Mus’art Youth Wind Orchestra
Harmony 3 Division, 16 July
Parkstad Limburg Theatre Heerlen, 11.20am
Land of Zarathustra / Amir Molookpour
Symphonic Dances / Yosuke Fukuda
Doowyllob / Hardy Mertens
Participating for the very first time at WMC 2017 is Mus’art Youth Wind Orchestra (MYWO), which is led by resident conductor Wilson Ong.
The youth band, formed shortly in 2009, will follow the footsteps of its parent group Mus’art Wind Orchestra (MWO), which has participated in 2001, 2005 and 2009.
“After attaining Gold in the First Division in WMC 2009, we decided to reserve funds to develop our youths instead. We believe that if the youth can achieve what the main band has done in the past, it will show that they are just as capable, and this would mean a lot for the Mus’art family as a whole,” expressed Lim Sheau Wian, chairwoman of the Mus’art Wind Orchestra.
Current MYWO President Lee Nuan Qi also sees this platform as a opportunity for its members to prove themselves on the international stage.
“When the youth band was started, we had already planned to go to WMC one day. We thought that it would be great if our members get to participate in WMC other than the two concert projects each year. With the band reaching its 5 year mark, we decided to take up this rare opportunity.”
Over the past six months, the youth wind orchestra has been working hard on their music.
The contest will see the wind orchestra premiere ‘Doowyllob‘ (Bollywood spelled backwards), a work that features the exotic impression inspired by Indian film capital Bollywood, interweaving Tamil rap lyrics by Sumathi Alagu Raj.
As part of the programme, they will also be playing the set piece ‘The Land of Zarathustra‘, and choice piece ‘Symphonic Dances‘ by Yosuke Fukuda.
“We decided on our choice piece last year but only received the set piece at the beginning of this year. It was rather tough, but we pushed ourselves hard. WMC is a different level as compared to our projects because a lot more efforts are required to organize this overseas trip. This process is actually some kind of personal development for me,” said Yee Mei Hui, vice-president of MYWO.
“For example as a percussionist, I need to know when my next part is, and which instrument do I need to run to. We have only six members, so each of us need to know our parts and double each other up, or even memorize the music,” she added.
Horn player Danial Matin also expressed his view that every member of the band is important and should play their own part well.
“This is my first time going to WMC, and I am very excited. In my secondary school days, I always hear about WMC and how big the event is; never did I expect myself to be given this opportunity. I think WMC should be a milestone for all band players in Singapore, so that they can challenge themselves to become better.”
Apart from the contest, the wind orchestra will also be having a performance with the local fanfare band Fanfare Eendracht at the Holy family church hall. Music includes MYWO’s contest pieces, Philip Sparke’s Jubilee Overture and a commissioned work by Hardy Mertens – ‘Land of Thousand Flavours‘, which was used for SG50 celebrations in Jurong Central.
With the joint concert repertoire to be prepared on top of its contest music, Sheau Wan believes that the band would be able to cope through the culmination of hardwork of every single member and the organizing committee.
“WMC is a good platform for our youth members to immerse themselves in what the world has to offer in terms of music. But most importantly, they get to showcase what Singapore has to offer artistically.”
A contributing editor at TBP.