Fritz Quartet

Fritz @ Botanic Gardens: Photoshoot by Ashley Low Photography

2012-01-26T21:38:00.010+08:00

3rd December 2011

After a morning's rehearsal, we at Fritz threw our music away and stormed to Botanic Gardens to conquer the world of photography!

Maestoso; majestically comfortable: Lenard, Yaw Chang, Jessie, Max

We spent hours with our dearest photographer Ashley, a recently-returned talent from London, who made sure we not only left with lovely pictures but a wonderful experience as well.

Dolce un-glam-e; Sweetly and unglamorously (grinning ear to ear, hint Yaw Chang): Lenard, Jessie, Max, Yaw Chang

Fritz is not new to photography; performances often come with flashes of light from enthusiasts taking shots of our playing. However, posing for a camera with an enormously professional lens pointed at us was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Andante un-naturale; At an (un)natural pace: Lenard, Jessie, Max, Yaw Chang

The pictures (after Ashley edited them) turned out beautifully! Some of them looked like they were CD covers that we had shot for our sometime-will-be-published recordings!

Simplicemente brilliante photographe; simply a great photoshoot: Jessie, Lenard, Yaw Chang, Max

(Stay tuned to find out why Fritz holed up all November!)

Summing up of 2011!

2012-01-26T21:01:00.002+08:00

As our blog followers may have noticed, the administration in Fritz has been busy celebrating Christmas and Chinese New Year. Now that it has been 4 months since we stopped our online lives to live our offline ones to the fullest, it is high time to update our followers what Fritz has been up to!

Unfortunately, backdating is a sure way to forget the details of our adventures. Hence, I have chosen to list some events that we were at in an un-Fritz-ly way, without a dedication of its own, and without pictures!

6 Sept: Fritz @ Shangri-La
This was a company function in the ever-loved Shangri-La ballroom. A funny story I remember from here is how we were once pelted with champagne corks when a hundred-table toast was pointed to the center of the ballroom where we were performing.

8 Oct: Fritz @ Jalan Kampong Chantek
This street's name is misleading! The mansion we played in looked like a billion-dollar Wimbledon replica, complete with ~~~ - inch screen playing past tennis matches, a private swimming pool and a grass court with an umpired game going on! This was for a tycoon's private birthday party! It equalled some of the greatest hotel ballrooms Fritz has played in.

10 Oct: Fritz @ Orchard Hotel Ballroom
Fritz whipped out its pop-and-rock repertoire here at the client's request. From Aerosmith's 'I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing' to Coldplay's 'Yellow', we jammed up our instruments and tested the strength of horse-hair that night. Of course, we stayed true to our roots; we never forget our classical upbringing and tango background.

15 Oct: Fritz @ Hyatt Hotel
A wedding to remember at this Chinese set-up matrimony. Fritz had the pleasure of being part of the celebration of a new couple, and on top of that, met who must have been the friendliest sound technician and emcee who shared their workstations with us. Fritz brought happy Chinese tunes to complement the infectious smiles being tossed from table to table.

Stay tuned, the next post is guaranteed to overflow with pictures to make up for this one!

Fritz @ Ang Mo Kio: AWWA Community Home for the Aged

2011-10-09T17:18:00.005+08:00

17th September 2011

Fritz was invited deep into the heartlands of Ang Mo Kio by the members of Nanyang Technological University's Welfare Services Club to join their Mid-Autumn Festival celebration programme as volunteers!

This programme was aimed at bringing joy and company to the elderly in the vicinity, with the highlights of performances, games, as well as food. We at Fritz were proud to have contributed to their charitable efforts.

Fritz: Jessie, Yaw Chang, Max, Lenard (left to right)

Not our usual engagement, it was a refreshing break from suits and ties, though we at Fritz take pride in making sure sneakers and jeans don't mean any compromising on our performance!

All in all, our effort in volunteer work was a satisfying one. The elderly audience we had were remarkably lively in responding to our music too! Opportunities like these allow us to underscore the Fritz mentality that good and heartfelt music is the capstone of any event.

Fritz @ Amara Resort: Wedding of Ryan and Man Yee

2011-09-03T19:04:00.002+08:00

16th July 2011

Fritz was invited to the wedding of Man Yee and Ryan at the Sentosa Hotspot Amara Resort. Thanks to all the touching up that has been done to the little island, more couples are tying the knot under the watchful blessing of Singapore's offshore heritage! Driving to the lobby, we could already feel the posh ambience that would be the evening's experience!

A banner with the words 'ITS ABOUT TIME' adorned the entrance to the ballroom and caught our eyes. For a while we thought the message could've been directed at us, the quartet! But of course, our habitual punctuality convinced us that it had nothing to do with our timely arrival! As we later found out, friends of the couple thought it was indeed about time this couple joined in matrimony.

Dinner jackets and beautiful gowns were proudly complimented by our wedding classics, but what made this wedding stand out were the groom's sneakers worn underneathe formal black trousers!

Wedding booklet - Man Yee and Ryan. (nice pose!)

All in all, the wedding was a beautiful experience and we at Fritz wish the happy couple a liftime of bliss!

Our corner, setting up

Jessie (left), Yaw Chang (right)

Lenard

Fritz @ Mandarin Orchard: Ministry of Transport Farewell Dinner for Mr and Mrs Raymond Lim

2011-07-04T17:00:00.005+08:00

10th June 2011

The Ministry of Transport once again invited Fritz to Mandarin Orchard's ballroom for the farewell dinner of Mr Raymond Lim, previous transport minister. We at Fritz are honoured to have the privilege of multiple partnerships with Singapore's ministries.

Event wallpaper

We arrived at the ballroom pleasantly surprised to note that we were not the only performers, but that there were special items to be presented by the ministry's own employees as well.

Coincidentally, some of the items we prepared were the same songs as those that were being sung in the special items, and this had not been communicated to us prior. Nobody had anything to worry about, though, Fritz is always flexible and prepared to pull out more music and customise a repertoire to suit the occasion!

From our stage we could feel the sincerity in the parting words and gifts that many had put into song for the previous minister. We of course had to match up to it by putting our best efforts into our music!

Ballroom scene

(left to right): Lenard, Lim Hui, Beatrice

Speaking with the event organisers and receiving great positive feedback from the previous MoT organisers was definitely one of the high points of the evening!

Fritz @ SMU University lounge: Welcome dinner for Executive Master of Business and Administration

2011-07-04T16:32:00.003+08:00

25th April 2011

Fritz was invited to the stage at SMU lounge to provide music for their dinner function.

Business attire, wine glasses in hand, the guests who showed up were obviously not students. We later found out that these were SMU's big-shots, and Fritz had the honour of kicking off the event!

Setting up, Lim Hui and YC

As veterans in the scene of dinner functions, Fritz has been to the backstage and holding areas of every hotel and ballrooms in Singapore. However, our backstage this time was a surprise which we met with raised eyebrows!

View from 'backstage'

Nice view, definitely, and we thought it was conducive for delivering punishment for any wrong notes played in the performance...

Fritz @ Fullerton Hotel: Ministry of Transport Family Thank You Dinner for Board Members

2011-07-02T22:54:00.003+08:00

5th April 2011

It was a pleasure for Fritz to have once again been invited by one of Singapore's public ministries - the Ministry of Transport to perform on the dinner stage, for their thanksgiving dinner for board members!

Event wallpaper

I'm sure I am speaking for most of the quartet, but Fullerton Hotel is a personal favourite venue! The general atmosphere of maturity complemented any regal event, and the ministry's representatives certainly chose a good spot to host this happy yet proper event!

Dessert plate

Our hosts very kindly set aside for each of us a portion of the dinner spread. Unfortunately, as with all properly organised events, everything on the timetable ran like clockwork, so much of the food saved for us had to be consumed visually as we stole glances from the stage.

This also meant we hardly had the time to take photographs to do the venue and event justice. Max tried to remedy the situation as we were leaving but alas, all he could catch in his camera was a snap of two unaware Fritzies.

Lenard and Yaw Chang

Fritz @ UOB Penthouse: UOB Appreciation 2011

2011-07-02T22:25:00.005+08:00

18th April 2011

Fritz was invited to the UOB building's penthouse for a dinner stint! Excellent memories from this performance, with several exciting bits to touch things up!

When we arrived we were all awed by the decor of the place. The interior design suited the relaxed atmosphere and we all wished we were able to just sprawl over the couches to sip wine!

Main area

Grand entryway

View from glass windows (ceiling to floor!)

Yezhi refusing to leave her quiet meditation by the window

The half hour we had while a presentation was going on upstairs for the guest - sitting back in luxury

The evening was not all about the venue, the friendly and warm reception Fritz received from the listeners there was extremely encouraging. We thank a few guests who stayed especially long through several songs for helping us to end each piece beautifully with heartfelt applause!

(From left to right): Yezhi, Yaw Chang, Lenard

Definitely, the hospitality of the organisers in both welcoming us and seeing us off with good food was one of the highlights!

Fritz @ Raffles Lawn: Wedding of Oliver and Felicity

2011-05-31T14:47:00.002+08:00

2 April 2011

One of the most memorable weddings Fritz has been to, we enjoyed ourselves greatly providing music service for Oliver and Felicity!

Unfortunately, we had no chance to take photographs. When we arrived to set up we were showered with a light drizzle and were busy finding sheltered refuge for our instruments and had no time for picture-taking.

We certainly hope that words alone are enough to do justice to this lovely day though.

It seemed only appropriate that the wedding was preceded by a drizzle, as this celebration was graced with a great amount of tears of joy! Beneath the trembling voices when the vows were exchanged were two hearts bursting with blissfulness.

Of course, one of the small perks of playing music for a wedding is the chance to spot guests (and our own quartet member/s) concealing a tear or two.

Fritz thanks Oliver and Felicity for playing the part of great hosts, and wishes them a blissful lifelong marriage!

Fritz @ Marriot Hotel: Singhealth Excellence Award

2011-05-31T13:28:00.006+08:00

25 March 2011

We at Fritz made our contribution to the Singapore health system by providing music at the reception and on the stage of their Singhealth Excellence Award 2011!

Fritz (from left to right) at the reception: Lim Hui (frequent guest violinist!), Yaw Chang, Max, Lenard.

Over the years our music has reached the ears and hearts of many, and we were glad that healthcare professionals are a part of our audience.

Fritz on stage.

Bowing in reply to the applause at the end of every performance reminds us that music is a big part of events and lives. This gives us more than enough reason to continue doing what we do.

Fritz @ Mandarin Oriental: RHB Bank Berhad Singapore

2011-05-11T22:34:00.005+08:00

26th March 2011

Fritz went to Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, to lend a hand to spice up what was already a very special event for RHB Singapore!

Main poster decor

One of the most memorable events, we were proud to be included into the 'Starstruck!' theme of the evening! It was an eye opener and great entertainment for us to witness several props and personnel set in place to liven the atmosphere.

With a Bruce Lee, Marilyn Monroe and a paparazzi theme on site, it wasn't long before we figured out the focus of the night!

Of course, when everyone was still setting up before the arrival of guests, we were all wondering why a man (later identified to be playing the part of Bruce) was walking around dressed in a green leotard! The arrival of the other 'stars' and the trigger happy paparazzi team cleared up this confusion for us.

We wanted to take some photos of our stars and their guests, but Mr Lee and Madam Monroe were so swarmed that we never had the chance to.

Instead, Fritz has decided to nominate our own Bruce Lee and Marilyn Monroe. Here they are:

Our Fritz stars: Left - Yezhi, Right- Yawchang

Fritz @ Armenian Church: National Heritage Board "Illuminate 175"

2011-04-06T12:48:00.011+08:00

13th March 2011

Fritz was invited to play for NHB's "Illuminate 175", a 2-night public performance held specially as a lead-up to the Armenian Church's 175th anniversary. We were honored to be one of the performing groups in the line-up of public performances.

The initiative was aimed at increasing public awareness of Singapore's national monuments. What better place to hold this than at the monument itself!

The Armenian Church.

