Multiple awardwinning concert bands to perform in Kuching
A concert which features the collaboration of multiple award-winning concert and marching bands in Kuching is set to happen this Dec 10 at Tan Sri William Tan Auditorium in SMK St Joseph from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
The concert with the theme ‘Friends in Concert’ will feature St Joseph’s School Marching Band, St Joseph’s Family of Schools Concert, St Teresa’s School Concert and Sri Kuala Lumpur International School Wind Orchestra.
This concert will also feature guest conductor Maestro Mitsuo Nonami from Japan.
Music director Wilson Tan said the students are very excited to be able to perform again after the band activities and rehearsals were stopped for more than two years during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Over the last two years, the performing arts were severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic as all live performances were stopped. In fact, the students were preparing for a concert but had to be cancelled because of the Movement Control Order (MCO),” he said.
He added that music is meant to be shared and enjoyed with audiences and together with all the students, they are very excited to be able to share their music with the local community in Kuching.
“Students who join the band programme in all three schools mostly have no prior musical background. They only started learning music and instruments after joining the band programme. They have worked hard for this concert and they are really excited to be able to share their music to our community in Kuching,” he said.
The concert will feature four different school bands who are collaborating to make this concert a success.
St Joseph’s School Marching Band is no stranger to the local community as they are multiple times state champions. They have also won the national championship and overseas championships in Italy, Germany and USA.
St Joseph’s Family of Schools Concert Band was newly formed in 2017 but has gone on to win multiple awards locally and internationally. Most recently, they were crowned champions in the Malaysia International Virtual Band Championships (MIVBC) in the Concert Band Category (2021) and Percussion Ensemble Category (2022).
Another band, St Teresa’s School Concert Band, was awarded the Gold Award in the Malaysia International Virtual Band Championships (MIVBC) 2021.
Joining them from Kuala
Lumpur is the Sri Kuala
Lumpur International School Wind Orchestra, who won the Gold Award in the Taoyuan International Band Competition and Silver Award in the Singapore International Band Festival.
They have toured and performed in many countries such as China, Australia and South Korea.
On the ticket sales, Tan said that all tickets were sold out after an overwhelming response from the Kuching community.
“All tickets to the concert were sold out after they were put on sale after a week. I am personally very thankful to all our supporters and hope that everyone will enjoy the performances from our students,” he said.
Tan also said that future concerts are being planned and hoped to be able to perform more frequently to give the students more performing opportunities and also for our community to enjoy their music.