ChildAid 2014 brings back best performers

[SINGAPORE] Come December, child stars past and present will rain on Marina Bay Sands in an extravaganza of young talent.

Charity concert ChildAid 2014, which raises funds for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund, is marking its 10th year anniversary by assembling a constellation of star alumni who have lit up its stage in the past nine years.

The All-Stars Edition will even include performers from the earliest ChildAid concerts in 2005 and 2006, such as piano prodigy Abigail Sin who is now pursuing a PhD at UK's Royal Academy of Music; and soprano Janani Sridhar who has taken up major roles in operas around the world.

Another alumnus from the 2005 and 2006 concerts is jazz heart-throb Nathan Hartono. Now 23 and studying music at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, he already has three albums under his belt and a clutch of awards and nominations to his name.

Yet he's coming back to perform for ChildAid 2014 because "the ChildAid concerts were the first major concerts that I had performed in and thus have a special place in my heart," he told The Business Times at last week's photoshoot, with hair and makeup provided by Cosmoprof.

"They gave my first lanyands with my name tag on it, they took me through my first soundchecks, and gave me a good grounding on performing on stage. Of course, the fact that ChildAid supports two meaningful causes are also important to me."

Indeed, ChildAid - which has raised a total of S$9.8 million for underprivileged children in the past nine years - has proved to be an excellent training ground for young performers.

Just recently, all the vocalists who are performing in this year's show had to undergo a three-day workshop with show director Jeremiah Choy, vocal coach Gregory Chen, music director Julian Wong and choreographer Zaini Tahir.

YouTube star Dominic Chin, 19, who had performed in ChildAid 2010 and is returning for this year's All-Stars Edition, says enthusiastically: "ChildAid has very high standards and gives me specific help in meeting those standards."

"When I'm singing in my YouTube videos, I might just do five takes before I post the final video online. In ChildAid, they make me sing it countless times and polish it till its absolutely perfect. And they make me dance too."

ChildAid 2014 The All-Stars Edition will take place at Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, its official venue partner, on Dec 5 and Dec 6. Tickets go on sale in November