afternoon at Hong Kong's Central district when the roads are closed to allow a peaceful and almost carnival-like mingling of immigrant workers.

A well-behaved throng outside of the Legislative Council building. They could be having a protest, but who knows?

Happy and contented sitters below the City Hall high block.

The road's closed so the pedestrians come out in full force.

Would you believe it, a beauty pageant for foreign domestic workers. What is your greatest mission in life, one candiate was asked. Her confident reply was, "the caring and nurturing of children is my life." What about world peace?

At the subway tunnel on the way to City Hall.

More crowds, this time buying handphones and SIM cards.

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 / Finals Day 2, Part 1

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 2, Saturday 29 October 2011

TSAI MIN HAO (Taiwan)

Much had been said about the sheer prodigiousness of the 14-year old Tsai Min Hao from Taiwan, but nothing quite prepared me for the sight of one so full of self-confidence and poise. The way he bestrode the stage as if he owned it could be attributed less to chutzpah than to the fact he has yet to learn about anything as mundane as nerves or stage fright. The sparkles in his hair and the pin-striped suit were also part of an extroverted personality.

Of course he performed Howard Blake’s Long Speech After Silence from memory. The wonder about musical interpretation is that a given piece can be made to sound so different in the hands of different artists. Young Tsai is probably familiar with the sounds of New Age piano, film music and popular idioms, and his view reflected that slant. Sometimes dirge-like, he wallowed in pregnant silences, slowing the music down to savour its fragrances and even ponder on the facts of life. Then, within a twinkling of an eye he brought it to a spectacular climax before closing emphatically. It was very different from last night’s performances, but equally valid.

Tsai again revealed absolutely no nerves in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. His entry after a long tutti was emphatic, truly making up one sit up and listen. Clearly and meticulously articulated, he made every note count. Yet there was none of that young or youthful exuberance about his reading, and no concessions need to be made on account of his age. There was both subtlety and flexibility in his conception, making one wonder if he were 24 or 34, rather than merely 14. In 1997, the year he was born, Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese. Lan Shui had just been appointed Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and I had just written my very first Straits Times music review. Hardly ancient history.

Having said that, Tsai will have to learn to give up his excess bodily movements, head shakes, rolling of eyes and side glances into the audience. He certainly reminded one of a young Lang Lang before it all went to his head. The slow movement also benefited from a rapt understanding of the music, so graceful that one will easily forgive a wrongly placed chord that showed he was human after all. Some less than subtle brass playing near the end was irksome, but that soon dissipated with the Rondo finale which was a joyous ride from start to finish. Here being young was an asset, as the music sparkled with Tsai’s imaginative prestidigitation. His timing was spot-on, synchronising those runs perfectly with the orchestra’s phrases, bringing on plenty of smiles from an energised Vladimir Ashkenazy on the podium (I was seated close enough to see and sense the body and facial language of those onstage). Both pianist and conductor were clearly enjoying themselves, and should that not be the raison d’etre of all musical activity?

My verdict: Tsai is a name to watch. He has talent to burn and time is on his side. He might just be the second coming of Lang Lang.

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 / Finals Day 2, Part 2

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 2 (Saturday 29 October 2011), Part 2

SATO KEINA (Japan)

Sato Keina is a serious looking young Japanese lady for whom a hint of a smile might even seem a tad too forward. Her maroon evening gown is elegant and understated. She performed the Blake with the score as safety net, when she need not have. Using the sustaining pedal a little more than the others, she achieved an impressionistic glow to her performance, again sounding different from the other versions we have heard. First it began Debussy-like, and later with the onset of chimes and bells, the dissonances were highlighted and it gradually morphed to sound like the ecstatic pages of Messiaen. Again it was different, and a lady friend seated next to me commented on Sato’s “feminine mystique”. I think she hit the nail on the head.

Her Beethoven Third Piano Concerto was also different from Tsai’s. First it sounded more urgent and serious, and she had none of the youngster’s extraneous gestures. Fact: at 27, she is almost double his age. One could also feel a more mature and subtler mind at work, but could apply power and voltage when the need arose. On her debit side, her performance was less clean, having flubbed some of the arpeggio runs in the first movement cadenza. Here she appeared a little vulnerable alongside Tsai’s rock-steady confidence.

