Wrinkles in The Air XIII: Reverie
Wrinkles in The Air XII: A Bouquet of Songs
May 12, 2019
A bouquet of Songs
In tribute to mother everywhere
Songs of mothers and sounds of childhood gather on stage in tribute to motherhood
We sing for the earth goddess, celebrate Mother Sun, pay homage to perfect Rose. We recreate a schoolyard filled with games and laughter, and the twinkling stars of our cots and cradles, wrapped warmly in lullabies.
Thank you, mothers everywhere, for life, and all life lessons.
Wrinkles in The Air XI: Millenaise
February 25, 2018
The theme, Millenaise, is a combination of the words “millennial” and “malaise”*.
The music of WiTA XI is filled with emotional dissonance, through the dark and self-knowing texts, from a reprise of Choi’s #HashtagAnalytics to Sjolund’s Love Lost and Whitacre’s i thank You God for most this amazing day.
The SYC Ensemble Singers contribute three epitaphs for the quixotic by Halffter.
Entitled, outraged, anxious, arrogant, committed, hopeful, thankful – Generation Me/We welcome all experiences, and SMUCC embraces all expressions of such.
*malaise (noun): a general feeling of unease
synonyms: unhappiness, restlessness, depression, anxiety, anguish
Wrinkles in The Air X: The Lost Word
March 5, 2017
This will be our reply to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before. – Leonard Bernstein
Why do we sing? We sing as response to a world gone crazy.
We use song as prayer, as ritual, a cry, a plea, a balm.
We sing with others to find strength in communion, beauty in our collective spirit.
Together, we can dream big, in full colour and analog sound.
we must dream the dreams of a river seeking its course,
of the sun dreaming its worlds,
we must dream aloud,
we must sing till the song puts forth roots,
trunk, branches, birds, stars,
we must find the lost word – Octavio Paz (Lysander Kemp, trans.)
We must.
Wrinkles in The Air IX: Everybody Sing!
May 15, 2016
We have sung as a way of being for ten years, as a way to find our place in this little-man-in-a-hurry world. We take a musical journey down memory lane, performing a piece from the first eight Wrinkles concerts. The choir is a testimony to the joy that singing together brings; and when many SMUCC family members – old and new – gather together in song, there is a happiness deep inside our collective soul.
Let us all together raise our voice:
Sing!
Just open up and start to sing.
Raise your voice! Feel the joy!
Can you feel it? Can you hear it?
Everybody sing!
Wrinkles in The Air VIII: The City And The Sea
May 10, 2015
As Singapore commemorate its 50 years, we celebrate the making of it with songs about the city by the sea, our city, and our people. The texts are full of flavour, populated with images at once foreign and familiar. We savour the sights and sounds of our crazy urban jungle, thankful (yes, thankful) to be able to sweat the small stuff.
#firstworldproblems
#roadworksontheAYEtowardsMCEatPIE(KJE)exit
#littlemaninahurry
Halt. Stop. Relax. – come along,
Join the song in merry singing,
Blend our voices, join in the chorus!
Singapura, sunny island (too hot!) set in the sea
Singapura, pretty flowers bloom for you and me. *
* With apologies to Van Moring.
Wrinkles in The Air VII: We Beheld Once Again The Stars
May 11, 2014
We are nourished by the eternal light (Lux Æterna) that sits on the land, from the small burning star in the centre of our solar system, the Sun. The land is lit “hot as sand”, millions and trillions of people come to life before they stream away into the hereafter. Countless glittering consonants and sandpaper harmonies catch the light; the sand twinkles to us – God’s wink at Man – and we’re in heaven, on earth (The Ground).
One white singing hour of peace, and holy thoughts star this night: a light to lighten the Gentiles, Simon says (Canticum Simeonis). Music like a curve of gold persuades us that Life has … loveliness to sell, to give all we have been or could be, for a breath of ecstasy. We rise, and climb toward Paradise with no looking back. Ritornar! (Keep moving!)
We beheld the stars,
and once again,
offer a prayer of thanks.
Dona nobis pacem.
Wrinkles in The Air VI: Life Is A Circle
May 12, 2013
Life is a Circle speaks of the magical connectedness and circularity of things: everything the power of the world does, is done in a circle. Living our lives forward, we understand this in retrospect. And understanding, treasure every fleeting moment, each profound experience, in our life-cycle from “childhood to childhood”.
Wrinkles in The Air V: Body Music
May 13, 2012
Rhythm is visceral, that is, felt in the body. Our bodies – our instruments – create pulse and rhythm, the ebb and flow of tangos and salsas, spiritual and love songs; musical truths straight from the gut. Some of these rhythms are physically realized through “body percussion” (Body Talk, for example, is simply a canon of sounds and textures made by clapping, stomping, slapping and so on), some are woven more subtly into the emo-rubato melodies which rise and fall with the uneven beat of our hearts.
Wrinkles in The Air IV: Roses, Rainbows and Royalty
January 27, 2011
Roses, Rainbows and Royalty celebrated the enchanting nature of the love blossoms; It trailed the adventures along the rainbow’s arc and gave a round of tribute to the ageless royalty of Heaven as well as the new era’s royalty – Lady Madonna & Gaga.
Wrinkles in The Air III: Cantemus!
May 5, 2010
Master composer Lajos Bárdos, an outstanding figure of the Hungarian musical scene well known for his analysis works of Bartók, Kodály, Liszt, was also responsible for laying the foundations of 20th century Hungarian choral music.
Cantemus, quia cantare bonum est.
Cantemus, quia cantare iucundum est.
Cantemus, quia cantare amantis est.
Ergo, cantemus!
We sing, for singing is good.
We sing, for singing is joyful.
We sing, for we love singing.
Therefore, sing!
Wrinkles in The Air to…
February 10, 2009
…to chase
…to cheat
…to love… and lose
…to kiss
…to hope.
Wrinkles in The Air
January 31, 2008
Choral music redefined. The first installment of the Wrinkles in The Air series was held at the SMU Arts and Cultural Centre.