GYMKHANA CLUB MIRI HOLDS PRE-CHRISTMAS CHARITY CONCERT ON 9TH DECEMBER 2009 FROM 7PM TO 9 PM.
Close to 200 people attended the Christmas Charity Concert on 9th December 2009 organized by Gymkhana Club in Miri . The organizing Chairlady, Ms Jennie Soh was amazed with the good response from the public and members of the club to attend the concert. Among the guests were YB Andy Chia, Mr. Sebastine Ting and Mayor Lawrence Lai and his family, sailors from Belgium, Australia, Holland, Netherland and New Zealand.
Gymkhana Club Miri keeps its tradition to hold the yearly Christmas Charity Concert to raise fund for the needy and the under-privileged people. There was also a Christmas Bazaar Stall from 5th December to 9th December and proceeds of the sale and donations goes to SUN FLOWER CENTRE MIRI this year.
Gymkhana Club is honored to have special guests who made up of a team of 35 people comprising adults and children from the Operafest Children’s Choir , Kuala Lumpur and as usual the Miri Orchestra Choir Society (MOCs) also are going to sing the traditional Christmas carols to uplift the spirit of Christmas during this festival season. There will also be solo performances by Kam Sun Yoke from Operafest Children’s Choir and Jonathan from Miri Orchestra Choir Society. In between the choir performances the audience will be entertained by the stage performance: “Michael Jackson Moonwalk”, “Mary’s Boy Child Dance”, Flute performance and piano recital.
Miri Orchestra Choir Society (MOCs)
Being the only musical society in Miri, MOCs has performed regularly in the activities organized by the Miri Council City. For this coming concert, they will present four Christmas carols.
Miri Orchestra and Choir Society is a non-profit organization that was first mooted in 1994 and subsequently registered in 2002. The main objective of the MOCS is to promote the love of music among its members and the public. The current mission of the society is to have a sustainable fully-fledged orchestra and choir to complement Miri as a Resort City. Under the present capable President Lily Chong, MOCS has grown steadily in number. However she would still welcome people who have an interest in music and singing to come and join MOCs. Weekly practice is held every Sunday from 2.30 to 4.30 pm for the Orchestra and 4.30 to 6.30 pm for the choir. Please contact Lily at 019-8745539.
Operafest Children’s Choir from Kuala Lumpur
Kam Sun Yoke, the Artistic Director of the Operafest Children’s Choir is the only children’s choir in Malaysia that had won two international prizes in International Choir Competitions where hundreds of choirs from all over the world took part.
Launched in 1986, Operafest is an established choral group comprising talented children aged between 7 and 16 years.
In 1991, the Operafest Children’s choir became the first Malaysian Choir to have won second place in their presentation of Purcell’s SOUND THE TRUMPET in the famous Liangollen, International Eisteddfod, Wales, and third place in the koorfestival of Amheim, Holland, a choir Olympics held once in very four years.
Since winning these competitions, The Operafest Children’s Choir has been propelled into the international circuit with invitations from abroad to perform in glorious choral festivals which are important thresholds of cultural exchanges and friendship among nations.
To date, The Operafest Children’s Choir has performed in Holland, Wales, Spain, Argentina, India, Greece, Macedonia, Australia Singapore, Indiana, New York and Montana (USA). San Francisco, Sacramento, South Africa, South Korea and China.
In Montana, Operafest Children’s Choir is among the top 20 selected stringently and out of 150 choirs all over the world, they were rated at par with the Russians and the Austrians.
They were also granted unprecedented honour to sing alongside with the VIENNA BOYS’ CHOIR, twice.
In all the countries they had visited, they were welcomed by Presidents, Governors and Mayors . In New York, they received citations from the Governor of New York and the United Nations Cornell University hosting their concerts throughout the New York State.
In Spain, they were given the key to all the cities where they performed and in Macedonia, they had the privilege to sing the President’s very own composition.
Malaysia should be proud to have The Operafest Children’s Choir that had received recognition abroad and were treated with ambassadorial grace in all countries they had visited.
“Malaysians should be proud that a home-grown choir is leading the way for choral music internationally by pioneering their own East-West fusion. It is the Operafest Children’s Choir’s hope that someday they will be honored with recognition that will make Malaysia proud just like The Vienna Boy’s Choir has done for Austria.
Operafest Children’s Choir presented Traditional Christmas Carols which lasted about 45 minutes directed by the Kam Sun Yoke, the Artistic Director of the Operafest Children’s Choir. The evening ended with light refreshment.