I however preferred her view of the slow movement, which had a reverential air besides the requisite poetic beauty. Yet there was a sense of world weariness and fragility that coloured the reading, and a missed note and French horn raspberry seemed to underline that fallibility. The concluding Rondo had a nervous edge that was missing in the young man’s performance, with an emphasis on clearer accents and contours. Much as both pianist and orchestra tried, those moments at the end of the pianist’s dazzling runs which coincided with orchestral cadences did not come off cleanly. It would have been the equivalent of catching lightning in a bottle had those split-second decisions clicked. Conductor Ashkenazy knew it, but he smiled nonetheless. A slightly grim–faced view turned to pure joy from the coda to the final page, and that itself was worthy of good cheer.

My verdict: A more mature but less clean vista of already familiar music. Sato’s self-effacing and embarrassed look summed up her outing. Tsai’s youth and confidence has the edge.

3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition / People Watching and Behind the Scenes

An orderly line forms as the audience awaits entry into Hong Kong's City Hall Concert Hall for the finals of the 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition.

Young Taiwanese pianist Tsai Min Hao, only 14 years of age, meets with his adoring fans, mostly consisting of "aunties".

Ilya Rashkovskiy, 1st prize winner of the 1st Hong Kong IPC in 2005, and his wife Kayo Ueda have just celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary.

Italian pianist Giuseppe Andaloro has his own legion of fans.

Top piano pedagogues of Hong Kong and Malaysia, Eleanor Wong and Snezana Panovska, and their significant others, Sun Sun and Milan.

You're not a significant piano competition unless Dr Gustav Alink (centre), guru of the world's piano concours, attends. He is flanked by John Roos (Pretoria, South Africa) and Jinsang Lee, 1st Prizewinner of the 2nd Hong Kong International Piano Competition in 2008.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Day One Part 1

3^RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 1, Friday 28 October 2011

Oh, how I love Hong Kong! But I would not want to stay here. Take the traffic, for instance. It took me an hour and a half to get from the Airport to the hotel, and another hour from the hotel in East Tsim Sha Tsui to the City Hall Concert Hall on Hong Kong island itself. If not for the Chopin Society of Hong Kong’s President Dr Andrew Freris, whose elaborate pre-concert preambles kept an audience captive, we would have missed the music itself.

For this year’s finals, the Mozart piano concerto has been dropped. Word has it that the jury had been disappointing with performances in previous editions of the competition and felt it a chore to differentiate between six middling to mediocre readings. So it has been replaced by a newly commissioned work written for this concours, British composer Howard Blake’s Speech After Long Silence (below).

HOWARD BLAKE'S Newly commissoned Work

The World Premiere of Blake’s Speech was given by the first finalist, Russia’s Elmar Gasanov. Unlike most new works, whose fate is to be played on multiple occasions ad nauseam at a competition and then shelved for eternity thereafter, this one promises to be heard rather often. Blake’s partiality for tonality and emotional connection (unsurprising for the composer of the children’s favourite The Snowman) makes this a most accessible work. At about 8 minutes, its Romantic gestures replete with lush harmonies and crashing chords resemble an updated and extended version of one of Rachmaninov’s Etudes-tableaux. The key of E flat minor is also telling. Gasanov performed it with a score, but no matter, the performance brought out its colours, and for a Russian who might already be familiar with this idiom, the bell-like sonorities came out trenchantly.

The partnering orchestra for the competition was the Hong Kong Philharmonic, in its very first collaboration. Previous editions had seen the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, HK City Chamber Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra, sometimes augmented with free-lancers, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green do the honours with mixed results. And it was a peculiar sight to see Chairman of the Jury Vladimir Ashkenazy step away from the judges’ table and walk directly to the stage, ascend the podium and conduct. He certainly is a busy man!

ELMAR GASANOV (Russia)

Gasanov’s chosen concerto was Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, a work he should know like the back of his hand. He certainly has the fingers for it – the bold opening chords accompanying its majestic first subject, and the ensuing cadenza of ascending arpeggios set the tone. However there was something rough and ready to the performance, as if soloist and orchestra were not fully engaged with each other. Was it opening night nerves or lack of rehearsal time? An uncharacteristic lapse just before the second subject, at one of the easier passages, underlined the apparent rawness of this outing.

Undeterred, Gasanov generated a nervous tension that makes this masterpiece the exciting work it is. He is generally reliable for most part, alert to its dynamic shifts, barnstorming alternating with and being sensitive when the situation calls for it. His octaves are good if not thunderous (here the Horowitzian element could have come to the fore) and filigreed passages well managed, as was the big cadenza at the end of the first movement. Orchestral contributions for the Andantino semplice slow movement were lovely, particularly the opening flute solo. Gasanov did not disappoint in the lightness of touch for its mercurial pages. The finale mirrored the opening movement with its element of roughness but the Cossack dance was well driven, something one might expect from a pianist born in the Crimea. There were some missed notes in the fray which although may detract if this were a note-to-note audit, but the overall effect was still exciting, with the build-up to the final rush of octaves a quite thrilling one.

