For those of us blessed to receive his morning greetings with images of Penang or any place David ST Loh travels to, the world takes on an amazing and refreshing view.
That’s because when this photojournalist takes you along on his journeys, he shows you completely different angles of places you may even be living next to, but never quite appreciated before.
And so it was last year with his ‘Over Penang Photography Exhibition’ during the George Town Festival, where those who visited, were given a visual treat of Penang via drone photography.
A natural progression to the exhibition is about to be unveiled next week.
A coffee table book “Over Penang” will be available from July 1 and here’s a blurb from the book penned by my dear friend Bettina Chua Abdullah …
“Here is a singularly new perspective of a vibrant, historical and fascinating Penang: captured by an eye in the sky that whirred over lands where hundreds of years ago scattered souls formed communities and built lives. Here is what an island of enterprise and toil, of majesty and enchantment looks like, from way up where the air currents flow. Each image is accompanied by a long-form text that brings intimacy to the scale and lends depth to the subject. Skimming clay-baked rooftops and cacophonous processions, each page of Over Penang is photojournalist David ST Loh’s unique view on his much-loved island home.”
The pages from the new publication found in this blog post, have been generously supplied by David as a curtain-raiser to the book, which will serve as yet another great souvenir of Penang one can treasure and/or gift to Penangites at heart.
Congratulations and thank you David Loh, for raising the bar (yet again) in taking the promotion of Penang to a whole new level!
(Over Penang will be available at all reputable bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore from 7 July, 2019. Please check back with this post on how you can place your online orders after 31 July 2019. If you are visiting Penang or blessed enough to live on this island, pop over to Hikayat at 226, Lebuh Pantai, George Town and grab a copy or more!)
“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul” (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Southeast Asia’s oldest Anglican church – St George’s Church in Penang – has received a bicentennial blessing this year in the form of a pipe organ, the most majestic of all instruments.
The 1,050-pipe Mander organ joins the ranks of its “neighbour” – the Church of Assumption along George Town’s Lebuh Farquhar, in hosting its very own pipe organ.
With the consecration of the beautiful new instrument at St George’s this morning by the Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia and Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia, the Most Reverand Datuk Ng Moon Hing, Penang island now has the distinction of being home to two glorious pipe organs found in two heritage churches on the same street in the Unesco heritage core zone!
“The character of Anglican worship revolves around congregational singing of hymns,” said St George’s Church’s Bishop Charles Samuel, “and an organ is the basic necessity for nearly all of this music. There is no other instrument that matches its ability to lead the singing of a several hundred-strong congregation.”
Bishop Samuel has stressed that the new pipe organ is “dedicated to the glory of God” and will also serve the good of the community through special organ recitals and other associated events which will be open to the public.
An inaugural public recital is scheduled to be held in the church on Aug 19 at 4pm and should lend an acoustically-rich addition to George Town Festival 2017, which will be underway by then.
The new pipe organ at St George’s took a year to build in England and has been gifted to the parish by the family of the late Datuk Tan Kim Yeow.
The organ has 17 stops (19 ranks) comprising the 1,050 metal pipes (containing tin and lead) in total. There are no electrical components in the organ other than the fan blower and tremulant.
It also boasts pipe shades which carry carvings of foliage and the distinct ‘Pinang’ tree in its design.
St. George’s church had a few organs over the centuries, including a two-manual 16-stop (17-rank) pipe organ built in 1899 by Forster & Andrews in memory of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Mander Organs Limited is a pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. The company has built and installed numerous celebrated organs such as the 68-stop four manual and pedal organ found in the Church of St Ignatius Loyola, New York. It has also rebuilt the Willis organ at St Paul’s Cathedral in London and refurbished the Royal Albert Hall’s grand organ.
Present in Penang to ensure that the organ is handed over to the church and left in very in good hands is Dr William McVicker, an organ auditor for the organ maker.
Dr McVicker is also organ curator at London’s Royal Festival Hall, director of music at St Barnabas Church Dulwich and a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
An experienced musician with a keen ear for organ tone, he is said to offer advice on matters technical and musical, specialising in acoustics, liturgy and architecture, among others.
And who could be more thrilled to welcome the new organ to Penang, than the neighbouring Church of Assumption’s resident organist, Leonard Gurunathan.
Leonard is currently lending a hand in training a group of young musicians at St George’s Church to master pipe organ playing and lead the congregation in Sunday worship.
It was so gratifying to be surrounded by a group of enthusiastic youths including the musically-inclined Matthew, Miriam, Audrey and Jason last week. They took turns in pulling out all the stops and putting their best feet forward on the new organ as they learn to produce the best sacred music possible.
Oh, and did you know that there are specially-made shoes which organists (especially those handling pipe organs) should wear?
Dr McVicker brought out his pair of organ shoes which looked like they were crafted from the softest of leather and looked narrower than normal dress shoes.
I would imagine that the leather ensured minimal friction between shoe and pedal and enabled the organist to glide their feet across the shiny pedals and actually feel them through the thin sole.
Thank you Chu Hor, Leonard and Dr McVicker for a lovely afternoon of music in the midst of the organ pipes, which have added a measure of beauty to a sacred space, in the manner which stained-glass windows often do.
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Thank you Leonard, for generously sharing these shots
Broadway actor Bruce Kuhn is coming to town! This will not be his first trip to Malaysia (he has performed in the Klang Valley and East Malaysia previously) but definitely his maiden visit to Penang.
Kuhn’s list of acting performances in the United States include playing Javert (the Police Inspector) and Thenardier (Master of the House) in “Les Miserables” on Broadway. He also starred in the national tour of Harry Chapin’s one-man Off-Broadway hit, “The Cotton Patch Gospel,” and performed in the national tour of “Chess,” directed by Trevor Nunn.
His one-man shows on his worldwide tours have included “The Gospel of Luke” and “Acts of the Apostles” which are told as stories in a compelling manner.
Kuhn’s gift in storytelling is one which he shares with others, via ‘Word by Heart’, an international training school (which he is a co-founder). Students around the world (from Vancouver in Canada to Oxford in the UK) have been taught via his courses, to present a gospel to an audience.
His Penang dates are from Friday (21/6/2019) to Saturday (22/6/2019) where he will be sharing his God-given talents via two monologue theatre performances and a workshop.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception at Pulau Tikus in George Town will host Bruce Kuhn and his performances.
With a donation of RM25, you get to attend all three sessions. Tickets are available during weekend masses at the church and at the parish office.
His Penang programme is as follows:
8 pm on Friday 21 June, 2019
Monologue on the Gospel of Luke
10 am on Saturday 22 June, 2019
Workshop on Memorizing & Story Telling
8 pm on Saturday 22 June , 2019
Monologue on the Acts of the Apostles
(Church of the Immaculate Conception, 1 Lorong Maktab, 10250 Penang)
My blog post on the arrival of the majestic Mander pipe organ at St George’s Church in Penang has miraculously surfaced! Thank you VAL for the gentle nudge.
The visit to Southeast Asia’s oldest Anglican church last night to enjoy some divine sacred music was timely, in re-telling the tale of the “king of instruments” which has made its home in the 200 year old church now for almost two years.
While security in the heritage church has been heightened and visitors are temporarily not allowed into the church when services or special events are not held, the welcome accorded us by the congregation remained as warm as ever.
The videos say it all and here’s to more evenings of melodious music from the beautiful organ in its equally precious “home.”
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