The KL Contemporary Music Festival brought together for the first time the cream of the crop of the region's young composers for a fascinating finals concert on 29 Nov 09. Jury members Johan Othman and Dieter Mack and participants share their thoughts.

On 29 November 09 a landmark concert took place at the KL Contemporary Music Festival 09. The region's first concerted effort in bringing together young talent from the South East Asian countries yielded an exciting evening of diverse voices of astonishing quality, selected from an overwhelming 60 plus overall submissions to the call for scores from participants from all over the region, as far as Hanoi.

This first ever meeting of young composers, guided through workshops by the competition jury as well as visiting composers and the musicians of Ensemble Mosaik, yielded a rich spectrum of musical styles, an indication that new music in the region is at a new level as never before. The selection of winners was a tough task for the jury, and as one of the panelists German composer Dieter Mack said in his closing remarks, choosing the winner was never the point, only a necessary part of a competition - most important was the learning process and the interaction amongst musicians and composers that hopefully will help the young participants produce even stronger works in the near future.

Said Mack of the final presentations, "Basically the whole competition was on a high level and most of the finalists were also able to present themselves in a professional way. As usual, a competition in arts is highly questionable and to tell You the truth, I would have preferred not to give first, second or third prizes. I am sure that everyone has done the best for that competition."

Mack also highlights some important advice raised during the workshops: "The use of a notation software is not always something conducive, and I strongly suggest to prepare pieces/scores with normal hand writing first. The computer sounds do NOT help and even destroy real imagination. Listen to music as much as possible with scores in the hand. This is the best teacher for sound."

On the question of extended techniques he advises, "using unconventional playing techniques does not automatically assure originality (and often depend on the player or even the instrument!). Sometimes it is more challenging to find unique sounds in combination of instruments, harmonic structures etc.

I know that both remarks have a lot to do with the availability of musicians that are willing to collaborate and experiment with the composers. I think, this must become one of the main tasks in the future in whole Southeast Asia, because not always such fine musicians like the “Ensemble Mosaik” can be “imported”. In this regard, it could be also interesting and challenging to take care more of local instruments and musicians (I refuse to say “traditional”) in order to develop unique new concepts."

Penang composer Johan Othman, another member of the jury panel, adds, "All the final works have much potential. It was a very good effort and a show of dedication from each participating finalist to make music. All the finalist showed a very healthy working attitude and should constantly be aware that it is all about making music happen and sharing with our friends."

"The idea of sharing through art is one of the core factors that I strongly believe existed throughout the festival. I will encourage the finalists to be very brave and sensitive, and at the same time to be very honest about what they want to say in their music. The winning choice reflected this idea on top of a well defined and controlled technical skill in music writing. One should rise above techniques and express what should come from deep within a composer."

The participants in the workshop have generally enjoyed and gained much from the experience. Says Malaysian section winner Chow Jun Yi about the whole experience, "Meeting new friends and teachers from different countries is fresh for me since I have never been to any festival like this before. From the workshop, of course, it's very important that I get new ideas and inspiration from other people. In Beijing, since there's not much chance or environment like this kind of workshop, KLCMF hasw given me an opportunity to learn something new which is cannot learned from books. This will be the memorable experience in my life as a composer!"

Chow's favourite part of the experience was "to Join the festival with my brother! I believe that in this world there is not much chance to learn together with my own brother. It's very interesting! Also I learned a Javanese song from Indonesian friend.'

Jun Yi's brother Chow Jun Yan comments, "I have learned a lot from Ensemble Mosaik and also from the judges. The perfomers shared with me about the best notation for the score and also some solution to make the my piece more interesting. The judges are kind. They gave me a lot of suggestions and comments about my piece. Besides that, I met many friends among the Southeast Asian, including friends from Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand etc. Now we all young composers still keep in touch by using MSN or Facebook. So I hope that the festival will continually be organised.

The overall winner of the South East Asian award was Filipino composer Juro Kim Feliz with his piece "Sa kanyang paglimon". He talks enthusiastically about the experience. " The festival was an overwhelming experience, and I’ve learned things that I initially wouldn’t have thought about back home. What’s important was that I was given an opportunity to meet composers of different backgrounds and hear each one’s “voice”, which encouraged me more to find my own and build upon it. Everything was well-organized! Friendly people..." His favourite moment? "The most memorable was Moritz Eggert’s “Interior at Petworth” where the slogan “Five more minutes!” (our timekeeper’s usual line during rehearsal sessions) was humorously plugged in the performance. It became an inside joke among us since then."

For Singaporean composer Tan Tuan Hao, "the most important thing i gained from the festival was the chance to interact with so many musicians, both the young and the old. I think that that was a really great eye-opener and inspiration for me." Tan's favourite moments of the festival were meal times, which allowed him to get to know the other participants. "I'd also like to add to the list the forum/discussions that were organised. I thought that the topics of discussion were very relevant and exciting to me."

Related Links

• About the competition
• Listen to the finals concert online
• News: Announcement of the winners