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Foundation for The Arts and Social Enterprise
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Foundation for The Arts and Social Enterprise Founder Michael Tay On How The Smallest Act of Giving Can Transform The Arts Scene by SGN
Michael’s passion for the arts would carry on in the later half of his career – as Founder and Director of The Foundation for The Arts and Social Enterprise, he has helped to connect many local artists to opportunities across the world. Singapore Global Network (SGN) speaks with Michael about how his passion has led him to build he bedrock for a thriving arts scene in Singapore.
Michael’s love for the arts and music began at a young age. “I started listening to jazz in my teenage years. My brother gave me my first hi-fi and he was a jazz lover, so I got to listen to his jazz records. From jazz, I went on to classical music, opera and soon, other genres of music as well, including avant-garde compositions,” he says.
Michael believes that there is something fundamentally transformative about music – he thinks it has the power to transform and energise a person, making one want to embrace the world in a new way. This belief never wavered even as he pursued a career path divergent from the arts, having served in the diplomatic services in Japan and Korea, before his appointment as the Ambassador of the Singapore Embassy in Russia.
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The first collaboration between titans Charlie Lim & Ng Pei-Sian, “Into Dreams” rounds off the UTOPIA Reimagined initiative, commissioned by the Foundation for the Arts and Social Enterprise.
Nod to Russia in inger-songwriter Charlie Lim’s reimagination of Singapore-inspired symphony
Press Release: Award winners in their respective pop and classical music fields, singer-songwriter Charlie Lim and Ng Pei-Sian, Principal Cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, teamed up for the first time to release a single, “Into Dreams”, which released on 4 February 2022 on all major digital platforms.
Cultural VTL just as vital in reconnecting the world by The Straits Times
We hope to resume the highly successful Beethoven im Garten series, led by maestro Wong, in the near future. The series held at the Botanic Gardens is an initiative of the German Embassy in partnership with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the Foundation for the Arts and Social Enterprise.
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On New Year’s Eve, Singaporean conductor Wong Kah Chun will take the stage with the Bamberg Symphony in Germany to lead it in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This year’s concert is an initiative by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, in partnership with the Foundation for the Arts and Social Enterprise in Singapore and the Bamberg Symphony, with The Straits Times as media partner.
ShiGGa Shay Teams Up with Aisyah Aziz To Unveil ‘uTopia reimagined: chasing’ by Bandwagon
Singaporean rapper ShiGGa Shay teamed up Aisyah Aziz and Charlie Lim to release ‘uTopia reimagined: chasing’, marking the third installment of The Foundation’s UTOPIA Reimagined series.