The porch was where we played. Open air, with picnic mats. Semi-casual, it was a good atmosphere to spend a Sunday evening in.

Complete with guided tours done by youths for public education about the Armenian Church, the whole setup was extremely organised yet lively. Of course, the enjoyable experience was topped off with the appreciativeness that the audience displayed.

After the performance, we had many coming up to us with good reviews of Fritz's music. Of particular notice was one lady who commented that it was rare to find authentic and sincere Tango as effective as ours!

Fritz, in casual wear to blend in with the atmosphere. (from left to right: Yaw Chang, Lenard, Max, Jessie) Photograph courtesy of Chua Jia Min.

Wokai.org, Charity Auction

2011-04-06T12:28:00.005+08:00

On the 4th of March 2011, Fritz played for Wokai.org, a China-based charity that aids rural poor in China. The event was held in Tyler Print Institute, a lovely gallery where this bid for charity was held.

It was the first time the quartet has performed in this venue and for this organization. The novel experience was made even more memorable by the friendly hosts and staff at Wokai. The guests were equally warm as well, some standing near and giving us their undivided attention in listening to our music in the midst of the chatter that was going on at the reception.

At the end of the reception, we got to hear a presentation on the work that Wokai was doing and where the money raised in the auction was going. It made Fritz's donation in kind that much more personal to know that what we contributed was ultimately going to benefit the lives of the people in rural China.

We are glad the work we do and the music we play extends far beyond merely entertainment. This is one of the faces of touching lives and hearts that keeps us going!

Goodie bags. We were each given one. There was a enormous, Singapore-hand-made lollipop inside that was the size of my hand, from wrist to finger!

Champagne! Cheers to Wokai.org and its contribution to charity, and also a toast to our guest Violinist, Jessie! Fritz will be featuring her in our future gigs and we are glad to have had a successful peformance tonight to start our partnership off.

Alan & Mei Siang's Wedding Celebration

2011-04-06T11:52:00.014+08:00

This lovely celebration happened on the 18th of December 2010, last year! As you can see, we have had our hands tied for many months and have some catching up to do on this blog. But we promise the quartet has been busier than ever with providing music to many people and events! We made sure to take pictures to share this joy with all our readers.

Alan and Mei Siang's wedding took place in Raffles Hotel's Casuarina ballroom. The quartet has performed there many times, but the appeal of the grand white decor is always refreshing for us.

Setting up.

Waiting for the cue to start.

This event ended off for us with a nice little chocolate that we were treated to at the reception. Of course, this sweet treat was appropriate for the joy shared by everyone at this wedding!

Updates coming soon

2011-02-25T07:55:00.002+08:00

We are coming up with some exciting updates very very soon!

Stay tuned!

Asia Pacifc Entrepreneurship Awards 2010 Singapore

2011-02-25T07:26:00.004+08:00

29 October 2010

The Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (APEA) 2010 celebrated Singapore’s leading entrepreneurs, organisations and professionals at a gala awards ceremony at the Shangri-la Hotel. The coveted Entrepreneur of the Year Award was presented by distinguished Guest of Honour, Seah Kian Peng, Minister of Parliament, to Derek Goh B H of Serial System Ltd.

The Fritz Quartet is deeply honoured to be invited to perform for this prestigious event. The organisers got us nicely seated on a slightly raised podium right in the middle of the ballroom, surrounded by the many distinguished guests. We did what we do best, and that is to entertain! We're glad the audience thoroughly enjoyed our performance!

Fritz Quartet Events

2010-10-16T14:11:00.000+08:00

9 Oct 10

Wedding of Kai Tze and Vanessa @ the Concorde hotel ballroom

Both Kai Tze and Vanessa are musicians, Kai Tze plays the oboe and Vanessa plays the clarinet (we were told they met whilst teaching the same school band!) As such, it was not much of a surprise that they wanted to have some live music at their wedding.

Before the wedding, Kai Tze went into secret practice with us to perform a piece for Vanessa during the wedding. After his moving speech to Vanessa, he serenaded Vanessa with Bach’s Arioso (his own arrangement for oboe and string quartet).

2 Sep 10
Standard Chartered Bank Loyalty Awards 2010 @ the Mariott Hotel

We have performed for Standard Chartered Bank a few times and they have always been awfully nice to us. We played one set for the reception before the guests adjourned into the ballroom for their awards ceremony.

There was a photo-taking booth set up for the guests and we were encouraged to take a photo, which of course we did. This was our second time working with BChamp Special Events and Marketing as well, and it was plenty of fun!

28 Aug 10
Amega Global Leadership Meet, Global Wellness Convention @ Grand Copthorne Hotel

We arrived at the venue and there was already a large crowd gathered at the reception area. After our sound-check, we proceeded to the crowded reception area to perform the first set. Throughout the first set, the ever friendly and excited guests took turns to stand behind the quartet and have their pictures taken. This has never happened before so we are quite amused and at the same time, warmed by the guests’ enthusiasm and appreciation.

More photos at our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/fritzquartet

Fritz Quartet @ Ferrari Event, Capella Singapore

2010-08-12T18:05:00.000+08:00

8 Aug 2010

Today, we spent our National Day Eve performing for the Ferrari Owners' Club Singapore Gala Dinner 2010, held at Capella Sentosa, Singapore.

The dress code of the evening was 60's Glamour Vintage / red&black. For this event, we performed an all-Italian programme, as requested. Among the various famous opera arias that we performed, were Puccini's Nessun Dorma and O Mio Babbino Caro , as well as Casta Diva and Una Furtiva Lagrima - we had performed these two pieces at the concourse last year and it was great to revisit them again for this evening's performance.

Members of Fritz Quartet- Tze Chuan, Yaw Chang, Lenard and Max. Lenard's cello case also matches the theme!

The Car

The interior

We certainly enjoyed ourselves playing for this event, and we got to meet new friends too.

Our thanks to Ling from Avant Garde Agency as well as Ferrari.

Fritz Quartet @ the Four Seasons Hotel

2010-08-03T16:14:00.006+08:00

17 July 2010

Today , the Fritz Quartet had the honor of being invited to perform for the birthday of Selina at the Four Seasons Hotel.

The repertoire of the evening included special requests such as Michael McLean's Tango, Carlos Gardel's Por Una Cabeza as well as Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. We even threw in some Chinese songs for good measure. This was when we received a request from the couple to play the Butterfly Lovers' Concerto, a beautiful piece which we seldom get to perform due to the sad nature of the piece! We also found out that Wesley used to play in an orchestra in his High School days!

The couple had kindly reserved a table for us so that we could enjoy the sumptious buffet spread during our set break. We also got a fantastic view of the fireworks from the Padang, where the National Day rehearsal was taking place.

We later played some tango pieces as the couple serenaded. Very romantic !

Taking our final bows for the evening.

With the birthday girl Selina and Wesley. Our thanks to the beautiful couple for inviting us to be part of your special occasion! It has indeed, been a most enjoyable experience, and we certainly felt very welcomed!

Photographs courtesy of Stan Wong.

Compliments from Wesley and Selina:
"We are very happy with the Fritz Quartet performances on last Saturday night.
Everything turned out fabulous and your music was absolutely wonderful. We received quite alot of positive response from our guests complimenting all of you.
Thanks again for your great efforts and I will certainly look forward to hearing from you again for our next big events. "

2010-05-28T17:53:00.007+08:00

22 April 2010

Volunteers' Appreciation Dinner at National Museum of Singapore

Initially planned as an outdoor event, it was moved indoors due to wet weather. Which was great, as it made for a more intimate gathering. We had an enjoyable time performing for this event, with extremely appreciative audience. We were also invited to stay on for dinner with the rest of the guests after our performance. We also got to witness some impromptu karaoke from the volunteers.

Our thanks to Serene Chng from National Heritage Board for inviting us to perform for the event and for making us feel welcomed.

Some photos from the event courtesy of Anthony Nam from DBS.

Standing by.

Guests

That's us with our guest cellist, Lenard Cheng, who will be performing with us for this year.

26 April 2010
Seatrade Asia Awards Dinner 2010 at Shangri-la Hotel Island Ballroom
in conjunction with Singapore Maritime Week 2010

"Seatrade has been the pioneer of shipping awards schemes since 1988. The Asia Awards programme was first initiated in 2008 to raise the profile of maritime development across Asia and to underscore excellence in the fields of innovation; safety and quality; social and environmental responsibility; enterprise and achievement, together with education and training." - Source (http://www.seatradeasia-online.com/awards/index.html)

For this event, we performed a one-hr set during dinner. Our thanks to Yong Guan from MacroVic Enterprise Pte Ltd.

Fritz Quartet @ Ashley Isham Fashion Show

2010-04-28T16:55:00.001+08:00

20 April 2010

Tze Chuan's thoughts-

12.30pm:
Soundcheck + Rehearsal for my solo item.
Turns out that I'm opening the main show at the Mandarin Court (35th Floor of Meritus Mandarin). I'm playing Allemande, the first movement from Bach Partita no 2, without repeats. Just enough time for all the models to come out and strike their poses.

1.30pm:
Rehearsal done.
Fittings. I get to wear a gown from Ashley Isham's collection! I'm looking at the heels and wondering how I'm going to maintain my balance without falling flat on my face. I go up again to the Mandarin Court, this time, just to see if I'm comfortable with the outfit. And also to figure out where to clip the mic transmitter. We make do with a belt.

6.15pm:
Standby with Fritz Quartet.
We are playing 1 set outside the boutique at Mandarin Gallery.
Welcome back to Yaw Chang who was out of action for the past fortnight due to chicken pox.

6.50pm:
We play our set while guests mingle. We are sitting on really pretty chairs.

7.30pm:
We finish our set. Time really passes fast when we are all enjoying ourselves. Daniel Boey gives us a thumbs up.
I head to Mandarin Court with my violin case and bag.. to change into my gown for the main show.

8pm:
The dressing room is crowded with models. And it is a really small one. I change into the outfit and enlist the help of the dressers to wear my heels. I think they are about 4-5 inches high. My heels get caught on the back of my gown as I make my way up. Thank goodness for a kind waitress, it's no fun struggling with bag, violin case, long gown and balance all at the same time.

8.30pm or so:
One glass of champagne later- Show time. I get escorted on stage by a hunky male model, heehee. No worries about falling! I play my first note and allow myself to immerse in the atmosphere. Occasional camera flashes here and there. I focus on playing and time stops.

8.33pm:
I'm done with my item, the models are all at their places. My bow remains in the air for a while, the moment lingers. The audience clap, I take my bows, the light fades and I move off the stage.

And I'm done for the evening. After changing out, I head back and join the rest of my quartet who are invited for the show. It's indeed been an experience.

Some photos from the event:

Back view of Daniel Boey directing the show and volume of music etc from the sound console

View from Sound Console

It's just something mystifying about all these gadgets

Models and I for the opening - photo courtesy of Her World

Once again, special thanks to Daniel Boey for inviting the Fritz Quartet to perform for this special launch. It's a pity we didn't get to meet Ashley Isham himself, as he was stuck in London due to the volcanic ash.

Fritz Quartet Playlist

2010-04-17T19:01:00.006+08:00

Youtube Playlist: Celebrate December with Fritz Quartet @ Esplanade Concourse

Songs featured:

You Raise Me Up - Rolf Løvland
Andante Cantabile from String Quartet no 1 - Tchaikovsky

Fritz Quartet @ Conrad Hotel, Wedding of Shian Jer & Esther

2010-01-16T23:45:00.007+08:00

Wedding of Shian Jer & Esther

15 Jan 2010

Our very first event to kick start the year of 2010! Unfortunately, Johnny and Tze Chuan are unable to perform for the event so we invited Yili and Brandon to guest play for us.

Wedding Sign

The surprise for the day was when the starting time for the wedding dinner was brought forward as the guests are punctual. A first for the many weddings we have performed for.

The Arrival of Queen of Sheba and Flower Duet are some of the new pieces included in our repertoire and requested by the couple.

