PROGRAMMES | LUMEN
17
A
Concert Heart from the
Prism , SJI ’ s Social Enterprise Club , hosted Heartstrings ’ 18 Concert , a charity event on 26 May at SJI . The proceeds raised were donated to two local beneficiaries - Beautiful Mind Charity as well as SPD ( formerly called Serving People with Disabilities ).
The planning of this concert started more than six months ago in December 2017 , with countless meetings and skype calls in the evenings amongst the various sub-committee members to plan the programme , contact the artistes , auditions , design the poster , create ticket sales forms , set up social media platforms , or plan the concert logistics . All these were done in tandem with our ongoing academic workload .
Tickets sales were initially slow . The stress was starting to mount as the days went by and the publicity team went on overdrive . In the final weeks leading to the concert , the sense of camaraderie grew and everyone stepped in for one another . Manpower was reinforced as our juniors from Year 5 also came on board to help in many aspects of the concert – from ticket sales to backstage work , logistics and audio-visual tasks .
The performers of all ages came from various backgrounds and with different talents . The audience was enthralled by the skillful performance on the Guzheng by Samuel Lim , an award-winning musician who overcame his obstacles to achieve his dream despite a horrific incident 18 years ago when he was a baby . The children from Beautiful Mind Musical Academy put up a wonderful performance of the flute and violin . The audience was mesmerized by one of Singapore ’ s most respected and sought-after vocalists , Robert Fernando who serenaded the audience with his nostalgic hits , humour and friendly chatter .
The other highlight of the night was a performance by the young and multiple award-winning soprano soloist Lauren Yeo , who charmed the audience with her incredibly powerful and angelic vocals . It was a privilege to have Lauren , who has garnered her many accolades and high praise from professionals including the Grammy award-winning Canadian music producer ,
David Foster , perform again at the Heartstrings concert for a second year . Other amazing performances of the night
include wonderful fusions of classical , light pop and jazz pieces by SJI ’ s award-winning guitar ensemble , string ensemble , together with the rest of our illustrious performers – Heartsings – and the Out of Time band . At the end of the concert , SJI ’ s Principal , Fr ( Dr ) Adrian Danker , gave a surprise and awesome acapella performance , which received a rousing chorus of endorsement from the audience .
Heartstrings ’ 18 Concert was an experience like no other . Switching on the lights of the lecture theatres and seeing 600 joyous faces rise and leave as the night ended made everything worthwhile , knowing that we had pulled off something that had become greater than ourselves .
This page ( top ): The organising committee for Heartstrings ’ 18
This page ( 2nd from top ): A skillful performance on the guzheng by Mr Samuel Lim
This page ( extreme right ): Ms Lauren Yeo This page ( centre left ): Mr Robert Fernando
This page ( centre bottom ): Lawrence Gabriel Villar Angel - a blind musician from Beautiful Mind