| Editors |
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 Derek Lim
b.1978 Editor-in-Chief
(left)
email:
dereklim78@gmail.com
Just past his first quarter century, Derek Lim is on the verge
of becoming a doctor and juggles his schoolwork with his commitments
for The Flying Inkpot. Best known for his Mahler-intrigues, he is
also responsible for the latest slew of design changes in The Flying
Inkpot, with Frontpage and Photoshop as his trusty tools. He begs
your indulgence in all matters Inkpot. Write to him at the email
address provided for a quick reply.
 S. James Wegg
b.1952, Contributing
Editor (Toronto)
(left)
email:
sjwegg@hotmail.com
Toronto native James Wegg has been active as a conductor,
composer and writer since 1973. He studied clarinet at the
University of Ottawa (Mus. Bach. 1975) and obtained a Master of Fine
Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (1980). He has
won a number of awards for composition and conducting, including the
1982 Heinz Unger Conducting Competition. Through the Nepean
Symphony Orchestra, which he founded in 1974, he conducted the world
premičres of more than 50 works.
In the ‘90s Wegg re-focused
his artistic muse from music direction to television production as
both producer and writer. Simultaneously, he led and assisted a
number of cultural and social service agencies including an HIV/AIDS
supportive housing provider and a museum dedicated to the display
and preservation of fine craft. As time permits, he is currently
continuing that role as fund development and organizational
consultant to not-for-profit, charitable organizations
In recent years, he has concentrated on the writing through
articles, short fiction, performing arts and film reviews, profiles
and commentaries. Currently, Wegg is Managing Editor and Publisher
of
JWR
(http://www.jamesweggreview.org)
and a contributor to
Film Threat,
Rotten
Tomatoes,
Stage-Door and
The Flying
Inkpot.
Wegg is a member of the Music Critics Association of North America,
the Online Film Critics Society and the Canadian Authors
Association.
Jon Yungkans b.1961
Contributing Editor (California)
email:
jonyungk@earthlink.net
Writer, editor, former English teacher and general gadfly, Jonathan
became hooked on classical music early on, and despite some piano
and viola lessons has primarily developed a fearsome virtuosity
on the stereo. A tall red-headed Dutch-American with a beard, his
resemblance to Vincent van Gogh has not encouraged him to slice
off his ear, but rather to use it on a neverending stream of recordings,
keeping his wits sharp and his wife's decorating schemes in constant
disarray. A fan of famous chef Emeril Lagasse and more recently
a Martha Argerich enthusiast, he loves good food as much as fine
music, even if it's a great hot dog, and wishes La Martha would
please appear on the "Emeril Live" TV show someday as a guest, or,
barring that, at least record Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto.
Benjamin Chee,
Contributing Editor (Australia)
email:
benjamin.chee@aco.com.au
Benjamin Chee has been described as a Renaissance Man, although
he has no memory of his past lives as an Setite High Priestess,
Tzimisce Voivode or Albigensian Crusader. Apart from music,
he also enjoys reading, soccer and watching lots of cable TV. More
recently, he discovered an uncanny knack for mixing arts with business,
and is currently trying to get a piece of paper to prove it. He
is, incidentally, the same person who appears in the Star Trek
Encyclopedia. Things to talk to him about: Shakespeare, cable
movies, starship engineering, Manchester United FC.
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Current Contributors |
Chang Tou Liang
touliang@hotmail.com
Steven AngWILLIAM
BEH b.1972
The details of William Beh's dark and dubious career as the scourge
of incompetent concert performers have been recorded elsewhere,
and the foolhardy may seek them out at their own peril. With the
inept soloist, he wields his pen as a lead-tipped lash and a cat-o-nine-tails;
against the egotistical conductor, his vehemence makes Torquemada,
the Maquis de Sade and Count Vlad Dracul appear as but weak and
simpering children. His lifelong goal is to ensure the limpieza
de sangre: that performers be aware that there are such things
as minimum standards of competence, and to make clear to concertgoers
what these standards are.
email: kapellmeister@bigfoot.com
CHIA
HAN-LEON
b.1973
Trained in literature but not so much in music, Leon has the uneviable
task of running the Classical Music department of TFI as its editor,
graphics designer, HTML coder, self-sleep depriver and general all-weather
wizard. Constantly fighting vicious battles with crashing hard disks
and small insects, Leon's most listened-to CDs are actually the
ones sporting women with guitars. Capable of travelling long distances
within small places, Leon lives in a house with blue walls and a
bright yellow sofa. He has the dubious honour of having played in
the Chinese Orchestra (bamboo flute), military band (clarinet, orange
peel) and symphony orchestra (clarinet, bass drum [ok, once only]).
