RAINTOWN SERENADES CHARITY PIANO RECITAL – 22nd FEBRUARY 2024

In conjunction with Taiping’s 150 years celebrations, the time-honoured 1885 Taiping New Club opened its doors to the public at 7:30 pm yesterday, to invite German-Taiwanese pianist Marcel Tienhao Mok to present three masterpieces of classical piano music.

This “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, as the President of the Club Mr. Tang Yuet Mun called it, turned into a festival for the senses. A diverse audience of over 200 in the fully sold-out hall was fascinated by a world-class performance of Beethoven’s majestic “Waldstein” sonata and his famous classic “Moonlight Sonata”, followed by the energy-laden sonata no. 2 which Russian composer Sergej Prokofiev had written just before the outbreak of the first world war.

The good cause of the event attracted many industrial and private sponsors. Taiping’s MP YB Ong Seng Guan even had the idea of sponsoring 30 free tickets to be given to residents from all races and walks of life. Following the motto “Music helping Musicians”, all profits from the event are donated to the local King Edward school’s marching band, the so-called “Band of Edwardian Tigers (the BEATS)”, to support their supply of uniforms and instruments. At the end of the 2-hour event, the astounded audience witnessed a spontaneous surprise performance, when 23 boys from the BEATS joined Marcel and played some popular tunes together.

One group of local spectators said “last night was our first experience attending such event. Though it’s classical music, but we enjoyed and we got excited about it.” In a spontaneous move, one of the boys from SKE gave his uniform tie to the pianist and asked him “Sir, when are you coming back to us again?” That’s how music builds bridges between cultures.