Conrad Hotel Ballroom

Heartfelt congratulations to the newly-weds Shian Jer and Esther and many thanks to Siew Boon for coordinating with the quartet on the day of the event.

Fritz Quartet @ Pan Pacific Hotel, Christmas Countdown Party

2010-01-03T15:36:00.003+08:00

24 Dec 2009

Pan Pacific Hotel Lobby

This was our first year performing for a Christmas Countdown Party at a hotel lobby and it was a rather surreal experience-- we got ambushed by dry ice just as the first note was about to be sounded. Ho Ho Ho.

So yes, we would prefer to be warned before any special effects are used when we are on stage. :) *choke*

Pretty balloons in the waiting area

Fritz Quartet with the very friendly and musically inclined Santa. Ho ho ho!

Happy New Year from Fritz Quartet

2009-12-30T15:29:00.006+08:00

Looking back at 2009, it has really been a good year for us- we had so many opportunities to share our love for music with many many people!

Fritz Quartet's 2009 in a Nutshell:

We made our Singapore Arts Festival debut, we had 12 performances in 4 days at the Esplanade Concourse for 2 different programmes (Tango and Celebrate December).. and in the midst of it all, we got to work on new and exciting repertoire! We performed for many exciting launches (Nespresso, Nescafe, Remy Martin, Lee Hwa) this year , and also performed a fair share for corporate events and weddings.

Our musical journey continues... Looking forward to more music-making in the coming year!

Back(b)logged posts coming up. Soon. Check back for updates!

Here's wishing y'all a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2010!

Fritz Quartet @ Raffles Hotel, Wedding of Andy & Emma

2009-12-22T15:20:00.002+08:00

Wedding of Andy & Emma

21 Dec 2009

Today, we had the honor of playing for the wedding ceremony of Andy and Emma at the lawn.

Even though we were situated under the gazebo, it was still really hot! Waiting to play "Air on G" for march-in. Yaw Chang, Max & guest cellist Hong Yap.

Reading

Our congratulations to Andy & Emma

Celebrate December with Fritz Quartet

2009-12-19T02:53:00.024+08:00

Celebrate December with Fritz Quartet
26 & 27 December 2009
5.15pm, 6.15pm, 7.15pm
The Esplanade Concourse, Singapore

And indeed, we are left with...

ONE MORE WEEK to Christmas !!

Feeling the end-of-the-year blues? Broke from Christmas shopping?

Join the Fritz Quartet as we bring you familiar UPLIFTING favourites! For free!

Repertoire:

You Raise Me Up - Rolf Løvland
Der Vogelfanger from The Magic Flute - Mozart
Toreador Song from Carmen - Georges Bizet
Una Furtiva Lagrima from L'elisir d'amore - Gaetano Donizetti
Casta Diva from Norma - Vincenzo Bellini
Andante Cantabile from String Quartet no 1 - Tchaikovsky
What a Wonderful World - George Weiss & Bob Thiele

Fritz Quartet @ Lee Hwa Diamond Odyssey - Municipal of Haute Luxe Launch

2009-12-10T03:10:00.003+08:00

03 Dec 09

Lee Hwa Diamond Odyssey - Municipal of Haute Luxe

ION Orchard Level 1 Atrium

This evening, Fritz Quartet was invited to play for the launch of Lee Hwa Jewellery's Diamond Odyssey. It was also an honor to be working with the gorgeous celebrity designer Daniel Boey, who was the producer of the launch.

We had a dress rehearsal with the models at 8am in the morning. No photographs here, for obvious reasons.

At 5pm, we headed back for our soundcheck.

A botched attempt at taking an artistic shot.

Post soundcheck.

The models will strut down here, flanked by the audience who will be seated on the pristine white wave-like cushion seats

Waiting for the show to start. Guys in bowties and tailcoats courtesy of Daniel Boey.

Violin and bow belong to YC. Makeup by MAC. Gown is "model"'s own. (ahem)

Rocks to be a girl! Jewellery from Lee Hwa Jewellery. For the record, the above jewellery was on loan.

Showtime at approximately 8pm. Photo courtesy of Lee Hwa Jewellery Fan Page.

Our song selections included Pachelbel Canon in D, Bach Gavotte and Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Host Junita Simon rounded off the glittering event to thunderous applause.

Our sincere thanks to Elaine from Lee Hwa, Liz from Lizard Storm and Daniel Boey. It has been a most enjoyable experience!

Back-(b)logged no more

2009-11-27T17:44:00.002+08:00

Finally we are almost up to date with our back-(b)logged posts! Yay!

This year, we'd be spending Christmas in Singapore and bringing in some festive joy with our performances at Esplanade Concourse on the 26th and 27th December!

Check back for updates!

Fritz Quartet @ Louis XIII Rare Cask Event

2009-11-25T17:14:00.001+08:00

Louis XIII Rare Cask Event

11 Nov 09

Fort Canning Raffles House

We were invited to perform for Louis XIII Rare Cask Event, held at the Raffles House, Fort Canning.

We performed for an hour during cocktail as guests mingled. Security was tight so we did not get to take any photos of our event apart from the signage.

Thanks to Liz and Elaine from Lizard Storm.

We even got a free buggy ride to the carpark!

Fritz Quartet @ Raffles Hotel

2009-10-27T16:05:00.001+08:00

Wedding of Brian & Ruixin

10 Oct 09

After 7 months worth of email exchanges, we finally met Brian and Ruixin today! Originally, we were scheduled to play under a gazebo at the lawn (as seen in sign above), but just when we were about to start the ceremony, it began to rain! A mad scramble ensued as everyone dashed for shelter. Thank goodness the Casuarina Suite had been reserved for wet weather plans, and so we proceeded to the new venue, this time, an indoor venue.

Picture of Casuarina Suite

For the wedding, Brian and Ruixin had specially requested for a hymn "Great is thy Faithfulness" to be performed. They also had a singer, Delia, leading the hymn. The room provided an intimate setting as the couple recited their vows.

After the couple had marched out to the tune of Trumpet Voluntary, we performed Por Una Cabeza to round off the entire event as the guests proceeded to East India Rooms for their wedding lunch.

"Thank you for making our wedding a memorable one. Your rendition of Great is Thy Faithfulness was one of the best that we've heard. We're still amazed at how you guys managed to play such lovely music using the simple scoresheets that we sent you! The music you provided really helped make the wedding ceremony all that more beautiful.

We have attached some photos taken during the service with this email for your keepsake. Thanks once again, and all the very best!

Brian and Ruixin"

Here are the photos:

Fritz Quartet with Delia Lee, performing Great is Thy Faithfulness

Exchanging vows. Thanks Brian and Ruixin for sharing your special day with us!

Fritz Quartet @ Esplanade Concourse

2009-09-27T14:28:00.004+08:00

Fritz Quartet Presents Tango II

Esplanade Concourse
5 & 6 September 09

Event and Quartet Poster

Audience waiting for the performance to start. Photo Courtesy Emma

Stage setup: Photo Courtesy Adrian Tan

Two years have gone by since our first public performance "Silver Screen Classics" at the Esplanade Concourse in July 07. While it is certainly nostalgic being invited back to the Esplanade Concourse again this year, it has also given us a chance to look back on how far we have progressed as a quartet. We would not have imagined ourselves being capable of performing 3 consecutive sets of performances in one night back then, which was what we did this time at the concourse!

Performing against a wonderful backdrop. Photo Courtesy: Emma

Max introducing the quartet as well as the pieces. Photo Courtesy: Adrian Tan

After our publicity and marketing materials were sent out via facebook and online portals, it was to our immense delight when we got an email from our friends at Tango Singapore asking if it was possible for their dancers to dance to our performance. Of course we were more than happy to oblige, and after getting the go-ahead from Esplanade, we had lots of fun livening up the atmosphere with our music as well as dancers. There were people who actually came up to us and congratulated us for having professional dancers for our show! Thank you to our friends from TangoSingapore for your support!

Some dancers from TangoSingapore. Photo Courtesy: Adrian Tan

Again, our most heartfelt thanks to the Esplanade for inviting us to perform at such a wonderful venue, Xianghui for coordinating the event, the Esplanade crew for the lighting and sound, Yili for the videocamera at such short notice, and all our friends and family for being there for us. Credits again to Adrian Tan and Emma for the awesome photos.

Videos of the performances will be up soon.

Fritz Quartet @ Fort Canning

2009-08-31T15:41:00.001+08:00

29 Aug 2009

Blessing Ceremony of Alex & Jenny

Fort Canning, Old Married Soldiers' Quarters

Our first encounter with Jenny was a year ago, at the wedding of Su Yenn, where Jenny was the wedding coordinator -- so it seemed like a reunion of sorts as we performed for Jenny's blessing ceremony today.

We were positioned under the foliage, attracting a few curious insects who were eager to join in the celebration. It was an intimate and cosy ceremony as Alex and Jenny renewed their vows. Even the family dog had a part to play as he was in charge of delivering the rings!

We are glad to have provided the music and ambience for the blessing ceremony of an old friend. Wishing Alex and Jenny happiness always.

Max having a zen moment

Guests of Jenny and Alex waiting under the canopy for the ceremony to begin..

Fritz Quartet @ Standard Chartered Bank Loyalty Awards 09 @ Raffles City Convention Centre, Olivia Room

2009-08-27T15:22:00.005+08:00

Standard Chartered Bank Loyalty Awards

Raffles City Convention Centre, Olivia Room

13 August 2009

Fritz Quartet had the honor of being invited to perform for Standard Chartered Bank's Loyalty Awards 2009 this year, held at the Raffles City Convention Centre's Olivia Room.

The two violinists warming up

Showtime! with Guest Cellist Brandon.

No, we are also not sure why the first violin is grinning away so maniacally.

Thanks to Leonard Ong, Head of Reward/ Human Resources, Standard Chartered Bank as well as Bronson Quek, Director, BChamp Special Events & Marketing.

Fritz Quartet Videos from Singapore Arts Festival 2009

2009-07-05T19:45:00.006+08:00

Videos from our performances at the Singapore Arts Festival 2009 are up!

To access the playlist, click here

Alternatively, click the play button to watch in actual performance order.

Enjoy. :)

Fritz Quartet @ Singapore Arts Festival 2009

2009-07-01T17:37:00.003+08:00

Singapore Arts Festival 2009

"Arts on the Move"

31 May 2009, 6 June 2009

Raffles City Shopping Centre

This year marks Fritz Quartet's Singapore Arts Festival debut, and we are extremely honoured to be the only string quartet featured in this year's outreach programme line-up.

Our personalised placard from the Singapore Arts Festival

Photo courtesy Leonard Ong

Entertaining the public, with even more at the higher floors. Photo courtesy Leonard Ong

Photo courtesy Leonard Ong

All wired up. Photo courtesy Leonard Ong

Photo courtesy Leonard Ong

Post show with Benjamin Ho , Production Coordinator

with our Singapore Arts Festival lanyards.

Thank You Card from NAC

Thank You Messages

Our sincere thanks to the Singapore Arts Festival 2009 committee and National Arts Council, especially to Woon Ying and Benjamin, for being such great coordinators and ensuring that our performances went on with minimal hassle.

Thanks as well to the helpers in green, whom we didn't get a chance to take photos with on both days .

And finally, to our fans, friends and family, thank you for your support, we wouldn't have gone this far without you.

Fritz Quartet @ The Nespresso - Citiz Launch, Swissotel The Stamford, Helipad

2009-06-10T14:54:00.003+08:00

26 May 2009

Nespresso - Citiz Launch @ Swissotel The Stamford, Helipad

It was an honour for Fritz Quartet to be invited once again by Stanley Samuel, Country Manager-South East Asia of Nespresso, for the launch of Citiz. We had worked with Stanley previously for the Nespresso/Swiss Business Association Dinner last year.

The Citiz Logo

We were originally scheduled to perform at the Helipad but it rained. View from 69th floor at 6.45pm

Waiting to start the first set at 7pm

Midway through our set. Photo courtesy of Mathew Soon

Posing for the camera in between sets

By 9pm, the rain had stopped and the party adjourned to the helipad. This involved climbing up quite a few storeys to the 73rd floor, no mean feat for some of the guests who were in stilettos!

