New Singapore concert platform brings together 60 talents under 25 across the region for cultural collaborations between Singapore and her neighbours

● imagin.Asia concert will bring together 60 talents under 25 years old from

Singapore and across Asia for a one day only concert held at Victoria Theatre

(28 July 2018)

● Helmed by creative director Jeremiah Choy with music director Philip Tan, this

year’s imagin.Asia concert theme ‘Artists Uncovered’ will also feature cultural

and artistic traditions that youths in the region are keeping alive

● Highlights of imagin.Asia concert include: a Laotian puppetry theatre group

comprising deaf performers; a Singaporean cancer survivor who is an aspiring

singer-songwriter; and two Nepalese brothers who play traditional folk

instruments

SINGAPORE, 28 July 2018 – A new regional concert platform that brings together

Singapore talents with their counterparts from across Asia will be launched this July at

Victoria Theatre.

Called imagin.Asia concert, this event will see a gathering of upcoming talents below

the age of 25 who have inspired people and communities in which they live in through

music, dance and theatre. Featuring more than 60 performers from 10 countries, the

concert will take place on 28 July 2018.

Elaborates Ms Karine Tan, senior cultural executive of not-for-profit arts and culture

organisation, Global Cultural Alliance (GCA), the producer of the concert: imagin.Asia

concert aims to serve as an international exchange platform for new and emerging

Singapore arts talents to connect with their peers from Asia. This concert is an occasion

for young talents from different countries and cultures to meet, initiate new dialogue and

collaborate.

“Through this sharing, we eventually hope that the imagin.Asia concert will serve as a

catalyst for the next generation of artists to learn from one another and eventually build

a shared and inclusive future for Asia.”

A wholly-owned subsidiary of The RICE Company Ltd, GCA focuses on identifying and

developing opportunities for all in the arts and creative industries, through the

development of creative platforms and cross-cultural exchanges between Singapore

and the rest of the world.

With its programme line-up based on the theme ‘Artists Uncovered’, this inaugural

concert will also showcase young talents who look at new ways of presenting cultural

and artistic traditions.

The 90-minute concert is helmed by creative director, Jeremiah Choy, alongside music

director, Philip Tan. Says Mr Jeremiah Choy: “I have always believed that the arts have

a power to change and shape the world we live in. For imagin.Asia we have tried to

seek out young and emerging talents who have that something special that is able to

inspire us, to make us feel that after listening to them, this world can be made into a

better place to live in.”

Highlights of the concert would include:

● An original composition, “Love, Faith, Hope”, by aspiring Singapore singersongwriter

Stefanie Loh, 25, performed by Vietnam Idol 2015 runner-up Bich

Ngoc, 25, and China’s He Sha Sha, one of the Top 3 Finalists of China’s singing

competition, Super Girl (2015). Loh, a cancer survivor, found songwriting as a

form of therapy in her recovery process.

● A puppet theatre troupe from Laos comprising deaf performers

● A dance item which will see a collaboration between a Singapore hip-hop group

comprising beneficiaries of the Business Times Budding Artists Fund and a

Malaysian Bharatanatyam dance troupe

● Nepalese brothers, Prince Nepali, 23, and Prizol Nepali, 20, who will perform a

fusion-contemporary item on traditional Nepalese instruments. The brothers have

been featured on music TV series in their home country and have performed in

Thailand to raise funds for victims of two earthquakes that hit Nepal in 2015.

● An opening collaborative item between a Japanese taiko drummer, Indonesian

percussionist, Singapore-based flautist and Hong Kong suona player

Adds composer-sound artist and music educator Mr Philip Tan: “This concert has

provided an opportunity for the different musical sounds and traditions of Asia to come

together to find both what is common and what is different. We hope that these artistic

collaborations which will be seen in the closing performances will inspire partnerships of

other forms between the youths of Singapore and other countries as well.”

imagin.Asia is organised by The RICE Company Ltd, an arts not-for-profit organisation,

and produced by its wholly owned subsidiary, Global Cultural Alliance Ltd. The event is

supported by the Sing50 Fund, a community fund that seeks to preserve and celebrate

Singapore’s music heritage by fostering the knowledge of and an affection for

Singapore’s music in our children and the community.