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Artwork for Front Row

ArtsPerforming Arts

Front Row

BFM Media

Don’t be afraid of the arts. You too can enjoy it! Don't believe us? Tune in to Front Row to find out about the best shows and exhibitions that will recharge your brain and restore your spirit, as told by the producers, performers and artists themselves.

36 episodes
Avg 23 min
English

Episodes 36

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Yesterday · 21 min
Turandot
A princess, a series of impossible riddles, a mysterious prince, murder, romance and some of the most spectacular music ever written for the stage. That's Turandot, Puccini's epic final opera, which is returning to Malaysia after more than two decades. It's big, dramatic, emotional and visually spectacular, and you don't necessarily need to be an opera expert to enjoy it. This new production by KL City Opera brings together a 50-piece orchestra, a 70-member chorus and an international cast, under the baton of Italian conductor Alessandro Mazzocchetti, with Eleanor Greenwood, starring as Princess Turandot. They join us to share more of what to look forward to at this staging. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Yesterday · 19 min
Tribute to Brian Tan with The klpac Orchestra
Music has a way of keeping memories alive, and The klpac Orchestra is celebrating 20 years of making music with a special tribute to the man who started it all, the late Maestro Brian Tan. Brian founded the orchestra in 2006, bringing together musicians and music lovers to build a community around their shared love of music. Two decades on, that community is coming together to celebrate his legacy under the baton of the orchestra’s current Resident Conductor and Music Director, Maestro Lee Kok Leong. The concert features a wonderful mix of music, from Chopin’s Romance and excerpts from the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto to Defying Gravity from Wicked, Cinema Paradiso and so much more. We find out what's in store from Kok Leong, and also Phinn Tan, a trumpeter with the orchestra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 9 · 29 min
Brand New Day: A Symphonic Broadway Celebration
Some of musical theatre’s biggest hits, an all-star cast, eight dancers and a 73-piece orchestra. Brand New Day: A Symphonic Broadway Celebration brings the magic of Broadway to KL in a spectacular concert featuring songs from Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Dreamgirls and more. We speak to Sean Ghazi, director of the show and director of SWG Symphonic Concerts; Aaron Teoh, performer; and Melissa Teoh, producer of the show and Director of the Jeffrey Cheah Performing Arts Centre, about bringing this musical celebration to life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 2 · 17 min
Rocking for a Cause 2026
The Falcons, Sons of Adam, Freedom, The Strollers, Alleycats and Heavy Machine are just some of the names that feature in the history of Malaysian music. This October, their music and contribution to the local scene will be celebrated at a special night bringing together musicians from different generations. Rocking for a Cause is the fourth annual benefit concert organised by Musicians for Musicians Malaysia, supporting the wellbeing of working musicians while celebrating the people who have shaped our music history. Edwin Nathaniel, Deputy President of the Musicians for Musicians Malaysia Association, joins us to share more. Image Credit: Musicians for Musicians Malaysia See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 2 · 17 min
The Relationsh*t Chronicles
Ghosting, situationships, terrible first dates and the things we do for love. They’re all fair game in The Relationsh*t Chronicles, a comedy made up of nine stories inspired by real relationships. After it’s Penang run, the show is coming to KL for four performances, and we're joined by director and co-writer Karam Tabba, and cast member Andi Zephyr, to talk about turning relationship chaos into comedy. Image Credit: © The Relationsh*t Chronicles by Big Nose Productions See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 25 · 23 min
The Bouquet and the Wreath (Rebirth)
Contemporary Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook has spent more than four decades exploring some very big questions through very ordinary things: flowers, beds, words, the human body, and everyday encounters. Her work can be playful, strange, intimate, and sometimes quite confronting, as she considers subjects like desire, mortality and what it means to be human. Now, for the first time, a solo exhibition of her work is being presented in Malaysia. The Bouquet and the Wreath (Rebirth) brings together works from across Araya’s 45-year practice, including early pieces alongside more recent works, in an intimate exhibition at ILHAM Gallery. To tell us more about the artist, the exhibition, and his own long collaboration with Araya, we speak to the exhibition's curator, Roger Nelson, who is also an art historian and an Assistant Professor of Art History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Image Credit: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Has Girl Lost Her Memory? (1994/2025), courtesy of Ilham Gallery See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 25 · 20 min