Even though the weather was humid and we could smell the grease from the kitchen, the view from the helipad more than made up for it.

Thank goodness for music stand lights. As the guests mingled late into the night, we ended off our 4th set for the evening at around 11pm.

Our gratitude to Stanley, JC, and the tech crew.

Fritz Quartet @ Singapore Arts Festival 2009

2009-05-14T02:55:00.005+08:00

Fritz Quartet @ Singapore Arts Festival 2009
31 May (Sunday) 7pm & 6 June (Saturday) 1pm
Raffles City, Singapore

Here's our version of a "promotional" video..

Enjoy! :)

Hosted on Facebook (High Quality):

Also on youtube.

Fritz Quartet gets special mention on the websites of TimeOut Singapore as well as the Great Singapore Sale 2009 Mirror.

Fritz Quartet @ Singapore Arts Festival 2009

2009-05-12T16:01:00.010+08:00

Fritz Quartet @ Singapore Arts Festival 2009

31 May (Sunday) 7pm & 6 June (Saturday) 1pm

Raffles City, Singapore

Repertoire:

Liebesfreud by Fritz Kreisler

Divertimento in D (1st Movement) by Wolfgang Mozart

"Shiver" Coldplay Cover (arranged by Chin Wan Yee)

Libertango by Astor Piazzolla

Comme Il Faut (Tango) by Jeremy Cohen

Tanguori (Tango) by Jeremy Cohen

Crowdambo (Mambo) by Jeremy Cohen

Fritz Quartet @ Chijmes Hall

2009-02-14T01:29:00.004+08:00

09 Feb 09

Wedding of Edmund and Jean

We arrived at 10am this morning for a quick soundcheck prior to our set which began at 1020am. The guests began streaming in and we performed familiar classical favourites, which generated applause from guests.

The march-in song was Pachelbel's Canon in D, and the march-out song was Trumpet Voluntary. What made this wedding unique was that after the couple had exited, they re-entered, this time dancing to the Theme from New York New York. Edmund also sportingly performed a song by Taiwanese singer Jay Chou.

Edmund and Jean with guests. Congratulations again!

Picture of Chijmes' exterior against the blue sky, noon.

Seasons Greetings from Fritz Quartet

2008-12-30T14:14:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Fritz Quartet!

It has been a good year for us, and we are certainly looking forward to doing more public performances next year. Do check back for updates!

Cheers!

Fritz Quartet @ The Swiss Club

2008-12-10T23:50:00.001+08:00

05 Dec 08

Nespresso/ The Swiss Business Association Dinner

This evening, we performed 2 sets for the Nespresso/ Swiss Business Association Dinner.

Spreading some festive cheer!

The exterior of the Swiss Club.

Our first set was performed outdoors at the reception area as guests streamed in. The guests were dressed to their nines and took their turns on the red carpet.

After a 20-minute break, we proceeded indoors where the dinner was taking place. The smell of food was making us hungry, but play, we did. The audience clearly enjoyed what they were hearing, as we received warm applause after every piece. It is always a pleasure performing and sharing our love for music with our audiences.

Our thanks to Stanley and Lydia from Nespresso.

Fritz Quartet @ Chijmes Hall

2008-11-29T17:23:00.007+08:00

29 Nov 08

Wedding of Junyang and Rina
Chijmes Hall

We arrived at 10am this morning, for a rehearsal with the bridesmaid and sword bearers. The first violinist needs her morning cuppa.

The sword bearers discussing their formation. We had performed at the Chijmes Hall on various occasions and so it was familiar ground for us.

After the rehearsal, we performed a 15-minute set for the guests who were arriving. The pieces included:

Pachelbel Canon in D
Vivaldi Winter
Bach Gavotte
Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

After a 30 minute break, we performed the following songs which we had specially arranged for the ceremony:

Bridesmaid Entrance- Groovy Kind of Love (Phil Collins)
Sword-of-Honor Entrance- Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations
Bride Entrance- Over the Rainbow
Communion Candle - Kissin' You from Romeo and Juliet
Recessional - Here Comes the Bride (Wagner)

By the time the whole ceremony was over, it was 1pm. As the guests partook in the sumptious buffet spread, we dispersed to various locations of the island for our afternoon commitments.

Thanks to Amanda from Oh Factor for coordinating the event.

Fritz Quartet @ Raffles City Convention Centre, Morrison Room

2008-11-20T17:09:00.000+08:00

6 Nov 08

ACI Dinner

Raffles City Convention Centre

Morrison Room

This evening, the Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for the ACI Dinner, held at the Morrison Room. Hosted by Nominated MP Miss Eunice Olsen, the dinner was a cosy affair with only a few tables. We were rather worried initially that we might be too loud as the nearest table was situated quite close to where we were. Nevertheless, our music was received with much appreciation from the guests.

Thanks to Alex from Dynamicworkz for coordinating the event.

Fritz Quartet @ Raffles Hotel Ballroom

2008-11-15T16:15:00.001+08:00

Wedding of Chee Koon and Jiayi

2nd November 2008

Raffles Hotel Ballroom

We had the pleasure of performing for the wedding dinner of Chee Koon and Jiayi today at the Raffles Hotel Ballroom.

For the first march-in, we performed Mendelssohn's Wedding March, and for the second march-in, we performed Pachelbel's Canon in D.

As a special item, Chee Koon performed Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin for his bride and guests-- on his flute.

Fritz Quartet@ Raffles Hotel East India Rooms

2008-10-04T17:02:00.004+08:00

30 September
Raffles Hotel, East India Rooms
HSBC Premier Wealth Management Seminar

Having performed at the HSBC Weath Management Seminar back in May 2008 , we were once again invited by Mr Shabaz Hameed, Business Development Manager, HSBC, to perform for another event. This time, it was for the HSBC Premier Wealth Management Seminar held at the Raffles Hotel East India Rooms.

We were situated at the courtyard outside of the East India Rooms. Surrounded by lush fauna, a gurgling fountain and elegant colonial architecture, we began our first set just as the first few guests started arriving.

Having finished our two sets, we were subsequently invited to partake in the sumptious buffet spread.

Thanks to Mr Shabaz for the warm invitation and Geetha for coordinating the event.

Fritz Quartet welcomes new 2nd Violinist

2008-09-15T14:26:00.000+08:00

We are pleased to introduce Hong Yaw Chang, a dear friend, who has joined us as 2nd Violinist from September 2008.

His complete bio can be found here.

Fritz Quartet@ The Nike + Human Race 10K

2008-09-14T16:38:00.009+08:00

31 Aug 2008
Riverside Point
Nike Human Race

Having all arrived on time at the venue, we were briefed by Azhar (stage manager) to wait for our turn to rehearse with Govin (Tabla) and DJ Rattle. While listening to the refreshing mix of sitar and tabla to DJ Rattle’s funky beats from the DJ console, we took to our sponsored tee-shirts and shoes for the event, which was a real treat, thank you Nike!

After a few runs and having familiarized ourselves with the cues and details, we were set to work out the string quartet with Tabla remix as well as string quartet with DJ Rattle remix.

The sea of red running past our stage.

At our appointed time to perform, the skies opened up and down came the rain!

The covered up DJ console. It was only after another 30 minutes that the rain cleared up and we took to the stage.

We first performed with Govin on Tabla. His fingers are amazing.

DJ Rattle at the back having fun

Next up was Fritz Quartet with DJ Rattle.

Thank you so much to the organizers on site who took care of us.

Fritz Quartet with DJ Rattle! Thanks to DJ Rattle for providing us with a cool beat to work our repertoire with.

For the other performers on site performing, it's been a cool day to hang out and exchange music experiences!

Big thank you to Nike for inviting us to perform for the event, as well as to Don, Liyana, Azhar, from Kinemat.

This performance also marks the beginning of Bingling (2nd violin)'s 2-year sabbatical leave from the Fritz Quartet. You'd be missed!

Fritz Quartet @ the Armenian Church

2008-08-24T16:30:00.001+08:00

23 August
Wedding of Steve and Su-Yenn
Armenian Church

It was a wet Saturday afternoon when we arrived at the unassuming Armenian Church .

Located at Hill Street, the Armenian Church has a quiet and serene atmosphere to it, a vivid contrast to the busy road right beside it.

When a throng of guests started to stream in through the entrance of the church with umbrellas in tow, we took our positions and started our set.

In the midst of our tranquil Bach movements, a riotous cacophony of car horns could be heard from afar, presumably the entourage of the bride.

We played Bach's Air on G for the march-in and Theme from New York New York for the march-out. It was a simple but very sweet ceremony.

Thanks to Jenny for cues, and congratulations again to Steve and Su-Yenn!

Fritz Quartet @ The Equinox

2008-07-30T23:52:00.008+08:00

17 July 2008
Equinox Complex, Swissôtel The Stamford
ACR Capital Holdings Pte Ltd

It was with excitement and anticipation that we stepped into the lift that would bring us to one of the highest points in Singapore.

It was actually quite an interesting experience stepping into Equinox in the daytime. The lift, which brought us to our desired level in less than a minute, opened its doors to a picaresque view of Singapore on a rainy afternoon.

However, there was not much time to be spent admiring the view as the event had been brought forward with the meeting ending earlier than estimated. We were ready in ten minutes and the guests started streaming in through the open doors, marking the start of the cocktail event. We performed continuously for an hour.

Post-performance, several guests came up to thank us for providing a delightful ambience for the cocktail event.

Our gracious hosts from ACR Capital Holdings Pte Ltd, also urged us towards the sumptious buffet spread, ranging from delectable sushi to exquisite Peking duck.

Special thanks to Hwee Ting and Jiali for inviting us to perform for the event!

Finally we had time to admire the view from the top. It had stopped raining by then.

Fritz Quartet @ SIM-UB Commencement Ceremony

2008-07-23T13:27:00.003+08:00

11 July 2008
SIM-UB Commencement Ceremony
SIM Headquarters, Grand Hall

Today, the Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for the SIM-UB Commencement Ceremony, attended by friends and family of the graduates.

Our program was arranged as such:

Prelude
1. Por Una Cabeza : Carlos Gadel
2. Humoresque
3. Over the rainbow
4. Gavotte (Bach)

1st Interlude
1. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

2nd Interlude
1. Blue Tango
2. Theme from New York New York

Having thought initially that the "Prelude" and "Interludes" stated in the program would be just short performances by the string quartet, perhaps to fill time for movement on and off the stage, we were surprised to hear our name being formally announced by the emcee. We were even more surprised to realise that everyone in the Grand Hall was seated quietly in their seats waiting to watch us! Not to mention, various deans and professors watched over us from behind us on stage as well!

It has been a pleasure for Fritz Quartet to be a part of the SIM-UB Commencement Ceremony.

Once again, congratulations to the graduates!

Fritz Quartet @ Raffles City Convention Centre, Olivia Ballroom

2008-07-04T23:28:00.002+08:00

25 June 2008
Raffles City Convention Centre
Olivia Ballroom
Colliers International

We were invited by Colliers International to perform for their “Power Networking Luncheon” at the Raffles City Convention Centre. The luncheon was part of Real Estate Investment World (REIW) Asia 2008, a 4-day business festival that showcases products, strategies, personalities and leading companies that comprise the Asian Real Estate investment marketplace.

The guests were made up of distinguished and elite professionals of the real estate industry and had just finished a seminar before convening for the luncheon at the Olivia Ballroom. We were positioned on stage and performed a broadway repertoire with a special request of Pachelbel’s Canon in D while the guests lunched.

A big thank you to Doris from Colliers International and Estelle from Terrapinn for inviting us to perform for the event.

Fritz Quartet Video Clips

2008-06-01T23:37:00.006+08:00

The youtube links from our performance at the Open Stage, Library @ Esplanade on the 23rd February 2008 are up!

