"Let Your Heart Sing" concert Booklet

tp choraleTemasek Polytechnic Chorale (TP Chorale), is a 40-strong choirgroup, comprised of excellent singers from Sopranos, Altos,Tenors and Basses, led by our resident conductor, Ms OngChiak Yin.Other than internal events, such as our concerts and openhouse, we also actively participate in external charity eventswith the Wild Empire Choral group such as the President’sChallenge Charity Event.2017 was truly a fruitful year for TP Chorale. Not only did weopen the President’s Challenge Event, we also had the chanceto go overseas to Spain, Lloret De Mar, to participate in arenowned international competition, “Voices of Montserrat”,representing not only Temasek Polytechnic, but Singapore aswell. We were honoured to bring back both Gold and Silverawards. Together with the Wild Empire Choral group, TP Choralealso held a festival called “A Little Singing Festival” in October.One thing that all our choristers have in common is our passionfor singing. Our goal through this concert, is to make you feelour passion for singing and our love for chorale. To us, TPChorale is one big family, and tonight, we hope that you areable to feel like a part of this family.

Ms Ong Chiak YinA Mathematics graduate from the National University ofSingapore (NUS), Ms Ong Chiak Yin started her career as aprofessional choir conductor two decades ago. Her sheer willto learn and incredible passion for music drove her to travel theworld, mastering the art of vocal training and conducting inmany countries.Her excellence in conducting has brought her internationalacclaim, from achieving many awards, to being honoured withan invitation to be an international adjudicator inEurope. However, her heart remains athome in Singapore where she tirelesslyconducts several school choirs.Even though most of her singers begintheir journey without prior musical training,Ms Ong recognises and harnesses their purepassion for singing and drivesthem to do their best.

President’s Foreword Good evening dear guests. On behalf of TemasekPolytechnic Chorale, we would like to thank you all forgracing our concert this evening. We are excited andprivileged to be presenting to you a new series of ourannual concert - Let Your Heart Sing. Unlike the previousyears, we will be bringing you an exciting repertoire ofchoral pieces, solo, and acapella music.The Chorale has put a great deal of effort into tonight’sperformance just for all of you. We would like to thank ourresident conductor, Ms Ong Chiak Yin, for her boundlessguidance and patience. We would also like to thank theStudent and Alumni Affairs Department for their constant support throughout all these years, and for making this concert possible. Last but not least, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude towards you, our audience, for joining us this evening. Without all of you, this concert would not have been possible. We hope you enjoy the concert as much as we do. On behalf of Temasek Polytechnic Chorale, Teo Xin Yu President

Concert Synopsis“Let Your Heart Sing” is the annual concert brought to youby TP Chorale. We hope that through this concert, we canportray many different feelings through songs, by lettingour hearts sing for us. In many cases, songs carry deepand hidden meanings which we hope to bring alive to youthrough our repertoire.“Let Your Heart Sing” is divided into 3 segments for youto enjoy and experience different genres of music. Firstwould be choral pieces that the entire TP Chorale wouldbe singing. Some of the songs that you may know include“Somewhere” from the Broadway musical “West SideStory” as well as the famous piece by Queen, “BohemianRhapsody”.

The second segment consists of solo pieces done bythe seniors of TP Chorale, who were selected to performset pieces of their choice. Some of the songs from thissegment include “Wishing You Were Somehow HereAgain” from The Phantom of the Opera, as well as“Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from Les Misérables.The last segment consists of acapella songs performedby various groups formed during 2017’s orientationcamp. These songs range from groovy beats such as“Cheerleader” to sacred songs such as “Hallelujah” andmany more. We hope that this new and upcoming genreof music would amaze you as it is also our first timeventuring into such pieces among ourselves.

RepertoireFrozen arr. Roger EmersonDisney’s animated film, “Frozen”, featured Scandinavian musicalongside haunting choral songs including Heimr Arnadalr,Vuelie and The Great Thaw (“Vuelie” Reprise) to capture thestark beauty of the frozen north. “Heimr Arnadalr” (meaningHome Arendelle) was played during Elsa’s coronationceremony. Verðug dróttning stór Worthy Queen of Greatness Hjartaaf gulli skínna The heart of Gold shines Krónum þik með We crown you with vonum, ást og trú Hope, love and faith Fagra, grýttur land, Beautiful, stony land, heimr Árnadalr Home Arendelle Follow the Queen of LightFylgið dróttningu ljósins

Butterfly arr. Mia Makaroff& Anna-Mari KähäräOriginally sung by a well-knownacappella group from Finland,Rajaton, “Butterfly” contrasts itspeaceful and pure melodywith playful yet mournful lyrics.It conveys the message of “lovewhile you can, because life isotherwise too short.\" Somewhere from West Side Story arr. Robert Edgerton A stunning acapella of Leonard Bernstein’s classic “West Side Story”. A lush, romantic, and superbly expressive piece, it starts with the sopranos and basses echoing each another, slowly building up to the verse of the piece which portrays the longing of a perfect and peaceful world that one desires to live in, even though the harsh reality of life is waiting for them.

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd WebberBased on a world-renowned musical “The Phantom of theOpera”, this song expresses grief, nostalgia and longing forher late father as Christine had an inseparable relationshipwith her father. The lyrics from this sombre song depictChristine longing for her father’s companionship and theadvice that he gave her while she was growing up. Thissong will be sung solo by Nikita Ng.Empty Chairs At Empty Tablesfrom Les Misérables by Claude-Michel SchönbergFrom the musical phenomenon ‘Les Misérables’.Recovering from his wounds, Marius returns to the ABCCafé to mourn for his friends who had died in battle. Heexpresses his guilt for surviving, recalling howthey used to share theirrevolutionary ideas atwhat is now just emptychairs and tables.This song will be sungsolo by Tng Hao Kiat.

