LATEST NEWS
UK's BBC Radio 3 features Free Hand work in Oct 2020
3.10.2020
Our pioneering festival has chalked yet another milestone, putting Malaysian new music on the world map as BBC Radio 3 - the UK classical station - features several Free Hand Festival 2019's performances on its weekly contemporary music programme New Music Show from October to December 2020.
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This is possibly a first for our contemporary classical music scene, and it is certainly a great honour to be featured on the highly acclaimed international radio station.
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Starting with the October 3 episode, the show's usual line up of cutting edge composers from all over the globe, included Adeline Wong's Herringbone performed by Mei Yi Foo at the Free Hand concert last year in Kuala Lumpur.(more information here)
The piece was the first work Radio 3 selected out of the Free Hand 2019 recordings submitted by MCC for consideration. The show's producers expressed interest in airing more music from the Malaysian Composers Collective (MCC). Foo's performance of Tazul Tajuddin and Lee Chie Tsang were next, and over the months another three works were featured.
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> Find out more about Free Hand 2019 at UCSI University Kuala Lumpur
MCC launches Malaysia's first piano anthology
15.11.2019
To give a comprehensive overview to our rich local modern repertoire, the Malaysian Composers Collective has published the nation's first ever anthology of 21st Century piano works, comprising compositions by established and upcoming composers written over the last decade.
The 15 pieces in this anthology span a wide variety of modern styles, from post minimalist to neo expressionist, from fast-paced and energetic to impressionistic and reflective.
Produced with generous support of Yayasan Sime Darby, their sponsorship of the initial batch of the first print run of the anthology has allowed it to be distributed free to local and international music institutions and other relevant groups in order to promote and grow interest in Malaysia's own compositions.
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The complimentary copies are to be distributed both at home nationwide, and abroad.
Two young composers gear up for 2020's UCSI commissions
20.11.2019
Congratulations to Samuel Cho and Lee Chie Tsang, the winners of the inaugural Free Hand Festival 2019, who will be writing their commissions for next year's UCSI International Piano Festival & Competition 2020.
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Cho and Lee were selected by the judjing panel for their works Vatni and Sympathetic [re]sonance respectively as the composers who would write the test pieces for the upcoming piano festival in Kuala Lumpur.
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German resident Cho, born 1996, in his blog posting says he was excited to have his work Vatni premiered in his country of origin by world-renowned pianist Mei Yi Foo.
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Get fascinating insights into his new piece, which is taking the wind chime as its inspiration.
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Lee, born 1984, who lives and teaches in Sabah, meanwhile entered his Sympathetic [re]sonance that was originally commissioned by the Chopin Society Malaysia as the set piece for the 6th Asean International Chopin Competition in Kuala Lumpur in 2015, perhaps his lucky charm.
Upcoming: ACL returns to New Zealand
2020
Coming full circle, MCC will bring Malaysia's new music to the Asian Composers League Festival in Auckland and Christchurch, where Asia Pacific composers will get to meet some of our young talents.