Shadow Play and Romance At SEGi College Subang Jaya

Mr Yii Kah Hoe (left), senior lecturer of SEGi College Subang Jaya, giving a short commentary before performers Jeffrey Savage, pianist (middle) and Keri E. McCarthy, oboeist (right) began playing his composition entitled ‘Gongan’.

10 June 2008 – Ever heard what an oboe sounds like? Some possible words to describe it would be mellow, haunting, romantic, fluid and flexible. This is what you might have discovered at ‘Shadow Play & Romance’.

The Music Department of SEGi College Subang Jaya hosted a unique instrumental performance featuring the oboe – performed by Ms Keri E. McCarthy, accompanied by pianist Jeffrey Savage and mandolin player Andrew Scheef.

‘Shadow Play and Romance: The Oboe in Southeast Asia’ is a musical premier tour through 4 countries. Malaysia is their third stop in the tour after Thailand and Vietnam. The next stop would be in Singapore.

The evening of premieres featured music from around the world – Malaysia, USA, Vietnam and Indonesia. The instrumental pieces are a unique blend of east and west, traditional and modern, old and new.

The performers showed very interesting renditions and interpretations of the musical pieces not originally written for the three instruments.

The favourite of the audience in Vietnam and Thailand was ‘Gongan,’ composed by Mr Yii Kah Hoe.

McCarthy is an established leading soloist and chamber musician well known in the United States of America as well as internationally. She is also an Assistant Professor of Oboe and Music History at Washington State University and at Hartwick College Summer Music Festival. She has peformed with a number of orchestras besides many other achievements in the music industry.

Savage is an American pianist who has done a long list of performances with several orchestras in the US. He has been a prizewinner in several national and international competitions apart from teaching music at college.

The tour is named after two of the pieces performed by the trio. ‘Shadow Play’ is derived from a composition entitled ‘Gongan’ by Mr Yii Kah Hoe, who is Malaysia’s pride and joy in the instrumental music arena. ‘Gongan’ is inspired by the musical form of the wayang kulit.

Yii is currently a senior lecturer at the Music Department, Faculty of Creative Arts & Design in SEGi College Subang Jaya. He has won prizes for his compositions from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra International Competition and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Forum for Malaysian Composers.

 ‘Romance’ in the tour name is from the composition ‘Romance for Oboe and Piano’ by Nguyen Phuc Linh, a Composer-in-Residence at the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Vietnam. He is also a culturla ambassador ofr the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). His music has premiered across Vietnam, the US and Europe.

“We hope that this evening of premieres would be an inspiration to Malaysian students to aspire to greater heights in the music industry,” says Encik Roslan bin Othman, Head of Faculty of Creative Arts & Design.