Six years and a day after my first performance at Victoria Concert Hall came my last. Both were Prometheums, X and XIII, and both featured alumni playing chess, or rather, Chess. The difference was, this time, I would be playing as the alumni. And how far we've come, the Prometheum X alumni band was a motley collection of RI alumni, brought together solely for Prometheum, while the alumni band of Prometheum XIII would be the well-established (I hope) Raffles Winds.
Sadly I had to work in the morning, and rushed down after some failed hairstyling by my colleagues. Had lunch in the good old RJC canteen, which I do miss. I then headed over to the Varese to get the stuff ready.
While we were preparing, Amir said that the RI people had requested our help to move the percussion instruments. It ended up being a mostly RWinds effort in loading the percussions up, until Mr Oura saw this. He unleashed all fury on the RI people, and blasted them with the question of why all the "old people" were on the lorry doing all the work (Amir promptly responded "We're not old").
Eventually we boarded the buses and headed for VCH for the last time. Once there, we moved instruments up, and once again, I felt unsurprised at the lack of efficiency on the RI side. However, their soundcheck did sound better than I expected.
Soon it was our turn. Problems with the tenor saxophone scores aside, everything went well, and I was confident that it would be a good performance. Dinner was spaghetti, which was excellent, probably the best I've had pre-concert in Singapore. I then proceeded to change, and headed to the foyer to meet people. I met Shuotian, Calvin, Huijun and Paul and passed them their tickets, but didn't enter the hall as I wanted to mentally prepare myself for our performance.
Intermission came and we assembled backstage, before quickly proceeding onto the stage to warm up and tune. Soon, the bell rang, the emcees introduced us, we stood as Quanhui strode on stage, and proceeded with what was possibly, if not definitely, the best performance in the history of Raffles Winds.
Up was uplifting, we played well, and I could think of few, if any, problems, none of them major. I really enjoyed playing this lighthearted, relaxing piece, and I'm glad Jinjun and I recommended it.
Chess was, quite simply, the best performance RWinds has put up so far, in my opinion. Despite the fact that there were a few problems, and it was I think not as well played as Up, considering the relative difficulty and length, I think we did really well. Anthem especially brought a lump to my throat. Having recordings of superb quality helps of course. Quanhui's passion was evident, not to mention infectious, and I played my heart out, for RWinds and for VCH.
After the performance, we vacated the stage to allow RI to enter. Jinjun and I busied ourselves collecting scores, following which, possibly the largest camwhore session I have ever seen ensued. Cameras were flashing left, right and center, probably because of the amount of time we had before the end of the concert. Near the end though, I snuck out and to the stage door on the opposite side, to watch Mr Oura conduct from the performer's POV, or at least, as close as I could.
When the whole performance is over, we took a few more shots, then moved our stuff down to the porch. While waiting for the RI people to load the percussions, my batchmates and a few of the other RWinds members had a chat with Mr Oura, discovering, among other things, his Facebook profile.
We headed back to school and after packing up, the remaining RWinds members headed for Junction 8 for supper. During supper, we discussed the plans for the Coda VI cycle, and set the wheels in motion.
This concert was a significant performance to me. Of course, all my performances, no matter how small, are significant, but this was particularly special in that it would be my last at Victoria Concert Hall before she underwent plastic surgery. Victoria Concert Hall has been the site of most of my most precious memories, especially Prometheum XI, Coda IV and Coda V. I will forever treasure her.
On the RWinds side, I was thankful for the chance to do more with RWinds besides just a yearly Coda. I think this performance really showed what we can do, and I wish for more such chances, to keep the RWinds momentum going.
Of course, I need to thank Mr Oura, once again, for his patience in taking RI band through this concert, for all the wisdom he's shared and for all the fun moments too (like when he found my file lying around). Someone I'll never forget, really.
I guess it was a fitting end to a VCH career. Here's a final tribute to the great concert hall.
2004 - Prometheum X
2005 - Unisono
2006 - National Band Competition, Prometheum XI, Coda II
2007- Coda III
2008 - Coda IV
2009 - Coda V
2010 - Prometheum XIII
Thanks, VCH.
For RIMB and RWinds.
For Twelve Seconds to the Moon, Ragtime, Vox Stellarum, Seventh Night of July, Saga, Up and Chess.
For the music and the memories.
For everything.
Intermission came and we assembled backstage, before quickly proceeding onto the stage to warm up and tune. Soon, the bell rang, the emcees introduced us, we stood as Quanhui strode on stage, and proceeded with what was possibly, if not definitely, the best performance in the history of Raffles Winds.
Up was uplifting, we played well, and I could think of few, if any, problems, none of them major. I really enjoyed playing this lighthearted, relaxing piece, and I'm glad Jinjun and I recommended it.
Chess was, quite simply, the best performance RWinds has put up so far, in my opinion. Despite the fact that there were a few problems, and it was I think not as well played as Up, considering the relative difficulty and length, I think we did really well. Anthem especially brought a lump to my throat. Having recordings of superb quality helps of course. Quanhui's passion was evident, not to mention infectious, and I played my heart out, for RWinds and for VCH.
After the performance, we vacated the stage to allow RI to enter. Jinjun and I busied ourselves collecting scores, following which, possibly the largest camwhore session I have ever seen ensued. Cameras were flashing left, right and center, probably because of the amount of time we had before the end of the concert. Near the end though, I snuck out and to the stage door on the opposite side, to watch Mr Oura conduct from the performer's POV, or at least, as close as I could.
When the whole performance is over, we took a few more shots, then moved our stuff down to the porch. While waiting for the RI people to load the percussions, my batchmates and a few of the other RWinds members had a chat with Mr Oura, discovering, among other things, his Facebook profile.
We headed back to school and after packing up, the remaining RWinds members headed for Junction 8 for supper. During supper, we discussed the plans for the Coda VI cycle, and set the wheels in motion.
This concert was a significant performance to me. Of course, all my performances, no matter how small, are significant, but this was particularly special in that it would be my last at Victoria Concert Hall before she underwent plastic surgery. Victoria Concert Hall has been the site of most of my most precious memories, especially Prometheum XI, Coda IV and Coda V. I will forever treasure her.
On the RWinds side, I was thankful for the chance to do more with RWinds besides just a yearly Coda. I think this performance really showed what we can do, and I wish for more such chances, to keep the RWinds momentum going.
Of course, I need to thank Mr Oura, once again, for his patience in taking RI band through this concert, for all the wisdom he's shared and for all the fun moments too (like when he found my file lying around). Someone I'll never forget, really.
I guess it was a fitting end to a VCH career. Here's a final tribute to the great concert hall.
2004 - Prometheum X
2005 - Unisono
2006 - National Band Competition, Prometheum XI, Coda II
2007- Coda III
2008 - Coda IV
2009 - Coda V
2010 - Prometheum XIII
Thanks, VCH.
For RIMB and RWinds.
For Twelve Seconds to the Moon, Ragtime, Vox Stellarum, Seventh Night of July, Saga, Up and Chess.
For the music and the memories.
For everything.
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