Grand Concert 2012 @Aula Simfonia Jakarta

I know...I said that I'm going to post 3 times a week but I simply have quite lots of things to write (I even have several drafts ready to post he he he). Maybe 3 posts a week is the minimum   :-)  I would like to tell you about the concert that I recently saw with my hubby.

It was all started on one day (last week), when my hubby suddenly gave me two tickets for Grand Concert 2012 held at Aula Simfonia Kemayoran. From the tickets, it looked like the grande symphony concert which in a way, was intimidating he he he. My hubby showed eagerness to attend this eventhough he doesn’t listen to classic and I am sure he cannot mention one classic title. I was skeptical and I started to explain to him about the rule for attending a concert like this (which is way different from attending a boysband concert). Starting from the proper attire to solemn atmosphere during the concert which even a sneeze can get some sssshhhttttt from the one sitting beside you, not to mention the on-time performance in which door will be closed during the performance (so no in/out for restroom) and many more.

The finale performance

To my surprise, my hubby still showed his eagerness and excited to attend (perhaps because he never attended one), so I was preparing myself for this too (it seemed his excitement was rub on to me). We arrived 15mins before the show (lucky we could find parking lot easily), in pretty much proper attire when we saw most of others were in their casual tshirt...WHAT??? I was killing myself with these killing-high-heel-shoes and they came with Crocs sandals pheww. Beside, quite lots of number were bringing along their kids too (some were even babies). I was started to doubt…is it really a concert? Mindful with our surrounding (it was our first time there and we practically didn’t know our ways), we followed the stream of people into a concert hall with dome ceiling.

Anna Koor and Ta-Jen Lee

The hall is big, in ellipse shape with 4tiers of seating. The stage was quite small for symphony orchestra, is decorated in some sort of cylinders which reminded me of tabular bells. I was quite stunned, seeing a very ancient looking celesta on the right corner of the stage (which was still working perfectly). It was almost full so we sit on the 3^rd tier (where I had to squint my eyes for a better sight on the stage). Time showed 7pm already and yet stream of people still getting in and nobody on the stage yet. I sighed…Indonesia’ culture of rubber watch. It was right on 7.15pm when members of the orchestra started to take their seats on the stage. The chamber orchestra was composed neatly from percussions to stringed instruments, from wood-wind to brass instruments. My hubby was particularly interested with bassoon, a woodwind instrument which (my hubby said) looked like a riffle he he he.  

Another 5mins later, the show was opened with a prayer and continued with a-quite-long-opening-speech by Dr. Stephen Tong. In his speech, Dr. Stephen Tong stressed the important of quality music for young generation and his purpose in building the Aula Simfonia. So this grand concert was intended to introduce classic music to the young generation (no wonder there were so many kid and children around…I would have brought mine along as well). This grand concert was performed by chamber orchestra of Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra with Dr. Stephen Tong as the conductor and Eunice Tong Holden as the chorus master (is she - his daughter?). Beside it, they presented Cecilia Yap - the world-famous soprano singer from Malaysia, Singaporean alto singer - Anna Koor, Stevanus Darmawan - Indonesian tenor singer and Ta-Jen Lee, the baritone singer.

The performance was opened with Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major, KV 453 – Allegro with Indah L. Hertanto on piano (played on IDR 4B grand piano wow), then continued with Andante with cadence played by flute and back to piano on Allegretto - Presto parts. Right on the Andante part, I saw many were yawning…no doubt, the music was slow and low, with dimmed lighting which was quite perfect for sleeping. But when they played the Allegretto Presto, which is naturally faster, I could see the audience straightening their backs again. Next, we listened to the amazing duet of Cecilia Yap and Anna Koor on Sous le dome epais (Lakme) of L. Delibes and continued with Cecilia Yap on Addio, del passato (La Traviata) of G. Verdi, accompanied by Stephen Cahyadi on piano.

After an hour or so, I could see the audience was restless, either because of mosquitoes, or the cold air-con or because of the music itself. Some were going in/out of the room. The back-stage committees sure were capable, promptly giving a big sign of ‘no wandering around’ or ‘no flash photography’ and so on. I have to admit, not all people love classic music (it is considered difficult to enjoy by some - even me, i have certain classic pieces that i dislike as well), even though those audience clapped their hands right after each piece (I wonder whether they gave some sort of cue when to clap and when not to). For me, I used the conductor's hand as my cue. My hubby himself, focused on the instruments rather than the music. And me - I was restless myself, but mainly because of the hard-wood chair that I sit on. It was such a pain to sit for quite a long time on it, so I had to keep moving my weight accordingly. Not to mention, there were no break at all so I had to contain my bladder’s need phewww.

After that, we listened to Overture: La Scala di Seta of G. Rossini with dominance on oboe (another woodwind instrument) then Overture: Le Nozze di Figaro of Mozart. Duet of Anna Koor and Ta-Jen Lee came right after it, with Mozart’  La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni), followed by Benedictus (Requiem) with all orchestra singers. Perhaps the committee already foresaw the restless condition, suddenly there was a cat sound which attracted our attention. It was so similar with the real cat sound that I thought somebody must have let the cat in. It turned out to be G. Rossini’s Duetto buffo di due gatti by Cecilia Yap and Anna Koor which was improvised into a cat-fight song. Who would have thought that the singers improvised the song with only 2-syllables word from beginning until the end, there were no other word than meow. But the singers sang it beautifully, from low tunes to high pitch, from vibrated meow to melodic one, from plain meow to seducing style (complete with the claws). The alto singer sang with lots of charm…I got a feeling like a female cat was flirting with certain male cat while licking its body. This piece was like a waking alarm...a playful surprise…all were laughing and enjoying this piece a lot. It was the first time I heard children laughter spread across the hall (I was amazed they were quiet –not even a babble or whimper - during the show, which was not expected he he he perhaps they were sleeping). There were thundering clapping hands after the cat song.

After that we had some offering for the church and prayer before the concert was closed with Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in D minor, op 125 (iii) Adagio molto e cantabile and finale parts. Some of us might have heard this famous piece, which was adapted into the well-known Ode to Joy. This finale piece was performed by the whole chamber orchestra along with the singers and choir. Superb and spectacular! There was standing ovation for this finale.

Music is supposed to be enjoyed by everyone, not only by selected group of people. Once in a while concert might not enough but at least this grand concert had taken the first step in introducing the classic music and widening the coverage of classic music. Perhaps, there will be time when we could listen to street-performance of classic music in our tshirt and sandals, with wailing babies tagging along   *grinning*

Bravo for Mozart! Bravo for Beethoven! And bravo for other composers and the whole orchestra as well.

PS. I am not an expert in classic music (and I'm not going to be one of them hehehe), so please kindly inform me of any mistake on this post.