On 12 April 2024, I held a live performance recital with Chi Sheng at the National Library Lobby. All 50 seats were filled and many others were standing around to listen to our performance which was extended to almost 90 minutes. Our performance list would have covered an hour but we felt connected with the audience and started talking a lot more than we had planned.
I could not remember the last time I performed in public. I had a few private performances but this recital is the longest. Chi Sheng was also surprised that I never held a solo recital. Thinking back, I released my first album, “Timeless” in 2004. It attracted Warner Music who signed me up for “Piano Spa” series in 2005 and we did seven albums, the last one in 2014. Contemporary piano compositions were never a mainstream genre that attracts excitement, so it was practically impractical to garner much hype compared to a pop artist – unless you were a global sensation like Kevin Kern or Yiruma.
In recent years, there are a lot more opportunities and platforms for artists to showcase their talents without renting the venue. National Library is one such venue. There are also a lot of interests in wellness music due to the lifestyle stress, but the advent of streaming platforms also provided opportunities for anyone to produce and publish music. Chi Sheng was also lamenting that he might never be able to win any COMPASS awards due to different listening behaviour.
The reason for agreeing to perform a recital is to finally give a chance to my real fans to meet me. I am very happy that they approached me after the concert to share their appreciation.
Performance Video
Here is the link to the entire recital, which was streamed live on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/chestertan/videos/382065501342801
Chi Sheng (6:00 min)
- Cookie Monster is eating my piano notes
- Sandcastle
- Hide and Seek
- The Lost Memory (composed by Chester)
Chester (26:00 min)
- Joy Of Inspiration
- Pacific Dreams
- The Flight of Life
- Traces of Fingerprints (composed by Chi Sheng)
Chi Sheng (50:00 min)
- Till We Meet Again
- Burnt Feet
- Waiting (new single released this month)
Chester (1:08:00 min)
- Dance with the Clouds
- Falling Leaves
- Don’t Say Goodbye
Visit the official artist page here:
- Chester Tan: https://music.chestertan.com/
- C.S. Peng: https://cspengmusic.com/