Attended my second Chinese Orchestra concert yesterday, where of course, Andy was one of the dizi soloist again. However this time, the orchestra was much much more tokong than the previous one, as the Toa Payoh West CC Chinese Orchestra is one of the more prestigious and accomplished COs in Singapore (other than SCO of course). Got win awards one. The average age of the musicians in the orchestra was definitely below 20 years old (most of them look like Sec Sch students), but all of them already have at least a Grade 9 certification under their belts for their respective chinese instruments (Andy says). Cos the conductor is supposedly quite ngiao one, must possess such high standards before can get accepted into the orchestra. The youngest player I spotted yesterday could not be more than 10 years old, and he already plays a mean 唢呐. Eh...that instrument is like hundred times more difficult than the flute leh...the amount of breath one needs....

But I was more impressed yesterday with the pipa and erhu solo (sorry hor Andy, your flute piece a biiiiiit borrrriiing). The pipa guy played the rather popular 十面埋伏.....which I'm sure most people would know one. This music is always used when our hero swordsman is entering some eerie chinese temple or is facing a possible forest ambush. Wow....you've really got to see this guy play his pipa.....I marvel at how he manipulates his fingers (OUCH!!!!) to play this difficult piece...a bit scary, yet very 扣人心弦. Its like at any time, I can expect to see blood splattering all over from his fingers onto the pipa... =P

Andy wore all white for his flute solo (even his shoes were white!!!). My eyes nearly popped out when he came onto the stage....its a tad cheesy lar. My colleague Aw (who accompanied me) commented "Wah...白马王子!", to which I felt slightly nauseous when I heard that. Ok lar, still quite 帅 lar. What's more interesting was that the erhu soloist also wore all white (to 配合 Andy?? =P). But hers was a very elegant white gown and I love her solo piece. It makes me appreciate the erhu so much more than before. I must say the erhu section could easily be one of the stronger features of this orchestra. Most of my favourite pieces yesterday were played by the erhu. I've always thought that this instrument is only capable of producing extremely 凄惨 music. But I was so clearly wrong! The erhu can also recreate very happy and melodious tunes, and your heart will just sing with the music coming out of the instrument. The erhu is definitely not 逊色as compared to the Western violin. Both instruments actually sound quite similar, but I feel the way that an erhu player moves her fingers along the instrument looks so much more graceful than a violin player. Nice!

There were 3 encore pieces after the end of the concert. By the time the second last piece of music was played, I was already feeling so tired....and still the audience kept shouting for encores. Aiyoh....but it was still a good concert to attend...very worthy of the $15 I paid anyway. =)