Leon is a full-time web designer, Lego enthusiast, closet Trekker
and is author of an 11,798-word thesis on Goethe's Faust
and das Ewig-weibliche. In his spare time, he builds Federation
starships on his dining table, much to his wife's chagrin.
email: echelon@pacific.net.sg
(Dr)
BARRY D. STEBEN b.1948
Barry Steben is the "old man" of the Flying Inkpot Classical
Music
Section, and the only one with a bushy half-white beard. As a professor
in the NUS Department of Japanese Studies, he is supposed to be
reading
Japanese books and writing serious academic essays all the time.
But he
has an irrepressible love of classical music that has mushroomed
since
he bought a DVD player last year and joined the SSC and SLO in January
of this year. A rich friend unfortunately introduced him to Amazon.com
and eBay last year, and he ended up buying more CDs and DVDs than
he has
had time to listen to yet. But he also loves to attend live concerts.
Barry has been an avid lover of Baroque music and chamber music
since
his 20s, and since last year he has discovered the joys of watching
whole operas instead of just listening to famous opera arias out
of
context on CDS. At present his favourite composers are Wagner, Vivaldi,
and Bach, but Handel and Mozart (etc.) are never out of the picture.
email: jpsbs@nus.edu.sg
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| The
Been-here-a-whiles |
MARC
BRIDLE b.1964
Having learnt the violin at school, Marc's large finger span was
eventually recruited to play the double bass, although opinions
vary on the quality. Educated at Scotland's oldest university, Marc
failed to excel at Greek and Hebrew, so changed to medieval history.
Failing to find any real purpose in life, he then became a writer
and ultimately to join the murky depths of the Inkpotters. Previously
trained in the art of bow ties, Marc now happily dresses in Helmut
Lang jeans and designer T-shirts. Musically, Bruckner and Wagner
are fab to him, but Marc is just as happy listening to Stockhausen
as he is to Beethoven. He is generally not happy listening to any
conductor who is still of this world. Hero No.1 is Celibidache
and hero number No.2 is Victor de Sabata. A self-professed chain
smoker, Marc nevertheless expects to live a very long and healthy
life. The way he would most like to exit this world is with a marlboro
between his lips, a large gin in one hand, a libretto in the other
and his ears seduced by the prelude to Tristan.
Paradise indeed!!!
email: Meclb@aol.com
The
INKPOT SIBELIUS NUTCASE™
b.1132 Loves Hot Dogs 
The Flying Inkpot is proud to be home to the World-Famous, World
Premiere Recording of The Inkpot Sibelius Nutcase. Having heard
of the fabulous web machine from Singapore, the mysterious white-winged
ISN hefted his 6-ton armour of Nordic Music review expertise and
crossed the Bifröst bridge to the tropics, bringing with him several
boxes of BIS CDs, his Nordic Sounds and Finnish
Music Quarterly subscriptions, a copy of the Everyman edition
of the Prose Edda, as well as The Kalevala. To date,
he refuses to reveal his identity except to the closest of friends
(all Inkpotters, heh). Naturally, he only uses Nokia handphones.
Due to intense concentration while listening to multiple-layer,
multi-pedal sonorities, he does not check his email very often.
[Email editor for quickest response -Ed.]
email: sibeliusnut@inkpot.com
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The
Circle of Silence |
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DARRELL ANG b.1977
Most Likely to Become Famous Composer
email: darrellang@hotmail.com
Darrell leads one of the most fascinating lives among the Inkpotters,
and the Editor believes his story would make one heck of a composer
biography. Those of us who know better shake our heads and bow in
admiration for him and his beautiful Kinokuniya companion. Capable
of instant teleportation, he is the Inkpot's only in-training composer,
pianist, bartender (20th century French composer variety) and frequent
flyer. In fact, some of us suspect he has more than one identity,
scouring the world on his Mission Impossible missions as Agent D,
searching for the one true apartment where neighbours don't mind
8-hour piano practices in diminished sevenths and chromatic anachronisms.
ONG YONG
HUI b.1980
email: happywolfie@hotmail.com
Back from a two year hiatus training young skinheads into fighting
soldiers, Ong Yong Hui is now back to wielding the pen instead of
the gun. Just as before, he is still looking for the definite Ysaye
sonatas recording and back at trying to usher people from the grand
hall to the chamber. By day he talks mainly about literature in
school and spreche Deutsch als Fremdsprache. By night he chats with
his fingers as an active netizen and makes good toast as supper.
Also a committee member of the NUS Outdoor Activities Club, he is
an enthusiastically mad trekker, climber, kayaker and badminton
player all rolled into one. He lives together with his hamster of
six months in the school residence of NUS.