Lisa Macuja Elizalde's Snow White
Lisa Macuja-Elizalde has spent decades on stage and behind the scenes, from an internationally celebrated ballet career to founding and leading Ballet Manila. We last spoke in 2024, when the company brought Greatest Hits to Malaysia. Now, Lisa, the Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet Manila, joins us to talk about her adaptation of Snow White, and how she is bringing the familiar fairy tale to life through dance, and also to share about the romance, comedy and magic of the production. Image Credit: Ballet Manila See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 18 · 25 min
Socrates in D# Minor
What do the Big Bang, evolution, alien life, death and the possibility of nothingness have to do with the human experience? Presented by EJKLS Seni, Socrates in D# Minor explores these questions through four experimental theatre pieces, using science as a way into some very human questions about existence, identity and meaning. We speak to writer-director Asyraf Syahir Mohd Najib and actor Nandagopall Mohan about bringing this unusual work to the stage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 18 · 23 min
Kaleidoscope VIII: Infinite Beats
For its eighth edition, HANDS International Drumming Festival returns with Kaleidoscope VIII: Infinite Beats, bringing percussion artists from five countries together for a celebration of rhythm, culture and collaboration. We speak to Bernard Goh, founder and artistic director of HANDS Percussion Malaysia, about this year's festival, the international artists and collaborations on stage, and why percussion remains such a powerful way of bringing people together. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 36 min
Vivaldi to Borneo: The MPO’s 2026 Season Ahead
Classical music can take you just about anywhere, from the sounds of frogs and crickets in the Baroque era, to the mystery of Vivaldi, the drama of Shakespearean ballet, and even the music of Borneo. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a packed programme for the months ahead, with concerts for seasoned classical music lovers, families and anyone curious to hear what an orchestra can do. Joining us to share more is Gerard Salonga, Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 30 min
Vivaldi to Borneo: The MPO’s 2026 Season Ahead
Classical music can take you just about anywhere, from the sounds of frogs and crickets in the Baroque era, to the mystery of Vivaldi, the drama of Shakespearean ballet, and even the music of Borneo. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a packed programme for the months ahead, with concerts for seasoned classical music lovers, families and anyone curious to hear what an orchestra can do. Joining us to share more is Gerard Salonga, Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 20 min
3 Days In Chow Kit Road
What was Chow Kit Road like in the late 1970s? 3 Days in Chow Kit Road takes us into the bustling markets, colourful streets and neon-lit nightlife of one of Kuala Lumpur’s most iconic neighbourhoods. This new Malaysian dance theatre production weaves together a story of love, family, prejudice and belonging, brought to life through 31 dancers, live music and an original score. Presented by Kenny Shim Dance Collective and Asia Ballet Academy, we find out more about this production from dancers Amirah Redza and Charlotte Phun. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 4 · 26 min
The Whale
What would you do if you had one last chance to make things right? That’s the question at the heart of The Whale, Samuel D. Hunter’s play about isolation, forgiveness and the complicated ways we try to reconnect with the people we’ve hurt. The play that inspired the Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser film is finally coming to the Malaysian stage, and we find out all about it from director and production designer Christopher Ling, and actor Tania Ashwini. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 4 · 23 min
Brahms, Schumanns & Wolf
Four composers, a tangled web of friendship, admiration and influence, and some truly beautiful music. Brahms, Schumanns & Wolf, a new concert presented by The Poetics Collective under the VerSes Music Ensembles, which explores the music and relationships connecting Robert and Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf, will bring these connections to life through piano, four-hand piano and song. Soprano Wong Shu Hsien and tenor Scott Woo, both from The Poetics Collective, join us to talk about the music and the stories behind it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
