It is another event for the Pink October month organised by the Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur in conjunction of the International Breast Cancer Awareness month.
When Mei Quin of BCWA asked whether I am interested to go for this Charity Gala Musical Night, I jump at the offer, not that I am crazy about classical music but rather the opportunity to visit the famed hall of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) at the Petronas Twin Towers.
Even though I had no muscial juices at all in my body, I have always been interested in dramas (Cantonese operas too) and musical shows. In school I have been declared tone deaf and was kicked out of the choir. Instead, they gave me a very minor part in the school drama (you know- one of those extras hanging around in the background! :).
Wear it Pink was the dress code- these are my accessories for the night- pink evening bag and shawl.
I am so glad that Sarah has offered to drive me down to KLCC inspite of the road closure due the Nike Run. Thankfully the road was not that jammed by the time we reached KLCC.
The Twins Towers - photo from inside the car, taken at the most strategic position. Many tour buses would stopped here for the tourist to take the clear view of the twin towers.
So we were early, the performance starts at 8.30 pm. and it will last around 2 hours at least. After walking around, we decided to take our dinner at Ben's.
As I did not want to be sitting on full stomach, I ordered a Hearty Vegetable Soup with parmesan crisp and toast. There are lots of pieces of brocolli, cauliflowers, carrots, zucchini and chicken swimming in the clear broth.
Sarah ordered the Duck Confit with Spaghettini. The duck confit was slightly salty and she loves the rocket salad that goes along with the dish.
Something to amuse you should the conversation dies! But nowadays there is always the iphone etc to amuse you while you dine.
At the foyer of the MPO- I met the requirement to wear pink! In fact, most of the crowd were in pink or with a dash of pink, the men wearing pink ties or pink batek. The pink ribbon can be seen everywhere - brooches, tie pins; penchants.
This is the programme for the night- Spanish Sensations.
Photography is not allowed inside the auditorium which is very impressive with its high chandeliers and the huge organ pipe in the background (now is it real instrument or decoration, I am not sure).
The performances started promptly at 8.30am with an introduction from the Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia H.E. Maria Bassol.
The orchestra is lead by Mr. Edmon Colomer and I sat back and begin to enjoy myself as the first note hit the audience. By the way, we were seated in the first few front rows and infact see more legs than the faces of the musicians. But from what I can see, there are mostly foreign musicians! However the music was bewitching and mesmerizing, especially the trinkling of the harp and the beat of the flamenco !
The handsome Mr. Rafael Serrallet then came on stage and entertain us with the Spanish guitar. The Spanish guitar (classical guitar) is a 6 stringed instrument. The common technique to this classical guitar is that individual strings are plucked with the fingernails! I am sure most of us had at one time or another tried to learn play the guitar and most would also gave up it due to the pain. So to see this expert plucking and strumming again so seemingly effortlessly was indeed an eye opener. No wonder he receive encore and encore!
We had an intermission of 15 minutes.
There were pastries and cakes and drinks for sale.
We were told to come out for a group photograph but it did not
materialised.
The second part of the concert took another 20 minutes before it came to end.
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