Singapore—Happy 55th birthday, Singapore! Celebrating National Day is always an important day of the year, although, understandably, this year is going to be somewhat different, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Special treats for music lovers
For music-lovers, this year is a particular boon. There is a a joint performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) for Singapore’s 55th birthday that will be streamed on Friday night, 7 August 2020 at 7:30 pm on the Singapore High Commission in Canberra Facebook Page and on this microsite.
From the following day, August 8, through the 29th of this month, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s National Day can be viewed via Sistic Live, featuring conductor Darrell Ang, singer Benjamin Kheng, Bharatanatyam dancer Kshirja Govind, host Khairudin Saharom and sign language interpreter Janis Wong. The concert is not free, however, tickets range from S$5 through S$50, and with every ticket one gets five views.
On August 8 at 7:38 pm, one can take part in the 14th National Day Singalong, with Abby Lai and Irwin. President Halimah Yacob will also be delivering a speech. Find it online at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Facebook page, Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations Facebook page and Mediacorp CAPITAL 958 Facebook page, for free!
Also on August 8 at 8:00 pm is Singnation!, an online singalong session led by Darius Lim, Voices of Singapore artistic director and a conductor-composer. Those who are interested can join this Zoom meeting for free here, or if they are a little shy, watch it here. Singnation! is held in conjunction with Capitol Singapore and Chijmes’ Onward55Singapore virtual National Day celebration.
On August 9 will, of course, be the NDP2020 Evening Show “brought right into the hearts and homes of all Singaporeans through live broadcast from the Star Performing Arts Centre.” The NDP website adds, “For the first time, the Show will be brought to life through small-group performances, with 87 performers involved this year.” Catch it on TV and online at 7pm.
The fun does not stop after August 9, as the Gardens By the Bay and the Mediacorp National Day Concert 2020 will be held on August 10 at 8pm, for free. This year, see artists Nathan Hartono, Taufik Batisah, Inch Chua and Yung Raja joined by comedians Kumar, Gurmit Singh and Suhaimi Yusof. The President and her husband, Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee, will be singing the song Home Together with Taufik, actor Desmond Tan and singer-actress JJ Neo. Catch it on Channel 5, meWATCH website and meWATCH on YouTube.
Jazz lovers will not be disappointed, either, as the Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra will perform jazzed-up versions of Singapore songs at 8pm on August 23, featuring Jeremy Monteiro, associate music director Weixiang Tan and singers and musicians such as Alemay Fernandez, Rudy Djoe, Melissa Tham, Shabir and Mohamed Noor in a concert cake Swinging in Singapore, a Celebration of Singapore’s 55th birthday. Find it on the Jazz Association Singapore Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Later on this month, you can catch two of The Esplanade’s National Day celebrations online: Baybeats, an alternative music festival and Coffee Morning & Afternoon Tea, a concert series from veteran artists. These can be viewed for free via the Esplanade website and Facebook page, where more details are announced.
More information may be found here. -/TISG
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