Concert benefits school adopted by resort
KOTA KINABALU: Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) recently renewed their commitment to provide free music lessons to the 23 young musicians from Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa's adopted school, Bantayan Inanam Primary School, and children from four other learning centres and schools after the Orchestra recently raised RM38,000 from its Soiree by the South China Sea concert staged at the resort last month to fund its outreach programme.
Orchestra founders Chou Yang Ching and Yap Ling were recently at the primary school with Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa General Manager Gavin Weightman and Resident Manager Allen Khoo to visit the children they have taken under their wing since March this year and the children's supportive school principal Junaidah Yassin and teacher Hedzal Pitrus.
The children performed at the concert that was touted to be the first al fresco dinner concert by the South China Sea here. Although it was later moved indoors because of unfavourable weather, the audience was impressed with what the 230-strong musicians on stage presented that evening. It featured an enviable list of maestros like tenor Samuel Lim and soprano Cecilia Yap from Kuala Lumpur, tenor Brendan Au from Singapore, violinist Mathias Boegner from Beijing and violinist Dr Prapansak Pumin from Bangkok.
The charity concert brought these seasoned classical musicians, the orchestra's 70 members and more than 100 children from JPO's outreach programme together to perform to raise awareness on the orchestra's charity initiative.
“We hope to be able to get more funding for the outreach programme after establishing more awareness through this concert,” said president of the Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra, Jessica Lee.
The concert was the finale of JPO's annual four-day music festival. Amongst the other activities organized for the festival were master classes and lectures on music therapy held at University Malaysia Sabah from August 20 to 24.
Sabah-based JPO was formed by Yap Ling and Chou Yang Ching in 2007 to provide a platform and opportunities for like-minded persons to share music with members of the public.
JPO started its outreach programme six years ago, giving free violin lessons to children living in rural areas.
“Through this programme, we hope to widen their horizons and offer them more opportunities outside their villages. In return, we ask the exceptional pupils and their parents to give back to the society by considering working for JPO's outreach programme as paid teachers to new music pupils in rural towns,” said Yap.
Among the five learning centres and schools under this programme is Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa's adopted school, Bantayan Inanam Primary School.
The resort adopted government-funded Bantayan Inanam Primary School in 2016 and together with various local business partners, have since been supporting it through various planned activities, including English book donations to the school's library, provision of nutritious food for the children who cannot afford to bring their own snacks to school, working with the local medical community to create medical records for the students and measure their nutrition levels, maintenance and upgrading of current infrastructure to create a safe environment for the pupils.
Funds raised during this JPO concert go towards paying for the children's music exam fees, music teachers' fees, instruments, and to expand the programme to include students with special needs.
The dinner concert was endorsed by the Sabah Tourism Board and supported by the resort.