EVERYBODY LOVES A SOIREE! CHRISTMAS 2023 EDITION

EVERYBODY LOVES A SOIREE!

CHRISTMAS 2023 EDITION

This year has been a quiet one on the soiree front for yours truly. However, trust Culture Link's Goh Ching Lee, former director of the Singapore Arts Festival, for organising a cosy and informal soiree on Wednesday (20 December 2023) for her arts-loving friends just short of a week before Christmas. The Christmas tree and decorations were up, the glasses for prosecco and booze were ready, and all was left for the music and musicians to sort themselves out. Interestingly, it turned out to be a mostly-German evening even if nobody had planned it that way.

Here is the photographic evidence of a soiree to be remembered:

The highlight of the soiree was 
Brahms' Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor (Op.38)
from Loke Hoe Kit and Goh Ching Lee.

Hoe Kit was a figure of concentration.

For the first time, the sonata was
performed in its entirety, all 3 movements!

Zhang Heyang from Lianhe Zaobao
followed with Fritz Kreisler's Liebesleid.

And here's the food! Ching Lee with
ex-National Museum Director Lee Chor Lin.

Piano duet time, Ching Lee & Tou Liang
in Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture.

Ching Lee's solos included a Brahms Intermezzo,
Czerny's Ricordanza Variations
and several Scarlatti Sonatas.

Pianomaniac's night-themed pieces:
Schubert's An die Musik,  an Impromptu,
Schumann's Traumerei,
slow movements from Beethoven's
Moonlight and Pathetique Sonatas,
Debussy's Clair de lune and Reverie

Being the loyal German she is,
Huang Ying's duets with Pianomaniac
were all centred on J.S.Bach!
Air in D, Wachet Auf!, Sheep May Safely Graze
and the Great Fugue in G minor (BWV.542)

How many German engineers and publishers
does it take to make this Christmas thingy work?
Vorsprung durch Technik!

A Christmas group wefie
Credit: Zhang Heyang

Wishing everybody a blessed Christmas

and Happy New Year!