By Gisele Soo
Movie Paradiso, an orchestra concert hosted by Kinta Valley Symphonic Society (KVSS) took place at the Auditorium Perakfm, Jabatan Penyiaran Malaysia Perak, RTM on Sunday, November 24.
According to the president of KVSS Timothy Tan, this was the first collaboration between Kinta Valley Wind Orchestra and the KLPAC String Orchestra. In attendance were Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor, Wong Kah Woh, main sponsors Wei Dat Steel Wire Sdn Bhd, Pejabat Ahli Parlimen Ipoh Timor and co-sponsors Tenby Schools, Kinta Properties and Team Keris Berhad.
It was an eye-opening experience for the audience. Everyone was squealing with delight. The musicians sounded like they just played it by ear.
The concert featured three types of orchestras, full orchestra, string orchestra and wind orchestra. Soundtracks from movies such as The Lion King, highlights from Spirited Away, Harry Potter, a Beauty and The Beast medley, The Greatest Showman, The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland were performed. “A complete orchestra consists of both string and wind orchestra,” said Norman Ong, the conductor of the KLPAC String Orchestra. There was approximately a total of 100 musicians employed.
An orchestra, according to Timothy, is a group of people making music together. Wong Kah Woh shared a quote by an American songwriter, John Denver, “Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what colour we are, the form of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves we are the same.”
The splendid performance was greeted by auspicious cheering from the audience and what draws the crowd was the marvellous show with a blend of instruments such as violin, viola and cello from string orchestra and flute solo, saxophone, trombones, euphoniums, trumpet, honks, tubas and clarinets from the woodwind orchestra.
The musicians come from various backgrounds, as such, students, working adults and retirees. The youngest musician on stage was a seven-year-old boy. Timothy added, “Every instrument is as equally important as the main instrument as everyone works together to create a harmonically tuned music.”
Why Paradiso?
The word Paradiso which originated from Italy means paradise. “We decided to play movie-themed pieces and tried to tie paradise with a movie, therefore, ‘Movie Paradiso came about’,” Norman Ong explained.
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) is a non-profit organisation where musicians get to practise for free from 2pm to 5pm every Sunday. Musicians are selected through auditions which are held every year. The good thing is, there is no age restriction.
So, what makes them eligible?
Participants need to have a certificate of grade six for violin, and as for cello and viola, grade five and above.
Interested to be part of the musical group? Visit their website, https://www.klpac.org/
