On New Year's Day 2000, when millennial celebrations from around the world were televised internationally, many countries seized the opportunity to present their most significant rituals to a global audience. Singapore's live segment, on the other hand, showed revelers dancing in discos. "I felt very sad," recalled Benson Puah recently. It was, he believed, a missed opportunity to share his country's diverse cultural heritage, a failure that perpetuated what he considers to be a long-held but unfair notion: that Singapore is financially rich but culturally poor.
Puah is now in a position to correct that
misperception. As chief executive officer of Esplanade — Theaters by
the Bay, Singapore's newly opened $339 million ($600 million SGD) performing
arts center, he will guide an ambitious effort to display the artistic
traditions of this small but prosperous nation on an international platform
— and to bring the world's great performing artists to Singapore. It is
a vital step in the development of the city's nascent cultural identity
— a process complicated by its multi-ethnic makeup, carefully
controlled political system and historical emphasis on economic development to
the exclusion of other priorities.
On Sunday, the national arts center wrapped up its sprawling three-week inaugural festival, which featured 1,300 artists from 22 countries. The $7.3 million ($12.9 million SGD) program of 70 ticketed and 600 free outdoor events was carefully conceived to appeal to the broadest of publics, from the international cultural intelligentsia to the "heartlanders" (as everyday Singaporeans are known). A trio of world premieres was performed during the festival by three leading local companies — the Singapore Dance Theatre, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, and Singapore Repertory Theatre. Visiting international artists ranged from Cape Verdean diva Cesaria Evora to Indian musicians L Subramaniam (violinst) and Amjad Ali Khan (sarod). Classical music events included sold-out concerts by the London Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur, the New York Philharmonic led by Lorin Maazel, and soprano Jessye Norman, as well as a capacity, invitation-only concert by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by Lan Shui. Guest soloists included such prominent Asian artists as Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Singaporean violinist Kam Ning and Korean-American violinist Sarah Chang.
Audiences responded to this explosion of activity in large numbers. More than 400,000 people turned out for the open house weekend extravaganza on 28–29 September, which included a free international carnival, performances, an official ceremony (with president S R Nathan) and a huge fireworks display and waterfront celebration. On a recent weekday evening, the center was bustling with life, with patrons pouring into the National Ballet of China's sold-out performance of Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern and a presentation of the silent film Faust with organ accompaniment. Meanwhile, spectators watched free indoor and outdoor performances, gazed at the public art installations and visited the complex's numerous arts-oriented shops, restaurants and performing arts library — the nation's first. Esplanade officials estimate that about 85 percent of the festival's tickets were sold, with higher demand for "brand-name" artists and ensembles.
This cultural extravaganza comes less than four decades after Singapore gained its independence in 1965. In that brief period, the country of four million has transformed itself into an economic powerhouse, with a stable government and an orderly and efficient multi-racial society — if one marked by strict controls of personal behavior and limited personal freedoms. For Singaporeans, the local truism goes, the five Cs are paramount: cash, condo, car, credit card and country club.
The next step in Singapore's growth, according to a 2000 government report known as the Renaissance Paper, is to develop the city-state's cultural life. "Having secured the economic necessities of life," the report read, "Singaporeans are discovering the allure of culture and things aesthetic." The state-of-the-art Esplanade center is perhaps the most visible sign of Singapore's bid to become "a global city for the arts" — an oft-stated phrase in the promotional materials of the Esplanade and governmental agencies — and to transform itself into a key regional arts hub.
According to the National Arts Council (NAC), which was founded only 11 years ago, Singapore's arts scene has already begun to expand dramatically. From 1989–2001, ticketed attendance to arts events increased by more than 75 percent. From 1997–2001, the number of arts organizations grew by one-fifth. "Singapore is no longer the cultural desert it used to be," Graham Hayward, executive director of Singapore's International Chamber of Commerce, told the Financial Times last spring.
The idea for a national arts center was first
introduced in the early 1970s; groundbreaking finally took place in 1996. The
center was conceived from the inside out, with an acoustical and theater
planning team engaged before the architects; "Everything," programming director
Geoff Street said, "was subjugated to the acoustics." For the acoustical design,
the center turned to Russell Johnson of New York's Artec Consultants, who helped
to create high-profile halls in Lucerne, Dallas, Philadelphia and Birmingham;
like those projects, the Esplanade features his trademark adjustable
reverberation chambers, acoustic canopies and acoustic curtains.
As the center's glass and steel form, designed by the London-based firm Michael Wilford & Partners and the local DP Partners, took shape on the Marina Bay waterfront, its spiky pair of domes elicited a range of reactions; the striking twin shells were dubbed "the durians," after the prickly, pungent Asian fruit (which also has its share of admirers and detractors). The design for the steel-framed domes, inspired by sunflowers, fish scales, and bird feather patterns, called for 4,590 pieces of glass that serve as sunshades; they were created after study of the light patterns of Singapore's tropical setting (the city is only 137 kilometers north of the equator). The complex include a 1,600-seat concert hall, a 2,000-seat theater (modeled on the traditional horseshoe shape of European opera houses) and two smaller studio theater and recital spaces accommodating 220 and 250 people, respectively.
