In The Media

The Star, 16 September 1998
Sharing her love for music
By Hooi You Ching

DRAWING on the resources of home-grown talent, Kam Sun-Yoke has done a remarkable feat of transforming a group of youngsters into an award-winning choir.

Calling themselves the Operafest Children’s Choir, this Malaysian singing troupe comprises 40 gifted children whose ages range between seven and 20.

As far as talent goes, Kam gives an undisputed testimony of determination, hardwork and patience to her brood of young singers.

“Enthusiasm alone is not enough.”

“I always remind my kids that perseverance and dedication too are important qualities that will stand them in good stead in the future, whether in musical undertakings or otherwise,” she said.

According to Kam, she has always been surrounded by music for as long as she can remember.

“I had a fantastic childhood in music way back in Penang. Those days, singing came naturally regardless of whether you received a formal or informal music education.”

“Children these days are deprived of such a wonderful thing. Music hardly gets much consideration in today’s school curriculum,” she said with a sigh.

Reminiscing the early days of the group’s existence, Kam said she had to endure a lot of difficulties and obstacles to realize her dream.

The choir celebrates its 12 th anniversary this year, proving Kam’s critics wrong that it was an unwise investment on her time and effort.

She conceived the idea of setting up the choir when she found that no such avenue existed to promote and instil the appreciation of music, particularly opera among the younger generation.

“The birth of Operafest made perfect sense in filling that void. I also wanted to leave behind a legacy of music to the younger generation the way my generation had impressed upon me.”

“I wanted to share something beautiful with children and that’s why I started Operafest,” said Kam who formed the choir in 1986.

She lamented the fact that the support given to the arts was insignificant and very often compromised by more commercial undertakings.

“Artistic feat deserves the same recognition as physical feat.”

“Having a festival of arts, as is done overseas where choir groups from different nations converge in a host country, lends much atmosphere and acts as a catalyst to instil the love for arts like music among the younger generation,” she said, adding that it was also a wonderful way of promoting Malaysia to the world.

She had tried to impress upon several parties the need for such a supportive mechanism but failed to garner enough positive feedback.

Nevertheless, the gutsy woman was steadfast in her actions and took on the arduous task of training her pride of young and fresh talent who, not long after were doing international stints.

The choir’s impressive performances have brought them to many places including Adelaide, New York, Indian, Holland, Barcelona, Athens and Singapore.

“I knew I was taking a risk when I signed the children onto the international scene. But I was following my instincts,” said Kam.

“And as Malaysians, we had a selling point. That was because they had never heard of us let alone think that our kids could sing.” She said.

Operafest presented a charity concert held in aid of the Nation al Association of Stroke Malaysia (NASAM) at the Royal Lake Club and PJ Civic Centre recently.

For Kam, music has a positive role to play, be it in a child’s early developmental stages or the complete well-being of a person.

“Music takes away the ugliness of life as the great Italian tenor Mario Lanza once said.

“If the human race came together to make music and not war, then peace will reign on earth,” she said.

She believes that singing is one of the best ways of increasing a child’s level of intelligence.

“When you sing, you not only remember the verse and the rhythm but find that your whole body is in total expression… mind, body and soul become alert and each of the element is poised for that moment.”

“No instrument, such as a piano, trumpet or the violin, requires you to exercise so many of your faculties as singing does.”

“You are your own musical instrument. Nobody can patent that,” she said.

An accomplished singer, Kam has performed at the Barcelona Music Festival, a festival the Spanish tenor Jose Carreras once sang in, twice in Russia including a performance with the baton of Shukri Ramadan in Macedonia.

In 1992, the choir made a guest appearance with the Vienna Boys’ Choir in Kuala Lumpur and gave a performance entitled Showboat in Indian, USA. It also staged Lionel Bart’s musical, Oliver in Kuala Lumpur at the end of last year and Singapore early this year.

These singing ambassadors of Malaysia also made the nation proud when they won third placing in the International Koorfestival Arnehem in Holland and second place in the Liangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales in 1991.

Those who wish to be part of the Friends of Operafest Programme in promoting the fine arts through music, can call 03-7838819 or 012-2090010.