My verdict: Far from being the perfect performance of Tchaikovsky, but nevertheless exciting. Will I want to hear this repeated at Esplanade next Friday? In two words, not particularly.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011: Finals Day One, Part Two

3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition Finals

Day 1 / Friday (28 October 2011) Part 2

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO (Italy)

Giuseppe Andaloro, winner of multiple first prizes, would have performed at the First Hong Kong Competition in 2005, but had pulled out last minute having won First Prize at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano the week before. Under the HK competition’s new rules which forbid participation in other competitions three months before or after, he would have been disqualified and barred instead. Anyway, at 29 this would be a last hurrah.

I had heard him perform in 2002, when he made a big impression winning 1^st prize in the London International Piano Competition. In Hong Kong, he did not disappoint. First he performed the Blake work from memory, which immediately gave positive vibes. His was a more nuanced performance, perhaps a little slower than Gasanov’s but far more ruminative. Displaying more shades of colour, it opened more possibilities for imagination. This was not a merely memorised Speech, but one imbued with much thought, probing and ultimately revealing a slew of emotions. Even the tintinnabulation dazzled, and with a more volatile finish, had a sense of improvisation. I am beginning to love this work even more.

What can I say about Andaloro’s view of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto? For starters, it was a more polished outing for both piano and orchestra than Gasanov’s Tchaik One. And he does not merely play the notes, but personalises them. The opening chords were taken with a broad and expansive view (but never protracted, such as in Lang Lang’s case), and this was the tenor of his interpretation. Melancholia seemed paramount in his reading, rather unusual coming from an Italian (brooding being a Slavic preoccupation by birth right), which came out from slow boil to an ecstatic climax of crashing chords. Andaloro seems completely at ease with himself, and that greatly steadied the ship.

The slow movement was simply beautiful with pianist happy to play the accompanying role for the splendid flute and clarinet solos to shine. Here much of the piano’s melodic line is simple, two hands playing the exactly the same notes an octave apart. Andaloro does not gild the lily but lets the music speak for itself. And one could have been lulled to terminal stupor if not for his slow but steadfast build-up and eventual release, the cadenza coming as a spontaneous outburst of raw emotion. Lovely strings concluded this most wondrous of reveries.

In the finale, Andaloro showed he knew the true meaning of scherzando, with a playful romp which belied the thoughtfulness that coloured the big melody. Again, he was restrained in displaying heart-on-sleeve emotion, which could have gone overboard in less poised individuals. That coyness was merely a ploy, as the central tumultuous interlude was unleashed with great vehemence, one in which both pianist and orchestra were as one through every split second. All this made for totally enthralling ride, and when the big melody returned, it was to magnificent effect. Andaloro’s playing was close to faultless, which made this performance ever so memorable Rachamaninov was a master of the musical orgasm, which is why no one (except perhaps the Germans and Austrians) can get enough of this music. And Italians certainly know the meaning of amore.

My verdict: Magnificent performances of Blake and Rachmaninov from Andaloro. Have we seen the winner of this competition? But wait, there are still four more competitors to be heard!

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2011)

HOROWITZ PLAYS LISZT
Sony Classical 88697839872 (4 CDs) / *****

The celebrated Liszt recordings of Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) date from 1930 to within a month of his death. Included in this box-set that merges the RCA and Columbia catalogues are his final recordings, the Prelude to Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen and transcription of Wagner's Isolde’s Liebestod. Made at the grand old age of 86, these are stunning displays of passion and agility. There are no less than five recordings of the Valse Oubliee No.1, spanning some 56 years, illuminated by his skittish and impish humour. Most of all, one seeks his breathtaking view of Liszt’s greatest and lesser-known works.

The mighty Sonata in B minor (recorded in 1949), simply sizzles in his hands, and no lover of the spectacular should miss his outlandish versions of Mephisto Waltz No.1 (1979, incorporating Busoni’s elaborations and much of his own) and Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 (1953). The latter has famously been revived by Lang Lang. For more of this on-the-edge diablerie, the rarely-played Scherzo & March (1967) and Hungarian Rhapsody No.19 (1962) and Ballade No.2 (1981) should also be experienced. The magic and sheer frisson of the Horowitz sound has never been replicated, and even if no new gems have been unearthed, the experience is well worth the outlay.

