The Great Neck Community Church has invited us to share their joy and celebration at their Thanksgiving Dinner. A church member, Ms Phyllis Tan, has generously sponsored the feast, and Ms Julie Li Chih Wei has kindly make all the arrangement for our visit. Now that my children have sufficient rest and have enjoyed themselves for the past few days, they arrive fresh and excited at the church. Everyone joined in the thanskgiving and feast, including our friendly Tour Coach Driver.
In the words of my Concert Mistress, Rebecca Beh, "....we had a sumptious dinner..." We sure did. I think the best part of the trip is the food. We seemed to be having feasts every single day!
The Church members were all very friendly and took great care of us.
Photos below: We looked like students from the Hogwarts School of Magic at their Grand School Dining Hall....ok, use your imagination please.
In appreciation of the warm hospitality of the church members, my children performed for them 2 pieces composed by J.S. Bach, one of them is Where The Sheep Safely Graze. We have particularly chosen pieces from J.S Bach because Bach, the great musician, is also a devout christian in the lutheran tradition. During his time, there was a high demand for religious music, therefore, sacred music became the centre of his repertory. Bach's music was steeply influenced by his christain faith. He was able to produce music for an audience that was committed to serious, regular worship.
The ensemble played surprisingly well. In the words of Concert Mistress Rebecca Beh, "We couldn't hear each other playing on stage so we had to rely alot on Mr Tong's conducting. Although we coud not hear what each of us was playing, we did pretty well. The friendly people here enjoyed our performance, and again, I am very happy with the ensemble!"
By the way, I was supposed to sing two songs on that beautiful night, but didn't manage to. Anyway here they are, not sang by me, of course. Please click on the song name and enjoy...
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22/11/2010 JPS Performance at United Nations HQ, New York!
Concert Mistress, Rebecca Beh, " We were feeling excited as it was a rare opportunity to perform at the United Nations Headquarter, New York. At the same time, we also felt sad, because this would be the last time we perform together again. Many of us are graduating from primary school this year. "
Yes, it is an honour to be able to perform here, as a young student ensemble from Singapore. My wife had slot in a piece of paper into my folder before I set off for this trip, with these words written prominently on it:
Only One Aim - Only One Mission - Make Singapore Proud
I am not sure if I have achieved that but I am grateful to our Singapore Permanent Mission for supporting us and sponsoring the event. I am also grateful to the UN HQ, NY for hosting this performance in their compound. And I take this opportunity to thank Ms Suzie Tan, the First Secretary at the Singapore Permanent Mission for her tremendous help to make this a smooth and successful performance for the children. Many government official and diplomats came to support the JPS String Ensemble at the UNHQ. They were very impressed with the young players; The children also enjoyed talking to these adults who came to cheer them on.
Left : The cellist were very hardworking, they practised till their skin peeled at their finger tips.
Right: Sectional warm up...halloo...young man, are you playing guitar? Haha...have to admit he got style!
Above: We just arrived at the United Nations HQ, New York. We were early because the security clearance was expected to be strict and would take some time.
Below: Sorry for the sudden cut-off in the video below. We were warming up and I think we were being informed that it was time to get ready for our preformance.
United Nations, hear the Singapore kids from Jurong Primary School make music!
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Music Programmes During the Trip
I have arranged a comprehensive music programme for the string ensemble, however, I am unable to put up much photos here as we are not allowed to take photographs inside the buildings. The children learnt alot at Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
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| Lincoln Center |
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| "Sneak" Preview |
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| Carnegie Hall |
We also watched the World Famouse Violinist Anne Sophia Mutter performed with New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Michael Francis at Avery Fisher Hall. She played Mozart, Wolfgang and Rihm very well and NY Phil is simply awesome. It was a fantastic evening.
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| Anne Sophia Mutter |
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| Michael Francis |
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? ... Practice! Practice! Practice!
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