Hello MPYO members!,

I now have a new page to blog away about all things MPYO and, well, anything else remotely related to our activities. You will, of course, continue to receive the usual email messages about the camps, but here in ‘Field’s Forum’, we’ll cover additional musical subject areas that would not otherwise be addressed during the already congested music camp timetable.

Keep in contact with me via ‘Field’s Forum’ when between camps or you could also reach me at kevin_field@mpyo.com.my

Suffice to say, the page contains my own personal thoughts and how they relate to you, the members of MPYO. Information offered by the management regarding anything and everything else MPYO is final and binding.

You will have no doubt noticed some further excellent new features to this website and I hope you are all busy selecting your favourite photos to upload. Of course, MPYO will have the final say as to the content posted but I do look forward to reading more about you (one at a time!), in the ‘Featured Member’ page, especially under the subheading: ‘your MPYO experiences so far!’

Another addition to the website will be a facility for you to upload your sounds, vibes and grooves. In the not-too-distant future we will be performing a ‘work’, featuring the sights and sounds of Malaysia based on your MP3/jpeg suggestions. These files will then be transformed into a new arrangement for the orchestra. If you know Steve Reich’s, ‘City Life’, you’ll know what I have in mind. (“Check it out!”) What kind of sounds are we looking for? Surprise us. The Steve Reich work will give you a clue.

Congratulations again for the five excellent performances across Malaysia in December, with each concert an improvement from the last, a mammoth effort by all. I was inundated with praise on your behalf from other musicians, parents (of course!), audience and ‘those upstairs’, for the performance in DFP particularly. The Vaughan Williams performance was a magical and very special performance indeed. I will never forget it.

As far as future repertoires for this coming camp in March, we will be looking at Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 along with Johan Strauss and Jacques Offenbach. By way of contrast I hope to locate some techno-rave music by contemporary Australian composer, Matthew Hindson.

We have another concert coming in May in Kuala Lumpur, in which some of the above repertoire may be repeated. Also in May, we will be revisiting Bizet’s ‘Carmen Suites’ along with ‘Finlandia’ by Sibelius and highlights from Grieg’s, ‘Peer Gynt’.

In August we have a special Open Air concert for BMW, performing a concert almost entirely of music for or associated with, film. In December we travel to Kuching, for the final camp of the year and as this is the longest camp every year, you can expect something large and demanding!

Don’t forget to keep the chamber music repertoire suggestions coming in, as the chamber concert in March draws closer. The conducting sessions will also make a return in forthcoming camps and should you like the score for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, do let Aaron or Audrey know as quickly as possible.

That’s it for now.

January 2008