More than 120 aspiring musicians came together today to play the piano for charity and made Singapore musical history with a new entry into the Singapore Book of Records.
For close to 13 hours from 10 am to 11 pm, musicians from between the ages of four and 54 played more than 200 works at Steinway Gallery Singapore’s Piano Marathon 2017 @ ION Orchard, a fundraiser for The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) which provides arts training to children and youth from financially disadvantaged families. The event marked Steinway Gallery Singapore’s inaugural community engagement programme as well as a fundraiser for charity on such a scale in Asia.
Piano Marathon 2017 @ ION Orchard raised close to $17, 500 for BT BAF which came from participants’ registrations and donations from seven organisations and individuals. The donors included Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, APEX Private Wealth Management, Dr Wilson Goh & Mrs Karen Goh, Oakwood Studios Singapore, American Express, Yuli Inc. Fine Jewellery and Professor Thomas Aquinas Hecht.
The event also scored an entry into the Singapore Book of Records for “Longest Piano Performance.”
Says Ms Celine Goh, General Manager, Steinway Gallery Singapore: “Through this event, we discovered that there are so many music lovers out there who play really well and are passionate about piano playing. However, beyond being a platform for aspiring pianists and music lovers to share their interest, this marathon is also for a good cause and we hope to do this marathon biennially to alternate with our Steinway Youth Piano Competition.”
The marathon drew a constant stream of audience from shoppers at the mall throughout the entire day. Highlights included a performance of two Mozart works by four-year old Jake Chew and a raucous Boogie Woogie by 11-year old Jesse Collins. The event also saw support from guest performers Eunice Olsen, well known Singapore musician, host and founder of Eunice Olsen Media as well Steinway artist pianist Ádám György who has performed widely here in Singapore.
Says Mr Tan Tee Tong, Director, The RICE Company Limited which manages BT BAF: “It is heartening to see the community come forth to make music with so much enthusiasm and passion in support of the efforts to provide arts training for those who are less fortunate. The support we have received is encouraging and it gives us much impetus to even further our work with those from underprivileged families.”.
Piano Marathon 2017 @ ION Orchard is organised by Steinway Gallery Singapore and co-organised with The RICE Company Limited in support of The Business Times Budding Artists Fund. This event is managed by Global Cultural Alliance and supported by ION Orchard.
