Andre Rieu, the famous composer-conductor-violinist was in Singapore for the first time yesterday! I used to watch his Johann Strauss Orchestra concerts in Vienna on TV and wonder whether I have the chance to watch him live. Yesterday, Chong and I were lucky enough to have this opportunity.
The concert was scheduled to start at 8pm. We arrived at the Singapore Indoor Stadium at about 6.45pm. It was raining and there were no shelters from the Stadium MRT to the Indoor Stadium. Fortunately the rain stopped. Chong brought along his DSLR only to find that it was not allowed and we had to deposit it at the counter before entering the venue. Inside the stadium was a stage set up for the occasion. As we approached 8pm, the stadium started to fill up but still there were notable gaps. In fact, the few seats next to me were empty. Not sure whether it was because it was held on a Wednesday or just not many people knew about this. As was in his other concerts, Andre Rieu and his JSO entered the venue from the back with marching music at the background. From there on the concert has already begun. I can't help but noticed one of the female choir. I think she is an Asian. Stunningly beautiful. When the cameras were on the choir I can't resist to look towards the giant screen to get a closer look on her.
One of the early highlights on the concert was the doll performance. Andre was joking that there was an Uncle John in the audience who celebrated his 99th birthday yesterday. However there was no such Uncle John when he called out and he jokingly said that "Ow...he couldn't make it". At first we did not really know how to react because we thought there was really such person. However, he continued that they brought Uncle John a gift which was a human-sized doll, carried out by one of the crew. Only when the doll started to sing that we realized it was a real human. A soprano. She was extremely talented and can hit the high notes with ease. Of course, there were lots of side jokes as usual.
Just before the intermission, the tenors and sopranos joined the orchestra to perform "You'll Never Walk Alone". Everybody was like "Oww..." It was such a great song. Being a Liverpool fan, of course I knew all the lyrics! It never fails to give me goosebumps whenever I heard it.
After the break it was the time for Waltz! The highlight was none other than The Blue Danube composed by the King of Waltz Johann Strauss. He encouraged us to dance along with the Waltz and a few couples did so. If I had a girlfriend I'd definitely do that too. It was so romantic to dance along with a live orchestra conducted by Andre Rieu. And towards the end of the concert - the song that we all anticipated - the Radetzky March. Midway through the song, balloons were released from the top and came falling down on us just like what we saw on TV. We really had a fun time punching the balloons in the air. Clearly no one was in the mood to go home yet. Standing ovations after standing ovations were replied by a series of encore performance. If I remember correctly they played an additional five songs. Andre kept asking us to go home but we just couldn't let him go just yet. In the end, at about 10.30pm, it finally ended in a party-like atmosphere.
It was really a wonderful experience, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Like what Andre said, music has this magical power of healing and I couldn't agree more. I think we should all spend some time to just sit down and enjoy, truly enjoy music because it reaches our souls and heals it.
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