Our gratitude to Marc Checkley for graciously taking an afternoon off to help us with the filming. It's a pity that we had to sacrifice the quality of the videos in order to upload them to youtube.

Fandango

Tango Chromatique

Por Una Cabeza

Jalousie

Fritz Quartet @ Chijmes Hall

2008-05-26T23:40:00.004+08:00

24 May 2008
Wedding of Kwang Seng and Dorcas

As Kwang Seng had composed a song for his bride, we arrived early at Chijmes Hall for a sound-check and rehearsal with the band prior to the wedding dinner. Taking the stage with us for the special item was Andrea on keyboard, Julia on flute, Arun on guitar, Jeremy on drums and Reg on bass. It was no joke trying to squeeze 9 people, including the quartet on the tiny stage, and at some instances we were worried we might start whacking each other in the face accidentally with our instruments.

Soundcheck : Tze Chuan, with Julia at the background

Soundcheck: Bingling and Andrea smiling for the camera

The soundcheck took much longer than expected but we managed to do a quick run through with Kwang Seng, who by the way, is a really great singer! As guests started streaming in for the cocktail reception, it was time to end the rehearsal, which meant that we had an hour off for dinner nearby.

We started off the first set with mainly popular classical pieces such as Vivaldi’s Winter Evening, Boccherini’s Minuet, Bach’s Air and Pachelbel’s Canon. The second was set to be lively with popular broadway songs such as New York New York and Can You Feel the Love Tonight, as well as upbeat classical pieces such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Barber of Seville.

Many thanks to the musicians for making space for us on stage, the sound guys, wedding coordinators and most importantly, to Kwang Seng and Dorcas for inviting us to be a part of your very special occasion.

Tze Chuan, Bingling, Dorcas the gorgeous bride, Max and guest cellist Hongyap

Fritz Quartet @ Asian Civilisations Museum

2008-05-25T16:06:00.001+08:00

22 May 08

Today, the Fritz Quartet was invited to play for the HSBC Wealth Management Seminar held at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The exterior of the museum

We performed in the Shaw Foundation Foyer, where guests mingled during the cocktail reception.

We were especially fascinated by the ice sculpture

Max having a "matrix" moment with his scores before the event

Setting up in progress

After our last song, several guests came up to us to congratulate us and thank us for making their evening.

Tze Chuan smiles for the camera

Compliments from Mr Shabaz Hameed, Business Development Manager, HSBC :

"Thank you to your team and yourself for performing for us last night.

I have had some great feedback from our clients, and they very much enjoyed your performance. "

Fritz Quartet @ ComfortDelGro 5th Anniversary Celebrations

2008-04-17T10:29:00.001+08:00

28 March

This was our third time performing at Ritz Carlton for the month. It was for another transport related event, but this time, it was for ComfortDelGro 5th Anniversary Celebrations. We got quite a shock when we saw the program schedule for the night. The ambitious program had about 5 performances going on throughout the night, amidst the prize-giving ceremony and speeches. No wonder the event managers were all over the place coordinating and making sure the event ran smoothly.

As we were to perform in between the other performances, speeches and prize-giving ceremonies, we were to be on standby throughout the night (ie: we had no time for dinner).

Standing by.

It was rather tiring, but we soldiered on nonetheless. When the event ended, most of us were glad that it was a Saturday the next day!

Kudos to the event managers from Zoosh Pte Ltd. for running such a complex event!

P.S: Interestingly, there was a Chinese interpreter situated in a soundproof cubicle close to us translating for the event.

Fritz Quartet @ Bayer Schering Pharmaceutical Dinner: St Regis

2008-03-27T23:27:00.000+08:00

26 March 08

We were engaged again by Sophia from Rubix Cube to perform for the Bayer Schering Pharmaceutical Dinner at the Consulate Room, St Regis.

It was a reunion of sorts as we had worked with Sophia earlier for the Cevarix Corporate Seminar. Coincidentally, the floor captain in-charge of the event was also the same coordinator for Mark and Soo Yeon’s wedding held at the St Regis Ballroom!

We were situated on a slightly raised platform at the front of the room. However, as it was a very intimate setting, with only 5 tables, it also meant that we were in close proximity to the guests. It was a challenge for us to keep our volume down without losing the dynamics of the music , as we did not wish to be intrusive to the conversations going on. Thank goodness we were not mic-ed up!

When our performance was over, we were rewarded with applause and happy smiles! It was indeed a great way to end our evening!

Fritz Quartet @ Land Transport Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2008

2008-03-20T03:10:00.006+08:00

18 March

Having just performed at the Chihuly Room on the 8th of March, we were reunited with Ritz Carlton Hotel for tonight's event.

It was indeed a pleasure to finally meet Kelvin Kang, Events Director of Superstar Special Events, after months of email and phone exchanges.

We were situated outside the ballroom for the cocktail reception, before shifting into the ballroom for the dinner.

It was a rather huge event judging from the massive crowd gathered outside the ballroom waiting for the event to start!

The ballroom was quite a sight to behold, and it truly lived up to the description given on their website :

“California elegance combined with contemporary accents are the hallmarks for our largest event room. The Ritz-Carlton Ballroom features majestic Bohemian crystal chandeliers, exquisite muted aqua blue wall coverings with a modern floral design in platinum accented with antique white decorative wood moldings. The walls are complimented by warm chocolate floor coverings with a coco background, aqua boarder and a pale sand sea fern pattern.”

Mic-ed up and ready to perform, we began our 2nd set for the evening in the ballroom, while pausing occasionally for the speeches and award presentations.

The Guest-of-Honour for tonight's event was Mr Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs.

With dinner being served, the marvellous aroma was making us hungry! Luckily, we managed to scramble off for a quick bite at Marina Square during our break before resuming our third set for the night.

The LTA Award Plaque

The guests mingling around at the end of the event

At the end of the event, Kelvin came over to thank us and complimented us on a job well done. He also expressed his interest in engaging us for future events. Thanks Kelvin! It was great working with you too!

An interesting titbit:
When quizzed on why he had engaged the quartet for such a high-profile event, despite it being the first time working with us, Kelvin commented that Tze Chuan’s "honest face" made him feel that he could trust us. Tze Chuan was of course, over the moon, while the rest of us rolled on the floor in laughter by the "honest face" comment.

Tze Chuan and Bing Ling

Fritz Quartet @ Meritus Mandarin

2008-03-03T19:19:00.003+08:00

02 March 2008

Today we performed for the WIN Awards Dinner at Meritus Mandarin.

We were scheduled to perform at 8.50pm but the programme was shifted forward.

The audience loved our renditions of 夜来香 (ye lai xiang), 月亮代表我的心 (yue liang dai biao wo de xin) and 梁祝 (liang zhu or Butterfly Lovers Concerto) as we were rewarded with warm applause after each piece.

Fritz Quartet with Stephanie from Original Media, our friendly and spunky coordinator for the evening.

Thank you to Joan from Original Media as well for the numerous email exchanges and phonecalls. It was great working with you. :)

Fritz Quartet @ St. Regis

2008-02-26T18:48:00.001+08:00

23 February 2008
St Regis Hotel Ballroom

After our performance at the Esplanade Library, we headed down to St Regis to perform for a Cervarix corporate seminar on the treatment of cervical cancer. As the Q&A session took longer than expected, we had too much time to entertain ourselves. Didn't help that we were still on a post-performance adrenalin rush.

(Friends have complained that they don't see enough of Johnny's pictures here, so here are some photos of Johnny having some fun with the bouquet of flowers that Max got from his fans at the Esplanade Library.)

Johnny and Max having a friendly exchange.

Meanwhile the Q & A session was still in progress, so we adjourned to the sofas outside and listened to the chill lounge live piano music.

We were then informed that it might be much better to shift our performance from the stage in the ballroom to the buffet area. And this we did in record breaking time.

Besides playing familiar movie theme songs, we performed some of the zesty tango pieces we had performed earlier at the library. Several guests gathered to enjoy the music while having their very delicious looking high-tea.

Many thanks to Sophia from Rubix Cube for having us at the event. Not to mention the pretty photos you have taken for us!

Fritz Quartet Presents Tango, Library @ Esplanade

2008-02-25T14:59:00.005+08:00

Fritz Quartet Presents: Tango!
23 Feb 2008 (Saturday)
Library @ Esplanade , Open Stage
2pm-3pm

It has always been our wish to perform at different venues and to share our love for music with more people.

When we were offered the opportunity to perform at the Library @ Esplanade, we were extremely excited, as it offers an intimate performing space.

As the Tango is conventionally associated with the sensual and the erotic, we decided, instead to showcase other facets of tango, such as its close ties with the everyday life of Buenos Aires and its cheeky and mischievous side.

The turnout was great, and we were really pleased to see all 50 chairs filled, a rare treat for a Saturday afternoon. In fact, there were many more left standing with some spilling over to the Esplanade Cafe, enjoying their afternoon coffee and cakes while watching our performance.

And of course, having our previous clients spend their Saturday afternoon watching our performance was perhaps the most rewarding of all.

We were especially touched to see Patrick again (we had performed for his birthday party in June last year) who later sent us a congratulatory sms:

"Linda and I were sitting well out of the way and enjoyed the concert as it reminded us so much of Buenos Aires, which we know so well"

For those who have missed the performance or wish to view our performance again, we will be posting clips of the performance on youtube as soon as we have sorted them out. So do check back here for more updates!

No, Max did not sing- he was sharing his thoughts on Tango.

Special thanks goes to Alf Chern for the wonderful photos, Mark Checkley for video-taping and editing the clips for us, and Mr Goh Peck Keong for coordinating the event. Many many thanks for your warm support!

Lastly, thank you so much to all who came down to watch our performance, we hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!

Fritz Quartet Presents Tango!

2008-02-18T03:42:00.001+08:00

Come join us for an afternoon of Tango music!

23rd February 2008
Open Stage, Library @ Esplanade
2pm-3pm
Admission is free.

For more information, please refer to the library blog at http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/epcl/music/fritz-quartet-tango-repertoire/

Exciting programme lined up! :)

Fritz Quartet @ St Regis

2008-02-04T15:17:00.000+08:00

2 Feb 2008

Saturday night, we performed for the wedding of Mark and Soo Yeon at St Regis Ballroom. It was our first time at St Regis, and we were especially impressed by the sound system provided by St Regis.

The digitalised signboard outside the ballroom

Going through our repertoire for the night to match the evening's programme

At 8pm, the guests streamed in and filled the vast ballroom. As Mark had indicated he wanted light and lively music, we planned our repertoire accordingly. Soon, it was time for the first march-in (Canon in D) and the guests welcomed the newly wed couple with thunderous applause. We continued with favourites such as Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Bach's Air on G.

We took our set break when the couple left for their costume change. It was an eyeopening affair as the couple emerged the 2nd time with Korean traditional costumes!

We opened our 2nd set with Chinese favourites 夜来香 (Ye Lai Xiang) and 月亮代表我的心 (Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin) while the couple left for their 3rd costume change. We performed Fly Me To the Moon, a jazz favourite for their march-in.

Thanks to staff of St Regis for the helpful technical assistance and our congratulations to Mark and Soo Yoen! :)

New Year Greetings from Fritz Quartet

2008-01-01T15:35:00.000+08:00

Our first post for 2008!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

To sum up 2007... we have made many new friends while performing for events and collaborations--friends that we treasure and hope to keep for life. We have also learnt alot about ourselves, as well as from one another, while working on our individual and quartet projects. We are still learning each day. Music making is a continuous process, how true.

Right now, we are working on new repertoire and we hope to debut some fresh, new pieces in the coming year. We are also looking forward to sharing our music with friends and new audiences. Possibly a few public performances in 2008?

In the meantime, here's wishing all a great year ahead!

Check back for more updates!

Fritz Quartet @ Ritz Carlton

2007-12-29T23:25:00.000+08:00

Wedding of Mark and Su-Jan
29th December

Today, we played for our last wedding of the year, held at Ritz Carlton.