WHITACRE Choral Music
Elora Festival Singers / NOEL EDISON
Naxos 8.559677 / ****1/2

Some of the most beautiful choral music to be heard this Millennium comes from an unlikely source. The American Eric Whitacre (born 1970), a music graduate from Las Vegas and now some-time model, has been responsible for a new movement of choral music sparked by globalisation and the Internet. His music draws from a rich heritage that is the Russian Orthodox Church, with its long seamless phrases in high registers, regularly resolved dissonances and celestial harmonies. Superficially resembling the works of John Tavener and Arvo Pärt, accessibility and a disarming lack of austerity are his keys to success.

There is a Christian slant to songs like the exquisitely beautiful Lux Aurumque (words by Edward Esch), Her Sacred Spirit Soars (Charles Anthony Silvestri) and I Thank You God For Most This Amazing Day (e.e.cummings), even though these are actually secular texts. The best work is also the longest one in this collection, When David Heard (Second Book of Samuel). A lament of King David at the slain body of his treacherous son Absalom, the repeated cries of “My son” is totally heartrending. When piano and percussion is added for Little Tree, Little Birds and Leonardo Dreams Of His Flying Machine, the effect is magical. The Elora Festival Singers from Ontario, Canada invests spiritual depth with a lightness of spirit. Essential listening for the new age.

Australian String Quartet with Albert Tiu and Qin Li-Wei / Review

AUSTRALIAN STRING QUARTET
with Albert Tiu and Qin Li-Wei
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory
Tuesday (25 October 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 October 2011 with the title "Great strings played for free".

Some of the best things in life are free. If sceptical, why not travel westward and spend an evening at the Conservatory, where most of its concerts are free of charge? A well-filled house was present to witness one of the best chamber concerts this year, all for the cost of a pleasurable two hours.

The draw was the excellent Australian String Quartet, based in Adelaide, staffed by four young and passionate musicians. The fact that all were ladies seemed incidental, their chemistry was palpable, almost infectious. The way they inhabited, rather than merely played, iconic Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s Eighth Quartet was typical.

Rachel Johnston’s cello opened with an agonised sigh, fully cognizant of the description Con dolore (with pain), literally a state of mind that alternated with the glissandi and ethereal harmonics from the violins. In this brief but haunting work, where pentatonic themes and resonant pizzicatos recalled Bartok’s more exotic pages, the voice and soul of the Red Continent were poignantly laid bare.

Cohesion and tightness of ensemble characterised the performance of Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F minor, where the quartet was joined by pianist Albert Tiu (left). The German composer was a young “old soul”, one whose impetuousness was matched by an autumnal calm in its tension-filled 40 minutes.

This reading had everything; sprightliness in the serious opening movement, repose coloured with edginess in the slow movement, and ominous goose-stepping in the powerful scherzo. The finale represented a release but one which had a sense of inevitability. Its apparent joy was tinged with unease, which made this music endlessly fascinating.

More congenial was the rarely-heard String Quintet by the Russian Alexander Glazunov, with Qin Li-Wei (left) guesting as the second cellist. The music conveyed the sunshine of an eternal summer, the idiom as sumptuous as Borodin’s popular quartets, and mood as gay as Tchaikovsky but without the underlying neuroses.

Again, there was nothing to separate the unity of the five, even if Qin appeared slightly odd in the company of the fairer sex. Sally Boud’s sonorous viola set the tone, and Sophie Rowell’s violin sang unabated in the emotional core of the slow movement. Even the academic in Glazunov could not resist attempting a short fugue in the vigourous and earthy finale. Little matter, as it was smiles from beginning to end, and the audience lapped it up without apology.

From Farrer Road to Holland Village via MRT

It's been ages since I last visited Holland Village, four and a half years to be exact. Given the crazy parking situation there, there hasn't been much reason to go despite its many attractions. The opening of the Circle Line MRT has changed that. Its just one stop from home, although 86 cents one-way does appear fairly steep, but this is Singapore, after all. Farrer Road station (above) has a colourfully designed lift shaft to life the greyish gloom.

Holland Village MRT station has actual shops! You could even have a meal here!

The exterior of Holland Village MRT, just outside the Holland Avenue row of shophouses.

Lorong Liput is where the food and shopping is. The windmill (left) is supercilious, as Holland Village was named after a person rather than the country.

Holland Village market and food centre.

Vietnamese and Thai eateries along Lorong Mambong, with a Rockwellian mural in the Vietnamese restaurant Pho Hoa.

Pedestrian-only Lorong Mambong and its drinking holes make it a happening place on weekends.