The Singapore Lyric Opera performs at the Botanic Gardens

If your impression of opera involves air-kissing, ill-fitting penguin suits and an audience made up of mostly over-50s, the Singapore Lyric Opera wants to change your mind. Its second ‘Opera in the Park’ concert taking place this month at the Botanic Gardens’ Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage aims to seduce the masses unexposed to the artform. The first concert, held there last June, was rapturously received to the tune of a 6,000-strong audience.

Letting its hair down for a day, the SLO’s performance will feature two sopranos and a tenor, singing bon-bons from the opera repertoire as well as ‘Time to Say Goodbye’, made famous by soprano Sarah Brightman and tenor Andrea Bocelli. Conducting it is the talented 32-year-old Singaporean Joshua Tan Kang Ming, formerly a violinist and member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, who – it turns out – took some converting himself, first to classical music and then to conducting. Forced to learn the violin when he was six by his music-loving father, Tan started off on the violin and, like most kids that age, hated it, preferring instead to go out and play football. ‘I didn’t really pay attention to what I was playing when I was practising – it just seemed like a chore,’ he recalls.

Then one day, everything clicked. ‘I had to go for violin lessons by myself, and that meant long bus rides – an hour each way,’ Tan says. ‘One fine day, I just ran out of stuff to listen to on the bus. So I found this cassette tape lying on the table and I listened. I guess it was the first time I actually gave myself a chance to listen to a classical piece of music with an open mind, and it really struck me how moving it can be.’ It was Bruch and Dvorak’s violin concertos with the great Italian-American violinist Ruggiero Ricci. ‘After that I said, “Jeez, I want to play like that.”’ The then 15-year-old started going for concerts – this time of his own accord. ‘I spent most of my money on CDs and recordings. I’d try to buy at least one CD a week, or two!’

‘We want people to think differently about opera…it’s not just for the rich and elite’

It paid off. After a SSO/MOE music scholarship, a stint in the SSO as a violinist and lots of hard work at Eastman and The Juilliard School of Music, Tan has made a name for himself – and Singapore. He scooped second prize at the prestigious Dmitri Mitropoulos International Competition in Greece last November, where he conducted ‘Orchestra of Colours’.

Twirling his baton comes easily now, but Tan’s dream was originally just to get into an orchestra. Learning conducting came mainly as a means to become a better orchestra musician but, as he says, ‘I got hooked on it.’ Getting hooked on the music is what he, and the SLO’s general manager Ng Siew Eng, hope the audiences at this month’s event will experience. ‘Many people, say, “Oh, opera, so boring, I don’t appreciate it,” but we want them to realise that they have actually heard opera before, and it’s very tuneful,’ Ng says. ‘We want them to think differently about opera and, in time, to come listen to more music and attend full-length productions. Opera’s not just for the rich and elite.’

In line with this philosophy, the concert will be a healthy sampling of what opera music has to offer. ‘One of the pieces that I’ve programmed is Mozart’s “The Impresario” overture,’ Tan says, ‘which is a wonderful little piece that hasn’t been done very often. We’ll also be having arias and love duets from “La Bohème” as well. It’s a more popular programme and it will be great for people who have not heard opera at all.’ Also featured will be the ‘Drinking Song’ from Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’, the famous ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ and ‘La Donna E Mobile’ from ‘Rigoletto’. All pieces will be introduced, so all you need to bring is your picnic basket, a mat and a pair of open ears. The best thing of all? It’s free, so you won’t have to fork out a cent to enjoy yourself.

The SLO at the Botanic Gardens

What’s in store for opera in these uncertain times? ‘In normal times, it’s already challenging to raise funds for the SLO. Over the next few months, with the swine flu, and the economy, we’ll have to review our financial situation [before planning further projects],’ Ng says. Opera is typically labelled as being very niche, she says, but if Singapore wishes to be known as a culturally vibrant city, opera is one of the major artforms that it has to develop.

Tan’s take is more optimistic. ‘Well, the economy will always have its ups and downs but music is here to stay, especially good music,’ he says. ‘You always hear these stories about how in the Second World War bombs were dropping but orchestra musicians still played on, they just refused to budge. In times of crisis, when times are bad, people need music more.’

‘Opera in the Park' takes place at the Botanic Gardens on 13 Jun.

Also check out the ‘Opera at the Race Course’ performance on 14 Jun.