The Solemnisation Room

Our set-up at the back of the room

Cocktail area

Special Requests
*Processional: Canon in D
*Signing: Air on G
*Recessional: Wedding March (Mendelssohn)

Set List
Vivaldi Winter Evening
Grieg Morning
Boccherini Minuet
Dvorak Humoresque
Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik 1st Mvt
Schubert Marche Militaire
Strauss Blue Danube Waltz
Vivaldi, "Spring from the Four Seasons"
Theme from New York New York
It don't mean a Thing
You light up my life
Can you feel the love tonight (Lion King)
Over the Rainbow

The beautiful and surreal solemnisation ceremony

Congratulations to Mark and Su-Jan!

Special thanks to the helpful staff of Ritz Carlton for the help with the PA equipment.

Fritz Quartet @ Square 2

2007-12-25T01:40:00.000+08:00

24 Dec

Today marks the end of our Christmas series at Square 2.

Repertoire List:
Winter Wonderland
I'd be home for Christmas
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Deck the Halls
My first Noel
Silent Night
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Joy to the World
The Little Drummer Boy
Jingle Bells

Taking a breather in between songs.

Thanks to Nora and Silah from Star Mission for coordinating the event, as well as Hock for providing technical assistance.

Merry Christmas to all!

Fritz Quartet & Nightsound in Motion

2007-12-21T15:52:00.000+08:00

14 October
Nightsound in Motion
Playden @ Arts House

2pm: Soundcheck with the band

The sign leading to the 2nd level

We experienced some technical difficulties during the soundcheck, which caused some feed-back from the mics.

Johnny looking pensive as we wait for the technical difficulties to be sorted out

4pm: We had time for a short run through of some of the pieces with the band.

5.30pm: Breaktime! All mic-ed up and ready for the show (Fritz Quartet photo)

Getting into the swing of things-- bright smiles! We had the entire dressing room to ourselves! (Fritz Quartet photo)

Then it was showtime at 7pm!!

Above photos courtesy of Lightbox Productions (http://www.lightboxproductions.sg/)

Photo Courtesy: Geraldine.

Everything went smoothly and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. It was a refreshing change for us playing something non classical! :) We are also glad that we had the chance to play local composer Tan Chan Boon's work.

Kudos to members of Nightsound: Req, K, Euge, Alan, XR as well as guest players Edmund (saxophone) and Luke (percussions). It was a blast working with you guys!

For more information on Nightsound: http://www.nightalive.com/

Fritz Quartet @ Singapore Art Museum

2007-12-20T23:03:00.000+08:00

18 Dec 2007

After many days of torrential rain, the skies cleared up for the special day of Haresh and Margaret. It was cool yet not too windy when Margaret walked down the aisle with the flowergirls to the tune of Canon in D.

Post ceremony, we played Bach's Air on G, as yellow balloons carrying the well wishes of guests, were released into the air. It was such a poignant moment for us watching the balloons rise up into the skies.

The buffet dinner was held in the Glass Hall, a really cosy room. As we were playing, several guests came up to us to thank us for our music. It was especially heartwarming when Margaret and Haresh came to us at the end of the night with huge beams on their faces! :)

Fritz Quartet @ Raffles Hotel (SPH Event)

2007-12-12T13:46:00.000+08:00

11 December

Bingling took the helm of First Violinist today as our beloved Tze Chuan had the good fortune to go on holiday. Everything went smoothly as planned and we garnered much applause from the distinguished guests such as Singapore Press Holdings' Chairman, Dr Tony Tan, CEO, Mr Alan Chan, Media Development Authority's Assistant CEO, Mr Seto Lok Yin, and several top management personnel of renowned international publishing houses.

It was a private dinner setting with 6 tables in Raffles Hotel’s East India Room. As the guests enjoyed their sumptuous dinner, the Fritz Quartet played familiar tunes such as the Theme from New York New York and Kanon in D. To add on to the Christmas cheer, Bingling had also selected Danny Boy and Greensleeves to be played during the event.

Many thanks to our guest players Hongyap and Yaw Chang for agreeing to play with us at such short notice but delivering professional standards of performance nonetheless. Thanks to Pearly Mak too for facilitating the event. The Fritz Quartet looks forward to working with you again.

Lastly, thank you to the audience for lending us your ears.

- Max

Fritz Quartet @ Au Jardin Les Amis

2007-12-07T23:43:00.000+08:00

7 Dec 2007
Today the Fritz Quartet performed for an Atradius Event, held at Au Jardin Les Amis, Botanical Gardens. It was the first time we have played at Au Jardin, and it was indeed an interesting experience. We especially loved the acoustics of the place, and we had great technical support from the av crew, who miced us up.

The exterior of the restaurant.

It was especially tiring today because we played 2 sets consecutively. It certainly didn't help that it was raining the whole of today! Nevertheless, it was especially sweet when guests at the event smiled at us and said "Great job" after our pieces.

Thanks to Hong Yap for guest playing with us. A big thank you as well to Christabelle and Prisca from SPRG for coordinating the event.

Fritz Quartet @ ACS Oldham Hall

2007-12-06T23:53:00.000+08:00

6 Dec 2007 The Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for the wedding anniversary dinner of Mr & Mrs Choe Peng Sum (COO, Frasers Hospitality) at the Acs Oldham Hall.

The hall was transformed beautifully, with colorful chairs and table cloths.

Our stage set up. We had to make do with 2 mics instead of 4.

Tze Chuan and Johnny during the set break. Mr Choe had graciously reserved a table for us to have our dinner. Yummy! We especially loved the peking duck.. the eggtarts...the popiah... etc.

Tze Chuan and Max. The resident photographer takes a break to pose for the camera....

Compliments from a beaming Mr Choe: "I'm really glad I engaged you to perform tonight, thank you so much".. as well as a few guests who waved goodbye to us and said 'THANK YOU' when they left while we were still performing our last few songs, rounded up our evening's musical experience at ACS Oldham Hall.

Our thanks to Zhengyang for being there, as well as Mr Chong for coordinating the event and ensuring we were fed. :)

President's Design Award

2007-12-01T00:03:00.000+08:00

27 Nov 2007

The Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for the President's Design Award Ceremony cum gala, held at the Esplanade Concert Hall, with President S R Nathan as Guest of Honour. The Award Ceremony was also the opening event for the Singapore Design Festival 2007.

When the doors of the concert hall opened at 6pm, we performed:

Theme from New York New York
Bengawan Solo
Butterfly Lovers' Concerto
Can you Feel the Love Tonight

After the event, we played for 2 more sets at the VIP Foyer. It was a night of beautiful people, and great ambience.

Our thanks to Brandon and Edward, Andrew from Music & Movement, as well as Esplanade staff for ensuring a smooth performing experience. :)

Fritz Quartet at Grand Hyatt Hotel (Ballroom 2)

2007-11-20T12:13:00.000+08:00

11 November

Today, the Fritz Quartet performed for the wedding of Jessica and Lyonnel at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. We arrived slightly earlier to rehearse the march-in, as well as to finalise where we would be situated for the evening.

We started our first set at 5.30pm when the guests were arriving, followed by Barcarolle for the processional at 6pm. Trumpet Voluntary was the recessional piece.

While the couple was busy taking photographs, we shifted our stands and music to the area outside the ballroom, where there would be a cocktail reception before dinner. Jessica had specially requested in our previous correspondences, for us to play Boccherini's Minuet, whihc we also included in our set list. After the piece, Jessica came over to us and said "you guys sound 20 times better than the recording!". Awwwww. :)

Compliments from Jessica:
Thanks for the lovely music. If I could do this all over again, I am very certain that I will still want the Fritz Quartet to perform for my wedding. haha... It was simply magical marching in to the tune of Barcarolle (LIVE no less!!!). Love the recessional piece too. Only regret is that I am unable to freeze those moments. (...) I had to go back to the suite to wait for the dinner to start. BUT I got to listen to Boccherini's Minuet!! haha which I think I requested for you guys to play. I enjoyed it totally!! LAPPED IT UP. (...) Overall, I love the stuff which you guys did. VERY happy that I got u guys. Really. I would definitely recommend you guys to anyone who wants GOOD live music for their wedding.

Thanks Jessica and Lyonnel, for inviting us to be part of your special occasion. And thanks as well for specially giving us a whole box of cakes and puffs as well as drinks for refreshments! :)

Members of the Wedding Party!

2007-11-05T12:19:00.000+08:00

Received a pleasant surprise in the email today from Matthew, who had forwarded us pictures of us playing at his wedding .

Photo Credit: Derrick Ong (www.derrick-ong.com)

Matthew also wrote a note:
"We both very much enjoyed your music, and admired the quite (sic) professionalism with which you set up and left, and your timing in beginning your first piece at the perfect moment. Overall, I wouldn't fault you on a thing, and your presence did a lot to help create the wonderful atmosphere on our special day. In fact, booking you was one of the better decisions I made, even if it was at the last minute. As I think I said before, I wouldn't hesitate to employ you again in the unlikely event I'm planning such an occasion, or to recommend you to others. We do have friends with weddings coming up, and I'll certainly point them in your direction if they're looking for musicians."

Photo Credit: KC Wong (www.greymatterphotography.com)

Friends have always asked me why I do what I do. I guess for me, it is the knowledge that in the midst of enjoying the camaraderie of making music together, we have the ability to make a special occasion even more special.. that collectively, we have created tendrils of music which twine around the hearts of the audience, clinging on as time passes, to remind people of the beauty of music....

That is what keeps me going.

-Tze Chuan

Fritz Quartet rehearsal with Nightsound

2007-10-20T11:37:00.000+08:00

6 October 2007 7pm.
"Circus in Motion": Rehearsal

Today, we had our first rehearsal with Nightsound. We had met REQ, Alan and Euge previously when we discussed the collaboration in September, so it was great to finally meet everybody today!

Alan on Drums
Euge on Bass
REQ on Vocals
XR on Keyboards
Kevin on Guitars

We also had the chance to rehearse with other guest musicians, Luke, as well as Edmund (saxophone)

We couldn't really hear ourselves due to the size of the room (apparently there was some miscommunication with the studio, who didn't give us the biggest room!) Imagine 12 people (plus XUN) in one tiny room.. Should have taken a picture of Euge perched precariously on top of a speaker due to the lack of space (Haha!) We tried to solve the problem by using mics, but ultimately the 2 people in the room who suffered the most were probably REQ and XR who had to absorb the sounds coming from all directions.

Apart from the glitch, rehearsal went well! Kudos to XR and REQ for helping out with the string quartet scoring. Chan Boon dropped by as well to give us pointers on his composition which we would be performing, immediately after the piece "Remember Me" on the 14th.

We had an early night as we managed to sort out the music - it was a very easygoing rehearsal and we are looking forward to the show on the 14th!

(Counting bar rests...) Max, Johnny, Bingling and part of REQ's head.

Gotta take public transport.

P.S: Updates on actual day show coming up- once we get the photos!

Fritz Quartet (NDP 2007)

2007-10-16T11:53:00.001+08:00

Fritz Quartet receives the Certificate of Appreciation, signed by Mr Teo Chee Hean (Minister of Defence) in recognition of our participation in the NDP 2007 Music Video.

Fritz Quartet on Glass Notes

2007-10-09T11:13:00.000+08:00

Fritz Quartet receives special mention:

http://philipglass.typepad.com/glass_notes/2007/10/closing-in-ital.html

Fritz Quartet Goes Alternative

2007-10-08T01:36:00.000+08:00

Fritz Quartet at Fullerton Hotel

2007-10-01T13:57:00.000+08:00

15 September 2007

Today, Wei Ting and Ling Fung threw a lavish wedding dinner at the Fullerton Hotel Grand Ballroom. Being engaged twice by the same couple within a span of a few days, meant that we got to see many familiar faces, whom we had met earlier in the week at Chijmes. It certainly felt like we were performing for friends! It was a really great feeling.

We were engaged to play 1 set for the cocktail reception and 2 sets for the dinner.

After our first set outside the ballroom, where the cocktail reception was held, we shifted back into the ballroom for the next 2 sets. Kudos to the hotel staff who led us back into the ballroom through the kitchen maze to avoid disturbing the guests. We couldn't have found our way on our own.

