Kuala Lumpur, 4 April 2008 - Music students from University College Sedaya International (UCSI) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) joined forces and played to an appreciative audience during their first combined concert held at UCSI while a second combined concert was held at UPM on 11 April 2008.

“The music students who made up the 65-member orchestra began practicing for 3 hours every week since January this year”, said Ms. Elizabeth Lou, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Music, Social Sciences and Design who also heads the School of Music. “Combined rehearsals were arranged and held at both campuses to enable the whole orchestra to come together better,” she added.

Holding the baton at both concerts were conductors, Mustafa Fuzer Nawi from UPM and UCSI lecturer Issac Chia Teng Hwang. Mustafa is also the National Symphony Orchestra’s resident conductor while Issac composes and arranges music aside from conducting.

According to Associate Professor P’ng Tean Hwa, Head of the Classical Music Department, the combined concert was seen as a smart collaboration between UCSI and UPM to expose students from both universities on the styles and techniques learnt by music students from their partner university. Working under Mustafa’s baton had also provided them with the added experience of being led by an internationally recognized conductor.

Both concerts saw the orchestra playing the Grand March from Aida from Giuseppe Verdi with arrangements made by David Stone. This was followed by the Baroque Dance Suite made up of movements from Francois Couperin (Gavotte en Rondeau), Henry Purcell (Minuet) and Michael Praetorius (Volta) and arranged by Philip Gordon. The lively polka from The Bartered Bride composed by Bedřich Smetana and arranged by David Stone followed suit. The Slavonic March composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and arranged by G. Tomlinson that ensued was emotionally expressive and filled with dramatic intensity.

Issac Chia’s composition titled “Ride”, followed next while Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite was superb, which made it  a delightful listen. The Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Opus 21 (1st Movement - The Adagio molto – allegro con brio) by Ludwig van Beethoven had a slow introduction but the music produced by the orchestra held great luminosity and lyricism, bringing the full repertoire for both concerts to a light and happy close.