A DATE WITH MAXIM VENGEROV @ YST

A DATE WITH 

MAXIM VENGEROV

Tuesday (27 August 2024)

The great Siberia-born Israeli violinist Maxim Vengerov was in town to perform with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra this weekend, but he had a special date with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. It involved an afternoon masterclass with violin students, an award presentation conferred by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and a special performance of his own.  

He was conferred the ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in music, medicine and humanitarian causes, presented to him by the Dean of Medicine Prof Chong Yap Seng. There was also a short speech via video-link by the former President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, who named him one of musical history's greatest violinists, alongside Eugene Ysaye, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin.

Vengerov himself spoke, recounting how his teachers exhorting him to work hard and head West. That meant moving from Novosibirsk (Siberia) to Moscow and then Germany, before arriving to East Asia and Singapore! The take home message he had was not just for musicians but for everybody, "Try and listen to people more". That was the recipe for solving the world's problems today.

The fine evening concluded with a wonderful performance of Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata in F major (Op.24), partnered by the Conservatory's Head of Piano Studies Albert Tiu. Needless to say, it was a magical performance, filled with passion and not a little lyricism.    

A souvenir from the evening:
my copy of Vengerov's Gramophone Award
winning Shostakovich-Prokofiev disc signed!

25 YEARS AFTER GRADUATION: Photographs from MY MEDICAL SCHOOL CLASS REUNION

Oh how time flies! It seemed just a short while ago when I first entered university as an 18-year-old freshly disrupted from National Service. That was in July of 1984 when the doors of National University of Singapore's Medical Faculty opened for an unruly bunch of 210 fresh wet-behind-the-ears wannabes.

This was the class of 1984-1989, five years of our short lives spent as undergraduates in then Singapore's only medical school, before being unleashed into an unsuspecting world as people carrying the title DR. What a responsibility that was, and still is!  

About 150 of us attended our third class reunion, held at some repository for marine organisms on some island south of Telok Blangah. It was a good time to reminisce about the past and the follies of youth. Despite the lapse of 25 years, somehow little has changed - the way we laughed, the sort of crude jokes we made - and it seemed like the same 18-year-olds were back again. My hairstyle remained the same as it was in 1984 except that androgenetic alopecia now replaced the SAF barber. Somehow the girls looked prettier now than before, and I hadn't even had a drop of alcohol!  

Here are some photos taken with a small segment of the class. Everybody carries the title DR, except for those who are PROF, BG (Ret) and REV. I've also included their medical specialities just for completeness sake.

The group known was Tutorial Group W,
minus two ladies and one neurosurgeon.

Pary Sivaraman (Nephrology), Sim Chin Keng (Anaesthesia),
Kang Chai Har (Housewifery), Chua Teck Bin (Medical Admin),
Winston Chew Yoon Chong (Hand Surgery) &
Victor Khoo Boo Peng (Dermatology).

With Nelson Chua aka Rambo,
who was also my long suffering-buddy in
the Medical Officer Cadet Course.

Nelson Chua (Aneasthesia), Au Eong Kah Guan (Ophthalmology),
Erik Ang Sze Wee (Plastic Surgery) and his wife
Karen Yap (Breast Surgery).

With one of the most popular girls in class,
Marie Stella Platon Cruz (Family Medicine),
who played tennis and made male heads turn.

A fun photo for a change: (From L to R)
Rukshini Puvanendran, Angela Leong, Mabel Cheng
& Teoh Mei Lin (all Family Medicine)

With PROF Philip Iau (not Psychiatry alas, but Breast Surgery)
He was recently part of a team of surgeons who
cycled from Singapore to Sweden to raise funds for
breast cancer research. Some people have all the fun.  

The Joan Chen lookalike Linda Ng Sok Bee (Fmily Medicine),
Tan Ban Hock (Infectious Disease) and Tan Soo Yong (Pathology).

This reunion goes even further than most, three students
from Pr 5A of Catholic High School 1976.
With me is PROF Koh Dow Mu (Radiology) and
PROF Lim Tock Han (Ophthalmology). The combined IQ
here is in excess of 500. Given that mine is about 100,
you can work out what their's are.

Colleen Kim Thomas (Internal Medicine), Angela Leong,
Justina Dairianathan, Mabel Cheng, Tan Ruh Yuh,
Janelene Leong & Lim Hong Mui (all Fam Med).

The last photo and a bullet to the head:
Khoo Boo Peng (Dermatology), Yoong Nyuk Moi
(Family Medicine) & Tan Bien Keem (Plastic Surgery).

THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!