As we were situated in front of the two VIP tables, our initial worries were that we might be too loud, but there were no complaints. In fact, much of the applause came from the VIP tables!
In addition, several guests came up to us in the course of the evening to express their compliments.

Once again, we had a table to ourselves, which we shared with the photographers.

The above photographs are courtesy of Adrian from Avenue 8. Thanks Adrian!

To Wei Ting and Ling Fung, our thanks to you for your hospitality- even taking time amidst the Yam Sengs to check if we were doing alright and if we needed anything. It has been great performing for your wedding dinners and getting to know you two. :)

Compliments:
"Everything was very good for both evenings in my opinion. Just thought you might like to know."- Wei Ting

Fritz Quartet at Chijmes Hall

2007-09-20T13:17:00.000+08:00

13 September 2007
Today, the Fritz Quartet performed for the wedding of Wei Ting and Ling Fung. They had decided to engage us for their wedding after watching our performance at the Esplanade Concourse in May.

After a whole series of emails and phonecalls spanning from May-September, we finally met on the day itself. It was a much looked forward to meeting. The first violinist had injured her knee and was hobbling around (not exactly very glamourous) but it wasn't about to deter the spirit of the quartet. We were situated on the stage, where we played all 3 sets for the night. Our first set began as guests streamed in. Lingfung walked down the aisle accompanied by us playing Pachelbel's Canon in D.

It was an enjoyable experience playing for the guests, who showed their appreciation with warm applause. We also loved the acoustics of the hall! It was also a really sweet and thoughtful gesture of Wei Ting and Ling Fung to set aside a table for us. Playing 3 sets on an empty stomach can be quite painful , so we were really glad that dinner was provided for us!

Fritz Quartet at Tanjong Pagar Community Centre

2007-09-03T22:33:00.000+08:00

1st September 2007
Repertoire:

Dvorak String Quartet Op. 96 "American" (Last movement)
Bengawan Solo
Ye Lai Xiang

Today, the Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for the National Day Concert, held at the Tanjong Pagar Community Centre. The Guest-of-Honor for the evening was Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, Minister of State for Ministry of Defence.

It was indeed a great pleasure to work again with Mr Chua Beng Koon, whom we had worked with last year at the Spottiswoode Park National Day Roadshow.

Our thanks to the Cab Auntie who patiently navigated her way around until we spotted the sign.

Tze Chuan and Johnny waylays Bingling while she is trimming her nails (Haha!)

Yes, we had a whole room to ourselves!!!

Dinner was provided for us too-- YUMMY. A hand sneakily reaches out for the burgers.

We managed to capture a picture of the audience from the 2nd level of the multi-purpose hall, prior to the arrival of the Guest-of-Honour.

The performance went smoothly as planned and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We were initially worried that the Dvorak String Quartet might not have been well-received due to its relative obscurity compared to famous tunes like The Entertainer etc, but the audience lapped it up enthusiastically with their warm applause.

A big THANK YOU to Mr Chua Beng Koon for all your kind gestures in ensuring that we were fed, cool (yes, an air-conditioned holding area, and soundproof too!) and very happy (we didn't have to worry about all the technicalities)!

Our thanks as well to the sound and stage crew for prepping the stage for us, as well as the kind student helpers who ushered us to our places (from stage to room)

Compliments from Mr Chua Beng Koon:
Dear Tze Chuan,
It was indeed our pleasure working with your quartet. The audience enjoyed your performance very much.

Fritz Quartet at Icon Village

2007-08-30T15:22:00.000+08:00

Today marks our last day performing at Icon Village as part of the opening ceremony of the shopping centre. It has been an interesting experience for us, trying to play louder than the music blaring from the shopping centre's sound system, as well as trying to be heard over the sounds of traffic, and even the occasional hammering from the renovation.

Tze Chuan

Bingling

Nora from Star Mission Services for being such a great person to work with! Our thanks (and love!)

A big thank you to the tech crew and special mention to Edmund for his professional assistance and easygoing personality.

Fritz Quartet at Grand Hyatt Singapore

2007-08-29T14:06:00.001+08:00

Tuesday 28th August
PricewaterhouseCoopers Dinner

The Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for PricewaterhouseCoopers' dinner, held at Grand Hyatt Singapore, Sir Stamford Room. We had performed for PricewaterhouseCoopers previously and we were honored to be invited again. The dinner was hosted by Mr Gautam Banerjee (PwC Singapore Executive Chairman) and the Guest of Honor was Mrs Lim Hwee Hua (Minister Of State for Finance and Transport).

We started off the evening with Grieg's "Morning" from Peer Gynt Suite as the guests mingled at the cocktail area. Half an hour flew by, and the guests streamed into the main ballroom, signalling the start of dinner.

While speeches were being presented, we lounged at the sofas outside the ballroom, waiting to go on stage.

Bingling poses for the camera

Tze Chuan and Johnny decided to switch their instruments

Looks of intense concentration on their faces

Max (with his viola bow, pointing at the PricewaterhouseCoopers sign at the back) and Tze Chuan (with Johnny's cello, which acts as a really good prop).

While the first course was served, we proceeded on stage. Special thanks to the Grand Hyatt Hotel staff, who did a marvellous job of setting up the mics for us. Meanwhile, the projector in the room was showing photographs taken earlier in the cocktail session. It was quite surreal seeing our faces beamed to the whole room!

We ended off the night with a rendition of Bengawan Solo, which was well received by the guests.

Special thanks to Yvonne and Cami from PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as staff from Grand Hyatt.

Fritz Quartet at Raffles Hotel

2007-08-25T23:40:00.000+08:00

Wedding Reception

The Fritz Quartet was invited to perform at the wedding of Dionne and Matthew, held at the Raffles Hotel Singapore. This was made possible through the recommendation of Marilyn Goh, sister of a close friend of mine, Matthew Goh.

We reached at 4.15pm, and we were met by Peter Williams, who directed us to our places in front of the East India Room.

The setup (very comfortable chairs too)

Guests, taken against the back drop of Raffles Hotel

Guests, and more guests! (Dionne the pretty bride seen in the background)

Lucky Johnny.

Photo Courtesy KC Wong from GreymatterPhotography

We ended our last set with an encore request of the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik as the guests streamed into the East India Room for dinner.

We took our last photograph of the day with the camera perched (precariously) on a roll of masking tape before dispersing at 6.30pm-- the guys needed rest for the Marathon on Sunday, while I was off to catch a SSO concert.

-Tze Chuan

Post Wedding Compliments:
"Hearing you strike up after the ceremony, though, was one of my favourite moments of the day, and we were both very happy with your performance and the discretion with which you set up and left - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you to friends."-- Matthew

Fritz Quartet at Icon Village

2007-08-05T22:22:00.000+08:00

The Fritz Quartet will be performing at Icon Village (outside Gelare) on the following dates:

10th August (Fri) 6pm-8pm
22nd August (Wed) 12pm-2pm
30th August (Thurs) 12pm-2pm

Do drop by and lend us your support!

:)

The address:
12 Gopeng Street
Singapore 078877

Nearest MRT station: Tanjong Pagar MRT (Exit A)

Hope to see you there!

Musical Experience with Corrinne May

2007-08-04T13:46:00.000+08:00

3rd August (Friday)

One can almost call it de ja vu.

It was Bingling's and my third time playing for Corrinne May’s concert. The first was in February 2006 at the National University Cultural Centre, followed by her Christmas concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall in December 2006. The latest concert by Corrinne May on 03 August 2007 brings her back to National University Cultural Centre for the second time, featuring songs from her new album Beautiful Seed as well as familiar favorites from her other albums Safe In A Crazy World and Fly Away.

We had two rehearsals prior to her actual performance. As her newest album Beautiful Seed was not yet on sale in the music stores of Singapore, Bingling and I were pretty excited to be the first privileged few people in Singapore to listen and perform her music compositions. We were not disappointed. The new songs bear the signature of Corrinne, sentimental, nostalgic, fun, and original. Since the cds were on pre-release sale on the concert day itself, both of us wasted no time to purchase a copy each and have Corrinne May autograph it personally!

It was definitely great fun working for the concert. This is especially so as majority of the musicians performed in the previous two concerts, which makes this concert like a reunion. Even though there are one or two new first-timers, everyone knew everyone in one-way or another.

Another sold out concert of a 1700 strong crowd and a 4½ hour wait to get cds signed by Corrinne May stands testament to Corrinne May’s talent and overwhelming success.

Bingling and Me

Max

Fritz Quartet at PricewaterhouseCoopers Event

2007-06-24T01:19:00.000+08:00

21 June 2007

This evening, the Fritz Quartet was invited to perform at the Retirement Dinner of Mr Phillip Tan from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Important guests included CEOs from various companies as well as a member of parliament. This event was held at the Garden Suite of The Oriental Singapore.

Beautiful!

Angie from PWC had generously arranged dinner for us, so it meant that we had energy to play later on in the evening! Thanks Angie. We also got a private room to ourselves to have our dinner. And it had a marvellous view too.

We were engaged for 2 sets, with the first set consisting of mostly classical tunes such as Schubert's Marche Militaire and Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz. For the second set, we played largely Chinese oldies, as requested.

For this event, we roped in Zhangyi, a close friend of the quartet, to guest play with us. Meanwhile, Bingling, our 2nd violinist, decided that she wanted to play the viola during our set break.

We were all rather amused.

Response to our evening's performance was good, and we are glad that we had made a difference to the evening. A big thank you to Angie Chua from PricewaterhouseCoopers for being a marvellous organiser, as well as the staff from The Oriental for rendering assistance.

"we enjoyed the music and will look out for more opportunities to work together again" --Compliments from Angie

Birthday Party

2007-06-16T13:38:00.000+08:00

2nd June

Today, the Fritz Quartet was invited to play for a private party held at the residence of Patrick and Linda Brookshaw. The theme for the night was "casual" which meant, YES!!!! JEANS!! for us!! We were welcomed warmly upon our arrival and we started our first set at 7.30pm. The neighbours and friends applauded after each song, and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously playing for the guests. We also found out that Patrick was a musician himself!

Mid-song, we got a request to play the birthday song. It was only then that we found out that it was Patrick's birthday!

Happy birthday Patrick!

Tze Chuan, Max and Johnny
still looking fresh after 2 sets

"will be using you lovely people again"- Patrick via sms

"Many thanks again for the excellent performance on Saturday evening . We thoroughly enjoyed it" - Linda via email

Random

2007-06-15T23:45:00.000+08:00

Our cases

Apart from the curious stares we attract when people see us carrying our instruments in restaurants (and taking up space), we also get a fair share of attention when they see us on the train. In fact, en route to and fro rehearsals or performances, we have been stopped several times by concerned MRT staff, who are curious as to what our cases contain.

Especially Johnny.

We are friendly people though, so do say hi to us when you do spot us!

Anyway, we took a break from rehearsals on a Sunday night and met up for dinner, without our instruments.

From left: Wanyee (music arranger), Bing Ling, Johnny, Tze Chuan, Max

We also managed to get our hands on a live! recording of our performances at the Esplanade Concourse.

Finally, we are glad to announce that short clips of our performance at the Esplanade are up on our website.

Do check them out here.

2007-06-10T12:22:00.000+08:00

29 May 2007

The Fritz Quartet was involved in a National Day videoshoot which took place at Connor Green at the Botanical Gardens. We had done photoshoots before, but not videoshoots, with a director yelling ACTION! so it was quite a novel experience.

We had a makeup artiste to assist us in our makeup, and she did a great job, as can be seen in the photos. Many joggers also stopped by to catch the filming in progress.

It was really hot and we were all baking under the afternoon heat. Of course, wearing black didn't help matters!

Max and Tze Chuan sharing a brief respite under the shade

waiting for instructions from the director

Tze Chuan and Bing Ling during a break.
(We caught the director on film! Hurrah!)

