MusicFest@SGH – bringing sunshine to Singapore’s hospitals
PUBLISHED June 18th, 2013 02:09 am | UPDATED January 21st, 2016 07:01 am
When you go to a hospital, either as a patient or a visitor, the last thing you expect to see is a live music performance! But that’s exactly what you’ll experience when you visit the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), on Friday, 21 June 2013.
For the first time in Asia, the Singapore General Hospital in collaboration with Sing’theatre will be bringing in ‘Fête de la Musique”, the world’s largest live music event, to fill each and every corner of the SGH campus with music.
Sing’theatre is a non-profit theatre company created in 2006 to promote cultural exchanges and to contribute to Singapore’s nationwide efforts to bring arts and culture to everyone, everywhere, every day.
‘Fête de la Musique’ started in France 31 years ago in 1982. Every year at the summer solstice (the longest day in the northern hemisphere, which usually falls on the 21st of June), amateur and professional musicians from all walks of life take freely to the streets, parks, public squares and institutions to celebrate music together. This festival has become a huge success and spread all over the world and is now celebrated in more than 400 cities over five continents.
This June, the festival will make music of different genres accessible to everyone on the SGH campus, including patients, staff, visitors and just about anyone who loves music!
Audiences will get to be part of this amazing experience as close to 250 performers from over 35 groups will be putting up 60 free performances throughout the day in the most unexpected spots on the SGH campus. Totalling 40 hours of performances, the professional and amateur artists, students and staff will be performing their acts at lobbies, wards, outpatient clinics, gardens and open spaces of the various institutions on campus such as the National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. MusicFest@SGH is an opportunity to access and open up places which are traditionally not concert venues, like hospitals.
The event culminates with the Concert Finale on Friday, 21 June at 7pm at the SGH Quad with performances by local and international celebrities such as Sebastian Tan, Jessica Irawan, Hossan Leong and George Chan. His Excellency Mr Olivier Caron, Ambassador of France to Singapore, will be the Guest-of-Honour.
MusicFest@SGH marks the launch of Sing’theatre’s ambitious programme: MusicFest@Hospital, which will develop into further and larger events in the upcoming years. City Nomads caught up with Nathalie Ribette, the Artistic Director of Sing’Theatre and Producer of MusicFest at the SGH campus to find out more:
Why has Sing’theatre decided to do a “Music Fest” and why choose a hospital?
Sing’theatre is well known for its efforts to promote cultural exchange between communities, and for shows drawing on the French heritage. We wanted to bring the ‘Fete de la Musique’ to a large Singaporean audience, involving many local artists and volunteers willing to give time, joy and well-being through good music vibes.
The idea to perform in hospitals came from my will to bring Performing Arts to the ones who usually have little or no access to them, but can highly benefit from them. This is a course of action Sing’theatre follows with all of its productions, inviting underprivileged women or children to view a show for free. I also recently lost a dear artist friend following a long illness and felt an urge to do something out of this tragedy.
Creating MusicFest@Hospitals is a way to bring music to hospitalized patients who usually have little or no access to it at a time they need it the most, as well as joy and relief.
Why did you choose SGH?
The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is the public sector’s flagship hospital, welcoming about 1 million Singaporeans every year in a large range of specialties. Organising the first MusicFest@Hospitals with SGH will allow us to reach a very large audience.
SGH was highly responsive when we approached them. There was an immediate understanding with Mumtaj Ibrahim, SGH Community Relations manager, who shares Sing’theatre’s belief that music unifies human beings and can bring high benefits to hospital patients.
SGH is already involved in healing through Arts performances, thanks to their 15-year-old Arts for Health programme, which seeks to enhance physical and emotional well-being for patients and visitors, through creative and therapeutic art forms.
Has a similar event taken place in a hospital elsewhere in the world?
In France, the country where the ‘Fete de la Musique’ was launched in 1982, it is common to see music being celebrated and brought to hospitalized patients every 21 June. There is no such example in Asia though, so MusicFest@SGH will be an Asian Premiere!
Is the event only for patients or for everyone at SGH?
The event is open to everyone! We aim to involve the overall hospital community, not only patients, but also their families and visitors, as well as the SGH staff. Basically, anyone who loves music and want to share happiness and joy can join the event.
Do you hope to make this an annual event? At SGH or at other hospitals in Singapore?
We definitely launch our MusicFest@Hospitals programme this year with the wish to make it an annual event. The size of SGH is well adapted for such an event, but we hope to extend the concept to other hospitals to reach more patients.
What do you hope will be the outcome of this event? for the patients, SGH, Sing’theatre etc?
The main goal of this event is to bring joy and happiness to the hospital community, especially hospitalized patients. If we see smiles and relaxed faces on the SGH campus, we will have succeeded.
Music Fest is happening on Friday, 21 June 2013 at the Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore 169608. From 10 am to 5.30 pm, with the finale concert featuring professional artists including Sebastian Tan, Hossan Leong, Flamenco Sin Fronteras, George Chan starting at 7pm. Admission is FREE – all are welcome! For more information see the website here
Images courtesy of Sing’Theatre and Getty Images.