For the opening festival, Johnson created a standard acoustic setting based on his experience with Western symphony orchestras in other concert halls. That setting and six others (for presentations ranging from amplified jazz to chamber music to lectures) will be refined when the Singapore Symphony Orchestra returns in January. Johnson believes that the hall's acoustics are on a par with his halls in Lucerne and Birmingham; they have earned praise from conductors such as Kurt Masur and Lan Shui as well as from members of the press, though many are reserving judgment until they hear how non-Western music sounds in the concert hall.
Unsurprisingly, the high-profile Esplanade has been greeted with its share of controversy. In uncertain political and economic times — Singapore's unemployment rate is at 4.8 percent, the highest it has been since the mid-1980s — there are inevitable questions about the allocation of money to build a costly new arts center. While the $339 million cost of construction was funded by two legal gambling concerns, the Singapore Pools and the Singapore Totalisator Board, Esplanade will receive considerable operational and programming funds from the government. Puah estimates that 60 percent of operating funds will come from the government, with 15 percent to come from ticket sales and the rest from other sources.
Local arts groups have voiced concerns about the diversion of corporate sponsorship funds to the new cultural heavyweight, although Esplanade officials say they intend to pursue new sources of corporate funding, securing support from non-traditional sponsors such as Volkswagen and the Oriental Hotel, rather than cutting into the existing pie. The arts community has also complained that Singapore's limited pool of arts administrators and technical talent has been hired away by the Esplanade, which has offered subsidized technical training to local freelancers as well as staff. And some worry that the Esplanade will divert bookings from the existing, less modern halls, although others point out that the creation of a new arts center should ease the pressure on Singapore's venues and offer smaller groups better access to existing spaces.
But the thorniest question, frequently raised by the press, public and local arts community, is what will be seen on the Esplanade stages. Esplanade officials call the diverse opening festival lineup an "intense snapshot of a year at Esplanade," an indication that they intend to balance regional and international artists, Eastern and Western programming, and classical and contemporary repertoire.
Exactly how much classical music will be heard remains to be seen, although the Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Ochestra are already on tap for next year. Street said that a remote center like Esplanade has the responsibility to present such acclaimed visiting ensembles despite the considerable costs involved. But local ensembles are concerned about the prospect of competing with internationally known orchestras for dates at the center. Conductor Yeh Tsung, whose Singapore Chinese Orchestra premiered Marco Polo and Princess Blue for the opening festival, wondered how frequently the group would be able to return. "We don't know what will happen in the future," he said. "We will have to see. Are they going to give us some priority, or would they rather wait to see if some European or American [engagement] comes through?"
Such engagements would join a growing classical music scene, which currently includes regular appearances by the T'ang Quartet, its Chinese-music counterpart the HuQin Quartet, Singapore Lyric Opera, Singapore Indian Orchestra and Choir and various choral groups. The nation's first conservatory is slated to open next year. But while some Singaporeans are in favor of increased exposure for classical music, others have objected to the presentation of fundamentally Western art forms — or hybridized adaptations — at the possible expense of more indigenous arts.
Some also worry that commercial concerns will drive Esplanade rentals. The theater stage is the country's largest and most technically sophisticated, ideal for large-scale touring productions of popular musicals much beloved by Singaporeans. (A touring production of Singin' in the Rain loaded in last Sunday night). Puah denies that commercial productions will dominate his programming. "Because I come from tourism, the immediate reaction from most people is [that] the center will be pushing a tourism imperative," he said. "I work very closely with the tourism authorities, but that is a spin-off — one market segment. It would be silly to ignore it, but my focus is to first develop the arts, and in conjunction with Singaporean artists, because you cannot always be a halfway house for borrowed talent."
Street believes that while Esplanade may eventually become a valuable
gateway to the Asian arts, local arts groups must first work to be viable
players in the global arts market. "Inevitably, more international than local
artists will perform in the big venues for some years," he said. "It will take
time to create a balance, and it won't happen overnight. We'd like to build it
to a 50/50 split. But it's a new ballgame, and I don't think [local arts groups]
realize it yet. I hope companies can step up and do the level of planning and
work that will make them even more successful than before."
Inevitably, Esplanade will affect the evolving cultural identity of Singapore, even as it seeks to reflect local traditions. A recent editorial in The Straits Times, Singapore's leading daily, mused, "One hopes the coming of the Esplanade will open minds as much as wallets. It ought to stimulate the creative juices and new thinking on artistic license, such that a modest renaissance can be ignited." Esplanade opens as the Censorship Review Board (comprised of academics, artists, journalists and professionals, including Puah) completes a year-long review of the decade-old governmental policies that govern public exchange. In the end, Singapore's aspirations for cultural prominence may depend not only on the Esplanade itself but on the changes — in the government and the arts community — that it sets into motion.
Thanks to Tan Shzr Ee for assistance with this
report.