The flowergirls and boys were highly entertained by Max and his viola

We had to leave immediately after shooting wrapped up, so we didn't get a chance to mingle with the rest of the cast. Nevertheless it was an interesting experience for us! Thanks to Janelle from Full House Communications.

We took a cab to Tanglin Mall for dinner and it was such great relief to feel the cool breeze of the air-con from the shopping mall! We had just enough time to grab a quick bite before heading to our next event-- a private party hosted by Mr & Mrs Ab Meijer at their house.

It was again, an outdoor event, but thank goodness for the air-con that Mr Meijer kindly allowed out from his room!

the dinner setting prior to the arrival of guests

We played for 2 sets, and received kind compliments from the guests. Our attempt to leave quietly was thwarted when the guests applauded to show their appreciation as we wrapped up our last piece! Mr Meijer also informed us that he enjoyed our performance. Our thanks to Jasmine for coordinating the event.

It only occurred to us to take a photograph after we had kept all our instruments. But it is ok. We love our cases too.

Fritz Quartet: Silver Screen Classics at the Concourse

2007-06-01T21:36:00.000+08:00

Set list:

Theme from New York New York
Over the Rainbow
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Theme from "Laputa", Castles in the Sky
Theme from Schindlers' List
Philip Glass String Quartet no 3, 1st movement ("Mishima")
Por Una Cabeza

DAY ONE (23rd May 2007)

We arrived at the Esplanade Concourse at around 5pm and met up with Jean, the Assistant Programming Officer. After a few detours, we managed to locate our dressing room and we worked through some parts that we had gone through the previous night at Johnny's place.

We then proceeded for our soundcheck at 6pm at the Concourse. It was the quartet's first performance at the Concourse, so we needed to make sure that the balance was right and get used to the acoustics.

After the soundcheck, we went back to the dressing room to prepare for our first show. Indeed an hour sped by so fast, it was soon 7.20pm and time to standby for our first set.

Next performance: 7.30pm. You can tell the audience is waiting impatiently for the show to begin when people start applauding once they see us walking towards the Concourse.

Max has the easy (or not) task of interacting with the audience

while the first violinist makes funny faces at people wielding cameras

You can tell from Johnny's smile that he is really enjoying himself. Either that or he is laughing at a funny squiggle in his score.

A "Schindler's-List'ic" feel

Day Two (24th May 2007)

Soundcheck at 6pm. Since we had already performed at the Concourse the previous night, we already had an idea of what was to be expected. We took it easy this time round for the soundcheck and we tried out Johnny's arrangement of "Shanghai Tan" just for fun. The arrangement was interesting! We didn't want to risk it so we did not include it in our set list, though we certainly attracted quite a fair amount of attention playing that during our soundcheck!

That's us playing the Theme from New York New York

Tze Chuan, the first violinist

Bingling, the 2nd violinist

Johnny, the cellist

Max, the violist

We were pleasantly surprised by the turnout, considering it was a weekday night, and there were no other performances going on in the theatre (Phantom of the Opera had ended its run), or in the concert hall for that matter.

All smiles now for the camera!

Thank you to the Esplanade for inviting us to play at the Concourse. Thanks as well to the tech crew for making us sound good.

Thank you to Nadia, Junlin, Emma and Alexis for taking such beautiful photos of our performances (no money to employ an official photographer).

The 2 nights at the Esplanade Concourse really passed in a whirlwind for us. To think that we only finalised the repertoire for the evening about a week ago. Yes, we had so many pieces to choose from, it was hard to narrow the choices down to fit a 30-minute programme. It has been a great experience for the Fritz Quartet, and we are glad we had the chance to share our music with everyone who was there. Thanks to all for coming down to watch us, we are really thankful for your support.

To all who might have caught us in action, do leave a comment as we would love to hear from you!

If you had taken any photographs, video or audio recordings of us, please also send us a copy to fritzquartet (at) gmail (dot) com. Your contributions would be greatly appreciated, and definitely acknowledged. Hope to hear from you. :)

Cheers!

Fritz Quartet performs at the Esplanade Concourse

2007-05-22T10:55:00.000+08:00

The Fritz Quartet will be putting up a performance on 23rd and 24th May 2007 (Wed and Thurs) at the Esplanade Concourse! We will be playing 2 sets per day, from 7.30pm-8pm, and 8.30pm-9pm.

We are really excited that we will be able to share our music with as many people as we can reach out to. So do bring your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and everybody you know to enjoy a night of Silver Screen Classics with the Fritz Quartet. :) Hope to see you there!

For further details, please refer to the Esplanade website: Yes we're on it!

Click here. :)

Fritz Quartet at Biopolis

2007-05-21T15:45:00.000+08:00

Friday 19 May

This evening, the Fritz Quartet played for I-Group’s Knowledge Fair Dinner, held at Neuros at Biopolis.

We were engaged for 2 sets and we started the night off with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, before proceeding to quieter music as the guests unwinded after a long day. Por Una Cabeza proved to be a hit with the guests, together with the Butterfly Lovers’ Concerto. We also played Pachebel’s Canon in D and Vivaldi’s “Spring”, from the Four Seasons, as well as Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz when these pieces were requested.

It was an insightful dinner for members of the Fritz Quartet as we mingled with the guests during our set breaks and discussed the advancement of technology. There was even a concert pianist present at the event, it was just too bad there wasn’t a piano around for us to do a piano quintet!

It had been a tiring day for the Fritz Quartet as we had a performance earlier in the day. Nevertheless, it’s all worth it when we see the smiles on the faces of the guests.

A big thank you to Vanessa for being a great person to work with. You certainly made our day!

"Thanks for the wonderful entertainment on Friday. I heard good reviews about you guys" - Vanessa via sms.

Fritz Quartet at Anderson Junior College

2007-05-21T15:31:00.000+08:00

Friday 19 May 2007

The Fritz Quartet performed at Anderson Junior College today as part of the school's Art Appreciation intiative. We had been approached some time in March by Mr Andy Quek to participate in this programme and we had immediately agreed to perform.

This is especially because we believe in sharing our love for music with people, and of course, we hope that through our performance, we would be able to dispel the notion that string quartet music is boring, and puts people to sleep.

For this 20-minute performance, we picked our repertoire with the intention of exposing students to various genres of music. We started off with Mozart’s Divertimento in D, a fast-paced classical piece with many exciting running passages.

Next up, we performed Coldplay's Shiver, arranged for String Quartet by Music Arranger and Pianist Chin Wanyee especially for this performance. It was an interesting infusion of string quartet sounds with indie rock, and judging from the warm response, was a hit with the students. Kudos to Chin Wan Yee for a superb arrangement!

An excerpt of the Butterfly Lovers' Concerto ( 梁祝) likewise generated a wave of gasps from the students as our first violinist Tze Chuan gave a soulful rendition of the piece, hitting the impossibly high notes with impeccable execution. Lastly, we ended with a tango piece titled Por Una Cabeza, finishing our performance with fervor.

Many thanks to Mr Andy Quek for coordinating the event with minimum fuss on our side. A big thank you as well to Chin Wanyee for rushing out the scores on such short notice, we will definitely give you a recording of your arrangement (once we get it out). :)

The Fritz Quartet at Joo Chiat CC

2007-03-05T00:31:00.000+08:00

23rd Feb 2007

The Fritz Quartet was invited to perform for the Joo Chiat Constituency, this time for a Chinese New Year dinner held for grassroots leaders. It was a pleasure seeing some familiar faces again, as we had played for some of them at the Joo Chiat Square on the 6th January.

Thank you for coming up to say hello to us!

We played for the reception before the Guest of Honour, Mrs Chan Soo Sen arrived. We were then invited to join the guests for a sumptious buffet spread. With food in our stomachs, it was time to take to the stage, where we performed Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, as well as 春节序曲 [Chun Jie Xu Qu], a medley of Chinese New Year songs.

It was really hot due to the bright spotlights but the applause we garnered made it all worthwhile. Guests came up to us after that to thank us for our performance. We are certainly glad that we made the day (night) of the guests at the event!

The Fritz Quartet would like to thank Mr William Ng for inviting us to play for the event as well as the tech crew for their support.

Till the next post,
Tze Chuan

Fritz Quartet at Joo Chiat Square

2007-01-27T00:23:00.000+08:00

6th Jan 2007

As the Fritz Quartet is always keen to do our bit for the community, it was an honour for the Fritz Quartet to be invited to kick start a series of performances, held at the Joo Chiat square for 2007, an intiative started by grassroots leaders seeking to revamp the image of Joo Chiat.

We were pleasantly surprised upon our arrival to discover that our performance area was a simple cemented open space, which once supported a petrol station. In comparison to various indoor and outdoor functions that we have played for, this was truly an unusual space for a string quartet performance because it offered us a blank canvas to paint our performance, giving us the space to unleash our raw energy and potential.

It was around 5.30pm when we reached the venue, and the weather was still considerably hot. Minister of Parliament, Dr Chan Soo Sen, had arrived by then, and as all systems were good to go, we decided to proceed with the programme despite the sweltering heat.

We began the program with Broadway Musicals, followed by Popular Classics and finally, Chinese Folk-song arrangements. It was a particularly demanding task as the glare of the sun were on our faces and we had to combat the heat, as well as the strong wind. Undeterred, we soldiered on, with Max doubling as our emcee for the day. The audience in return gave us their full support with their affectionate applauses, and interacted actively with us. Encouraged by Max, the audience indulged in a sing-along session while we played familiar Chinese favourites such as 月亮代表我的心 "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo de Xin" and 夜来香 "Ye Lai Xiang".

A Lianhe Zaobao (local Chinese newspaper) reporter and photographer were also present. Kudos to the photographer who tried to dodge our bows in order to capture wonderful pictures of Fritz Quartet members in action.

Click here for the link to the article.

Encouraged by the audience, we presented two encores, with the excerpt from the "Butterfly Lovers" generating the most buzz. A brief interaction with the reporter and grassroots members ended our interesting performing experience at the Joo Chiat Square.

New Year Greetings from The Fritz Quartet

2007-01-02T02:11:00.000+08:00

Hello all!

It has been a great year for us, playing for various functions and weddings, and meeting so many new people in the process of performing for these joyous events!

We apologise that we have not featured all our gigs in our blog entries, but we would like to say that all the events that we play for are equally important to us!

Coming up, the kind folks at Joo Chiat have invited us to kickstart their Joo Chiat Square initiative and we will be putting up a 1 hour programme on the 6th January 2007 at 5.30pm. Do keep a lookout for us. Please refer to http://myjoochiat.com for details.

Happy New Year to all :)

The Fritz Quartet with Patrizio Buanne

2006-12-24T01:06:00.000+08:00

21st December 2006

We were delighted when Alan from Universal Music Pte Ltd (Singapore), contacted Fritz Quartet to perform for Patrizio Buanne 's private showcase in Singapore. The event was held at Movida, St James Powerhouse and hosted by Gold 90FM.

We reached Movida at around 2pm for a rehearsal with Patrizio. It was actually quite surreal stepping into a nightspot in bright daylight! Patrizio arrived shortly after and we had a productive rehearsal. It was great fun working with him! After an hour, he had to rush off for press interviews. Meanwhile, we had 4 hours to kill before it was time to take the stage.

When we were walking back from dinner at Vivo City, we saw a really large crowd gathering outside the club. They were all there for Patrizio! It was quite amazing to see people from all ages clamouring to get a good view of the stage.

The stage

A really huge picture of Patrizio

So many people!

When Patrizio appeared on stage, we couldn't really hear ourselves because of all the screaming fans!

Fritz Quartet and Patrizio Buanne
(Picture courtesy of Terrence Tan)

Fritz Quartet and Patrizio Buanne
(Picture courtesy of Gold 90 FM)

We played through the set, about 6 songs in all, and the night ended with us boogie-ing away with Patrizio on stage. Well, it was certainly a night to remember for the Fritz Quartet, and we are sure the many screaming fans can attest to that as well!

Special thanks to Alan Tang from Universal Music Pte Ltd Singapore for sending us the scores in advance and for being such a great guy to work with :)