KL City Opera presents Puccini and Verdi’s most famous verismo arias and duets from La bohéme, La Traviata and Rigoletto among others at Cheong Fatt Tze’s central courtyard. Featuring soprano Jane Soong, tenor Yap Jin Hin and Dr Bernard Tan on piano.
Programme includes:
- La Bohème (Che gelida manina, Si, mi chiamano Mimi and O soave fanciulla)
- Gianni Schicchi (O mio babbino caro)
- Turandot (Nessun Dorma)
- La Traviata (Brindisi. Un di felice eterea and Parigi o cara)
- Rigoletto (La donna è mobile, Caro nome, and È il sol dell'anima... Addio, speranza ed anima)
About the singers
Tenor Yap Jin Hin is a Doctor of Musical Arts graduate from Louisiana State University and a protégé of the noted American tenor, Robert Grayson, Yap Jin Hin has appeared in leading roles such as Anatol in Vanessa with the Nevada Opera; Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville; Tamino in The Magic Flute with both Opera Louisiana and the Acadiana Symphony, Rodolfo in La Bohème with Opera in the Ozarks. At the Italian festival La Musica Lirica he sang Alfredo in La Traviata. His wide-ranging repertoire includes performances of Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, the title role in Romeo et Juliet, and the Narrator (Male Chorus) in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.
He has performed the role of Don José in Carmen with the EST People (2013) and with Kuala Lumpur City Opera - Rodolfo in La Bohème (2016), Tonio, La fille du regiment (2017), Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly (2018), Alfredo, La Traviata (2019) and Tamino, Die Zauberflöte (2019). Yap is currently a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts of the Sultan Idris Education University.
Soprano Jane Soong studied voice at the University of Malaya and received full scholarship to study in Louisiana State University, which she graduated with a Master of Music in 2011. From the voice studio of Professor Robert Grayson, she performed the roles of Michaëla in Carmen, Yum Yum in Mikado, Marie in La Fille du Regiment, Violetta in La traviata. She was the soprano soloist in Fauré’s Requiem which was performed with University United Methodist Church in April 2011. In summer 2012, she was selected as apprentice artist for the Opera in the Ozarks Summer Program and performed as the First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Mrs. Segstrom in Stephen Sondheim’s The Little Night Music.
Jane is currently a vocal instructor at the University of Malaya. She appeared as Micaëla in opera Carmen, and the Viva Verdi Bicentenary Celebration, organised by the Eat, Sing and Travel People in 2014. She has performed the role of Mimì in La Bohème with the Kuala Lumpur City Opera (KLCO) in 2016 and the role of Marie in La fille du regiment in 2017.
Pianist Dr. Bernard Tan graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in collaborative piano at University of Michigan, USA, being the only Malaysian to have been accepted to this program, under the tutelage of the world-renowned Martin Katz. He previously resided in Birmingham, United Kingdom, where he graduated with Master of Music with Distinction from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, under the tutelage of Robin Bowman and Jan Loeffler. Dr. Tan is an award-winning pianist and collaborative artist, including winning the John Ireland Accompanist Prize, Birmingham Town Hall Symphony Hall prize, second prize in the Delia Hall Accompanist Prize, and highly-commended pianist in both the Edward Brooks Lieder and English Songs Prizes, and the Stuart Cameron French Song Prize.
Dr. Bernard Tan is currently serving as a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Music at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), besides being a coach and répétiteur at Kuala Lumpur City Opera (KLCO) and a chamber music and piano tutor at Bentley Music Academy (BMA)