Opera Academy SG

[ Taking Bangsawan and Our Young Practitioners Beyond Our Shores ] 🇲🇨

This National Day, Opera Academy Singapore took another small but deeply meaningful step in our journey — bringing Bangsawan beyond Singapore to Jakarta for LISAN XIII — the International Seminar and Oral Traditions Festival.

We came carrying Bangsawan Ramayana, proudly sharing a part of Singapore’s precious intangible cultural heritage with an international community of cultural practitioners, scholars and tradition bearers.

Getting here was not easy.

Behind these smiles are sacrifices that few will see — resources stretched, personal commitments set aside, long hours of preparation, and challenges we simply had to find our way through. There were moments when it would have been easier to say, perhaps another time.

But when you truly believe in a craft, you find a way.

Because Bangsawan deserves to travel. It deserves to be seen, heard and experienced beyond our shores. And most importantly, it deserves to be carried forward by a new generation who understand that heritage is not merely something inherited — it is something we must choose to keep alive.

So we came to Jakarta not simply to perform, but to represent. To learn. To build friendships. And to tell the world that Bangsawan from Singapore is alive — and we have every intention of taking it further.

And how fitting that this journey coincides with our nation’s birthday.

As Singapore celebrates 61 remarkable years, our wish is that we will always remain a nation courageous enough to dream beyond our size, yet grounded enough to remember the stories, traditions and people who made us who we are.

Happy 61st Birthday, Singapore. 🇸🇬❤️

May our little red dot continue to shine brightly — and may the stories we carry from home find their way to stages across the world.

Majulah Singapura. 🇸🇬

📷: Asri Az

[ Taking Bangsawan and Our Young Practitioners Beyond Our Shores ] 🇲🇨

This weekend, Opera Academy Singapore took another small but deeply meaningful step in our journey — bringing Bangsawan beyond Singapore to Jakarta for LISAN XIII — the International Seminar and Oral Traditions Festival.

We came carrying Bangsawan Ramayana, proudly sharing a part of Singapore’s precious intangible cultural heritage with an international community of cultural practitioners, scholars and tradition bearers.

Getting here was not easy.

Behind these smiles are sacrifices that few will see — resources stretched, personal commitments set aside, long hours of preparation, and challenges we simply had to find our way through. There were moments when it would have been easier to say, perhaps another time.

But when you truly believe in a craft, you find a way.

Because Bangsawan deserves to travel. It deserves to be seen, heard and experienced beyond our shores. And most importantly, it deserves to be carried forward by a new generation who understand that heritage is not merely something inherited — it is something we must choose to keep alive.

So we came to Jakarta not simply to perform, but to represent. To learn. To build friendships. And to tell the world that Bangsawan from Singapore is alive — and we have every intention of taking it further.

And how fitting that this journey coincides with our nation’s birthday.

As Singapore celebrates 61 remarkable years, our wish is that we will always remain a nation courageous enough to dream beyond our size, yet grounded enough to remember the stories, traditions and people who made us who we are.

Happy 61st Birthday, Singapore. 🇸🇬❤️

May our little red dot continue to shine brightly — and may the stories we carry from home find their way to stages across the world.

Majulah Singapura. 🇸🇬

📷: Asri Az

[ Taking Bangsawan and Our Young Practitioners Beyond Our Shores ] 🇲🇨

This weekend, Opera Academy Singapore took another small but deeply meaningful step in our journey — bringing Bangsawan beyond Singapore to Jakarta for LISAN XIII — the International Seminar and Oral Traditions Festival.

We came carrying Bangsawan Ramayana, proudly sharing a part of Singapore’s precious intangible cultural heritage with an international community of cultural practitioners, scholars and tradition bearers.

Our CEO, Noor Azhar Mohamed, was also honoured to be invited to speak at the Festival seminar — sharing our Singapore journey and our belief that the future of traditional arts must go beyond preservation towards building living ecosystems where heritage can continue to be taught, practised, reimagined and passed forward

Happy 61st Birthday, Singapore. 🇸🇬❤️

May our little red dot continue to shine brightly — and may the stories we carry from home find their way to stages across the world.

Majulah Singapura. 🇸🇬

🇸🇬 [ From Singapore, To the World. ]

As Singapore turns 61, there is perhaps no more meaningful way for us at Opera Academy Singapore to celebrate than by carrying a piece of our nation beyond our shores.

We are in Jakarta for LISAN XIII — the International Seminar and Oral Traditions Festival, proudly bringing with us Bangsawan — part of Singapore’s precious intangible cultural heritage.

Behind these young people is our flag.
In their hands is the name Singapore.
Within them are the stories of generations before us.

This is what heritage must become.

Not something we merely preserve, but something we teach, perform, reinvent, live — and carry into the world.

We go not merely as performers, but as storytellers, cultural custodians and Singaporeans.

Our nation may be small, but the stories we carry are immense.

Happy 61st Birthday, Singapore. ❤️🤍
From Jakarta, with love and pride.

Majulah Singapura. 🇸🇬

LivingHeritage LISANXIII Jakarta SingaporeArts

[ A Conversation with Minister ]

We were honoured to feature alongside Minister Baey Yam Keng 马炎庆, 南华潮剧社 Nam Hwa Opera and Bhaskar's Arts Academy in Channel 8’s current affairs show, to be aired this October.

Ragam Pupuk and Elite programme student Tyara Chynta ✮⋆˚tyara chynta˚⋆✮ who also coaches in our Hijab Ballet programmes, took the challenge to co-choreograph and perform alongside fellow Opera Academy trainer, Solihin Solihin Zohari, to present an excerpt of Butterfly Lovers, told through a multicultural presentation performance for the filming.

Both Tyara and Solihin had 2 days to train for their short feature - to dance, act and sing like a Bangsawan performer would. Despite being new to performing Bangsawan and showcasing his new skills, Solihin took the challenge to learn through what it takes to be a holistic Bangsawan performer.

The storyline of Butterfly Lovers provided an opportunity for our young and emerging Bangsawan artists to collaborate and perform with other younger generation traditional operatic arts performers here!

https://www.beritaharian.sg/singapura/kelab-masyarakat-woodlands-dibuka-semula

We are happy to work closely with Woodlands Community Club to offer our unique holistic operatic programmes to the residents in and around Woodlands!

Thank you to Ms Deanna Manto and her dedicated team at the CC for working collaboratively with us to offer quality programming to the residents there.

Interested to send your child to our programmes?
Register an interest with us for a FREE TRIAL CLASS here >>> https://forms.gle/4wVFNjN55xG3dB2A8

Looking forward to welcoming your little stars into Our World! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Opera Academy Free Trial Classes Unlock your child's or your potential with a complimentary trial session at Opera Academy! Our expert trainers offer a unique blend of music, drama and cultural education design to inspire and nurture talent.

[ Woodlands Community Club Homecoming ]

We celebrate with the residents of Woodlands for the reopening of their community club after an impressive upgrading phase.

We are also happy to announce that with the reopening, we will start to run our Bangsawan Holistic, Hijab Ballet and Elite Permata programmes at the CC from September this year, making this our third campus in Singapore!

The programme offerings at our Woodlands Campus mark our continuous effort to make our unique programmes available throughout the island while we work hard to preserve the Bangsawan intangible cultural heritage, along with other traditional operatic art forms. ⭐️