DAVID
CHEW b.1980
email: davidchew80@hotmail.com
David Chew is currently studying in the arts faculty and is looking
at a major in English Literature too. He keeps himself busy watching
arty-farty indie films and organise efforts of freelance writing
for the sake of promoting literacy in the NUS. He is big on strings,
and has a major soft spot for the cello. Besides being a fan of
Yo-yo Ma, he is also a big fan of jazz lumineries like Diana Krall
and Ella. That and chocolate...
RENÉ CHIA b.1974
Long-Suffering Partner of Le Previous Editore
email: belladomna@hotmail.com
She was the perfect role model for this country (Singapore) - married
before 27.4, lives near her mother, intends to have as many children
as possible and a civil servant to boot - until she decided to stop
"moulding the future of our nation", a.k.a. teach. [Input
maniacal laughter]. Her many talents include eating as much as her
weight, creating metaphysical poetry, keeping little brown bears
in check and putting up with her husband's ever-increasing collection
of.... things. She has dabbled in many instruments, including cello,
percussion and fax machine. Within the green walls of her home,
she keeps a collection of music ranging from Antonio Vivaldi to
Michael Nyman to Marilyn Manson. Her ultimate wish is to remain
18 forever.
ROY CHAN HENG SENG
b.19??
email: mozartc@mbox2.singnet.com.sg
JASON TAN b.1982
Although Jason began playing the piano at the Mozartian age of 4,
he later taught himself the violin, and went on to dabble in the
guitar, and even the harmonica. He is the Inkpot's other conductor-in-practice,
leading the Hwa Chong Junior College String Ensemble. Jason also
composes "mushy love ballads" in his spare time, while mulling over
the Symphony for 97 Strings in E-flat which he will compose sometime
this century. Recently, he was stung by the Chernobyl bug. Oops.
Besides that, our young friend here is just your normal kid.
email: rudy@pacific.net.sg
ISAAK KOH BOON HENG b.1973
Isaak Koh enjoys status as the only ex-editor of the Classical Music
Department. He had to quit to "serve his nation", radioing the cannons
where to shoot. Without him badgering Leon into writing and then
taking over the editorship, who knows what'll have happened. Currently,
Isaak is busy at Raffles Institution training young boys to become
"future leaders" (ha ha) - with a large dose of music. Three cheers.
Things to talk to him about: Beethoven, piano stuff, hifi.
email: isaak98@cyberway.com.sg
SOO KIAN HING b.1976
Kian Hing is one our incoming-doctors-in-residence. Mild-mannered,
bespectacled, and sporting a disposition similar to a warhorse chewing
hay in between crusades, Kian Hing is the sometimes ferocious champion
of great pianists and piano music. Currently undergoing medical
training, he is one of the few Inkpotters who has actually delivered
babies. (You see! We know we were talented!)
email: tuxcard@hotmail.com
JOHANN
D'SOUZA
b.1966
email: sirjohanndsouza@yahoo.com.sg
In his previous life, Johann was a 7-foot Viking who, while aiming
to sail to Australia, ended up in Portugal instead. Christened Iohannus
de Soup l'Potata, he later developed the long bow string to new
heights. One thing led to another, and suddenly one day they were
using it in pianos. Johann is an accountant by training and also
enjoys music by Depeche Mode. But piano makes his day. Johann is
the Inkpot's default piano person. Things to talk to him about:
piano stuff, Rachmaninov, Chopin and a good meal.
ADRIAN
TAN b.1977
email: adrian@inkpot.com
By day, Adrian Tan is a band conductor, theatre director, band conductor,
chamber orchestra director, house-owner, and philosophy major. By
night, Adrian Tan is a band conductor, theatre director, band conductor,
chamber orchestra director, house-owner, philosophy major and champion
of porridge. Always out somewhere, Adrian can be decidedly hard
to find, but he gets good grades in university. A little known fact
about him is that he's actually signed on as a Naval Officer. Things
to talk to him about: Bernstein, Grainger, band music.
WILLIAM
BEH b.1972
email: kapellmeister@bigfoot.com
The details of William Beh's dark and dubious career as the scourge
of incompetent concert performers have been recorded elsewhere,
and the foolhardy may seek them out at their own peril. With the
inept soloist, he wields his pen as a lead-tipped lash and a cat-o-nine-tails;
against the egotistical conductor, his vehemence makes Torquemada,
the Maquis de Sade and Count Vlad Dracul appear as but weak and
simpering children. His lifelong goal is to ensure the limpieza
de sangre: that performers be aware that there are such things
as minimum standards of competence, and to make clear to concertgoers
what these standards are.
MICHAEL ANTHONIO b.19??
email: mike_ant@hotmail.com
NG YEUK FAN
b.1972
email: yeukfan@inkpot.com
KERRYN
CHAN b.19??
[no info yet].
email: kerrynchan@pacific.net.sg
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