Foreign outshines local at Arts Fest

HOURS BEFORE THE Esplanade Theatre doors were opened, hardcore fans of music legend Ryuichi Sakamoto had started queuing for the best seats in the house. An unidentified woman in a face mask held up a sign pleading to buy a ticket from anyone willing to part with one - to no avail, of course. The S$150 tickets had been snapped up within hours of going on sale in February.

Inside the theatre, the audience was seated not in the auditorium, but on the stage itself, around the artist. No one coughed, scratched or stirred as they watched the Japanese maestro produce strange symphonies using common instruments and everyday objects. He dropped coins into a piano, scratched a microphone across acrylic, crushed paper for effect - and then turned to the piano to play achingly beautiful songs.

Sakamoto is revered across the contemporary classical, electronica and experimental genres. But he rarely performed in the last decade because he was battling throat cancer. It's a genuine coup for the Singapore International Festival of Art to secure his appearance.