A special concert in Beijing tomorrow will mark the opening of the Beijing office of Singapore Eastern Culture Centre.

The Singapore Eastern Culture Centre and China Opera and Ballet Company will give a concert at the National Library Concert Hall featuring the works of songwriter Guek Yong Siu from Singapore.

Under the baton of Zhang Zheng, the choir of China Opera and Ballet Company and singers including sopranos Tian Yige and Chen Xiaoduo, tenors Jin Zhengjian and Liu Yiran, baritones Li Rongxin and Yu Boqian will sing more than 20 songs that Guek created since the early 1970s.

Guek learned to compose and conduct in the early 1970s and has built an outstanding reputation over the past 30 years. In 2003, he won the Artistic Excellent Award granted by the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore, as recognition of his excellent performance in music and contribution to the music circle of Singapore. He is now a lecturer at the Electronics Department of the Institute of Technical Education in Singapore.

Founded by Singapore baritone Tan Ngian Hong, the Singapore Eastern Culture Centre is a non-profit organization focused on promoting Chinese culture in Singapore.

The newly opened Beijing office appoints Chinese tenor Wang Hongbo from China Opera and Ballet Company as the artistic director to work on the culture exchange between China and Singapore.

(China Daily October 9, 2006)