Page 12 - NAFA Annual Report 2015/2016

SG50 @ NAFA Theatre

One of the most significant productions put together by NAFA to
commemorate SG50 was Poetry Recital: Ode to the Republic.
50 selected works of local poets depicting Singapore’s attractions,
daily life, and interactions were recited by second year students from
NAFA’s Diploma in Theatre (Mandarin Drama). In collaboration with
the Singapore Literature Society, the production was coached
and directed by the module lecturer and Mediacorp artiste Guo Liang
and presented to the public at the NAFA Studio Theatre in August
2015. The students were also invited to showcase the recital at the
Hwa Chong Institution in January and March 2016.

The Theatre faculty also staged six plays between July to December
2015 at the NAFA Studio Theatre, paying tribute to Singapore’s
pioneering playwrights. A highlight was Army Daze, a Singapore
theatrical classic written by Michael Chiang in 1985. An all-female cast
comprising students from NAFA’s Diploma in Theatre (English Drama)
final year class played the role of the recruits. This original musical
comedy was updated to reflect the latest Basic Military Training
culture of the National Servicewomen.

Students from NAFA’s Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Theatre Arts
staged Mimi Fan, the first English-language script in Singapore
written by a local playwright, Lim Chor Pee. It was staged for the first
time since the 1990s. Directed by Associate Lecturer of Performing
Arts at ITE College Central, Tony Quek, the project also involved the
participation of the institution and its production students.

NAFA Orchestra Day 2015

NAFA Orchestra Day attracted more than 80 students across Singapore from secondary
schools, the School of the Arts, and other tertiary institutions. Organised for the first
time as part of School of Music’s (SOM) 30th Anniversary celebrations, the purposeful
occasion allowed participants to receive coaching from part-time and full-time faculty.
The result was an engaging and fruitful collaboration between aspiring amateurs,
semi-professional musicians and students from the diploma and degree programmes
in a presentation of Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World),
led by Maestro Lim Yau, the Dean of SOM.

Singapore Saxophone Symposium 2015

Featuring masterclasses and recitals by international artists, the Singapore Saxophone
Symposium sought to foster and encourage interest in and passion for music and the
saxophone. Held annually at the Lee Foundation Theatre, the prominent line-up for 2015
included Lin Chien-Kwan (USA/Singapore), Vincent Daoud (France), Vince Gnojek (USA)
as well as saxophonists from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
2015 also marked the introduction of a Composition Workshop, aimed at guiding
composers to write idiomatically and skilfully for the saxophone.

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