August 28 · 27 min
Saffron Crossings
For three generations, the same ship carried members of one Malaysian family between South Asia and Malaysia. That ship was the SS Rajula, and for artist Rajinder Singh, it’s not just a vessel from his family history, but also a way of thinking about migration, memory, identity and all the worlds that people carry with them when they cross an ocean. In his new exhibition, Saffron Crossings, Rajinder transforms that journey into paintings, sculptures and a seven-foot bamboo model of the ship itself, and we speak to him about the personal history behind the exhibition, and why the story of migration is never quite finished. Image Credit: Wei-Ling Gallery See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
August 28 · 22 min
Susan
Two dead husbands. A woman on trial. A question that refuses to go away: who exactly is Susan? A one-woman play that began as a 10-minute piece has now become a full-length production, taking us from the courtroom to the boardroom, and asking who gets to control a woman’s story once everyone else has decided who she is. Presented by FSKi Works, SUSAN makes its world premiere after winning Best Script and Best Actress at Short+Sweet Malaysia. We speak to director Tharwa Wajihah and actress Ranessa about the woman at the centre of this intriguing story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
August 21 · 26 min
The Secret Drawer
“When history happens, no-one is spared.” In The Secret Drawer, two women uncover the hidden histories of their fathers, men whose lives were shaped by theatre, social activism and the political upheavals of 1960s Malaysia. One father leaves behind a drawer his daughter is forbidden to open. The other leaves an archive of almost 60 documents tracing years of detention, rejection and separation. Through memories, archival material and re-enactments, these two women - performers and artists Ling Tang and Lim Tiong Wooi - begin to discover how their fathers' lives shaped their own. Presented by the Instant Cafe Theatre Company, we speak to director Jo Kukathas and writer-performer Lim Tiong Wooi about bringing these deeply personal stories to the stage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
August 21 · 20 min
Todak◉Gundik
You may know the famous story of the swordfish that attacked Singapura. But in Todak◉Gundik, writer Kee Thuan Chye brings that legend together with the story of a Sultan’s favoured concubine, weaving them into a tale of power, jealousy, desire and war. It’s a contemporary Malay-language production packed with puppetry, masks, animation, live gamelan music and even Ulek Mayang. Presented by Pentas Project Theatre Production, we find out more about this very theatrical retelling from Thuan Chye. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
August 14 · 23 min
A Tribute to Alfonso Soliano
Music has always been at the heart of the Soliano family. Across generations, they've helped shape Malaysia's musical landscape, but at the centre of that story is Alfonso Soliano, a composer, conductor, arranger and educator whose influence earned him the title of the Father of Modern Malay Music. This September, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra is honouring his legacy through A Tribute to Alfonso Soliano, a special tribute concert that brings together the orchestra and The Solianos, the family ensemble he founded, for an evening celebrating his music that continues to inspire. Joining us are the concert's conductor, Ahmad Muriz Che Rose, and Alfonso's daughter, vocalist Isabella Soliano, who'll be taking to the stage with The Solianos. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
August 13 · 20 min
Lungs
A couple sits down to talk about having a child. But what starts as a conversation about parenthood quickly opens up much bigger questions: climate anxiety, personal responsibility, love, fear, and what it means to build a life together when the future feels uncertain. That’s the premise of Lungs, Duncan Macmillan’s acclaimed two-person play. There’s no elaborate set, no props, and no time markers. Just two people, their words, and everything that sits beneath them. The play is now being staged by new theatre company Drifting Kaos Productions, and we speak to its founder and director, Dinesh Kumar Maganathan, and actor Grace Ng, to talk about the play, the relationship at its centre, and what it takes to bring such an intimate story to the stage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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