Mary Did You Knowperformed by CalorA Christmas song, originally composed by Mark Lowryand Buddy Greene, eventually became a Christmasclassic, recorded by many artistes over the years. Itconveys the feelings from a mother to her child after thechild left home and created wonders elsewhere. Theverses question whether Mary had any knowledge of thegreat feats that Christ would perform.“We clicked with the song and without much thought wechose this meaningful piece. The rhetorical question ofasking Mary ‘did you know?’ gives the song a sense ofmovement. As it explains the wonders and miracles ofwhat her child did. After listening to this piece, we justhad to sing it. –Angel and Freda, Calor

Aha! performed by Calor Originally by Imogen Heap, Aha! is a song that uses multi-tonal tracks that are built into distorted pop sounds. The song was then covered by Pentatonix which then recreated the song into theirs. “The reason this song was chosen was that Aha! would be a challenge for the singers. The song has neither a simple melody nor harmony but it has its ups and downs.” -Nikita, CalorWhen He Sees Mefrom Waitress by Sara BareillesFrom the musical Waitress, it tells the story of Jenna’s life as a waitress, alongside her two best friends and waitresses, Dawn and Becky. This song depicts Dawn’s apprehension and aversion from dating. She fears rejection and reflects on everything that could go wrong. However, Dawn still hopes that she can find someone who accepts her and to have someone to love. This song will be sung solo by Camille Keck.

Come Up to My Officefrom Parade arr. Jason Robert BrownFrom the Tony award-winning musical“Parade” where a Jewish factorymanager, Leo Frank, was accused andconvicted of harassing a 13-year old employee,Mary Phagan. Mary’s 3 teenage co-workers falsely testified incourt that Leo Frank was a lecherous seducer based on theirfantasy with “Come Up to My Office”, portraying Leopersuading them to go up to the office and performingsuggestive actions behind closed doors.This song will be sung solo by Shawn Lee. Nothing from A Chorus Lineby Marvin Hamlisch & Edward KlebanFrom the musical “A Chorus Line”, which is centred onseventeen Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on achorus line. The musical, set on the bare stage of aBroadway theatre during an audition for a musical, providesa glimpse into the personalities of the performers as theydescribe the events that shaped their lives and theirdecisions to become dancers. Sung originally by DianaMorales, it portrays her feelings about the absurdity of herteacher’s instructions and her hopelessnesswhen her teacher and peersrepeatedly turned her down.This song will besung solo byStephanie Mok.

Hallelujah performed by Nar Hallelujah was originally performed and written by Leonard Cohen back in 1984. The song has a beautiful meaning behind it: “It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value.” - CohenCheerleaderperformed by NarThis song was originally recordedand released as Omi’sSingle in 2012. The songspeaks about the joy offinding someone tosupport the protagonist,be it a significant other orjust anyone who is capableof lending that support.

Bohemian Rhapsodyarr. Mark BrymerOne of the most enduring pophits of the 1970s, BohemianRhapsody was sung by the band,Queen. Despite not having aChorus, this song is made up ofan introduction, an operatic passage,a ballad segment, a hard rock part and areflective coda. Identify the different partsof the song as you hear thechoral version of thiselectrifying piece. Seasons of Love from RENT by Jonathan D. LarsonSeasons of Love is a rock ballad sung in the musical andmovie, RENT. This song paints a picture about the quality ofone’s life by using measurements of time as representationsto describe the emotions of love that one experiences in life.The lyrics describes how love is truly the most meaningfulway to describe one’s life. This song will be our closure, toremind us of the fun and stressful times together as achorale as some of the year 2s would be on a hiatus for theirinternship as well as the year 3s who are graduating in theupcoming month.

Sopranos Teo Xin Yu Nikita Ng Freda Lee Camille KeckMichelle Neo Nur Hazirah Jolene Tan Pamela LowPeck Wen Her Nicole Ong Elizabeth Yeo(Front row left to right; Back row from left to right)

Altos Chan Li Ling Justine Aya-ayStephanie Mok Grace Ong Valerie Lee Lovie Oei Lim Qiu Yin Pon Wei Ying(Front row left to right; Back row from left to right)

Tenors&Basses Christophe Soh Ng Teck Hean Jacob Tay Jairus Yeo Victor Qiu Tng Hao Kiat Rey Ng Rayson Choo Shawn Lee Jeremiah Lim(From left to right)

Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the people that have made this concert a success: Mr. Aaron Wong, Student Development Officer from Studentand Alumni Affairs Department for working with us to organise this concert. ---- Ms. Ong Chiak Yin, our Resident Conductor, for believing in us that we can make lovely music with our voices by training us. --- Main committee, thank you for being our tireless leaders and the best committee anyone can ask for. ---TP Production Crew, TP Digital Media Crew, for sacrificing your time and energy so that our concert can be a success. ---Emcees and Ushers, you were invaluable to the facilitation and engagement of the audience. --- TP Chorale members, for persevering and working so hard together as one big family. Last but definitely not the least, to you, our wonderful audience.Thank you for taking the time to come down and support us in our love for music and singing. E-booklet Done by: Angel, Christophe, Elizabeth, Jacob, Lovie, Nicole, Valerie and Wen Her