Yiruma is a well known contemporary pianist from South Korea. People say when you listen to Yiruma's music, time stops. Today at the Star Theater, I was there to experience it myself.
The theater was amazing. Located on the 5th floor of Star Vista Complex, it is capable of housing 5000 people. I managed to get a seat at the K section, which is at the second tier middle section of the theater. In order to enter the theater, I had to go through door number 9 which was actually located on the 9th level of the complex. Such was the size of the theater. The view from my seat was breathtaking. It was the largest theater that I've ever been to.
The performance started at around 8.15pm. When the curtains opened, Yiruma was already seated at the piano in front of a full-house audience. At the backdrop was a giant screen showing closeups from several camera angles. He began the concert with two songs, "Maybe" and "Love Me". The acoustics was wonderful. The reverb was perfect and the sound of the piano was crystal clear yet not piercing to the ears. It was like being tempered, producing sound quality of music studio production. And yes, it indeed felt like time has stopped.
Yiruma mentioned that he had been to Singapore in 1992. His father used to work here and they had a house with a swimming pool. He is a very humble guy with a good sense of humour. He said his music are very calm and was hoping that we would not fall asleep midway through his concert. He also shared some of his stories behind his songs. The song "Indigo" came about when he was composing under the night sky. The darkness brought him a sense of calmness. To him, it felt like the colour indigo. That is why he always wears indigo coloured shirt during performance. We couldn't see that today because it was not worn on the outside.
The last song before the intermission was "Kiss The Rain", one of my favourite pieces. In fact, it was one of the favourite pieces of the other audience too. When he announced that he was going to play "Kiss The Rain", it attracted huge cheers from the crowd. And indeed, it was a really wonderful song. His song also brings you through your memories. It was an indescribable feeling.
One of the songs after the intermission was "Lana", a song dedicated to and named after his daughter. It was a song written to be played in his daughter's wedding although she is only 7 years old today. There was an interesting "event" planned by Yiruma himself too. He was looking for a volunteer to perform together with him. A lucky girl from the front row was chosen. She was tasked to play a three-note-broken chord repeatedly while Yiruma played the rest of the song specially designed for this "event". Playfully, Yiruma had his left hand crossed over to the girl's right to play the higher notes. It was a really fun session. The subsequent songs were played with his cellist friend, Yong Kim. The addition of the cello was the icing on the cake. Both texture blended so well together that sometimes you cannot tell whether the cellist was playing.
The second last song was his most famous piece, "River Flows in You". I guess everyone was waiting for that piece. Mesmerizing as always, the tune just flows in you like a river. His songs were all improvised. So while the sound quality matched that of the CD's, the contents did not. This only made the concert more valuable.
At the end of the last song "Reminiscent", Yiruma and his cellist friend Yong Kim received thunderous applause and had to reappear on stage for encore performance, much to our delight. The first song of encore was "I", a song he plays to remind him of himself. The last song of the concert was a further improvisation of "River Flows in You". At first it did not sound obvious though the chord progression was similar. When the chorus came, everyone was like "aww...". It is a classic song, rightfully played twice. I was really glad he chose to end it with this song.
A well deserved standing ovation to Yiruma. And also the organizers, backstage crew, ushers and so on. It was the most amazing concert in the most incredible concert hall I've ever attended.
Central view from my seat. Can see the piano?
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Full house concert. Amazing theater design
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