NEW YORK: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of the Malaysian prime minister, said she hopes more talented performing artistes from Malaysia will be given the opportunity to pursue their studies at the renowned Juilliard School here.
Rosmah said the Permata Negara early childhood education and care programme, of which she is the patron, has identified under its Permata Seni or Jewel of Arts programme talented young artistes aged seven to 17 who need international exposure.
“Malaysia would be most happy to have any form of collaboration with the Juilliard School in the field of performing arts,” she said during a visit to the Juilliard School Thursday.
Rosmah, who arrived here on Wednesday for a four-day working visit in conjunction with the United Nations’ 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). She will deliver a luncheon talk at the CSW on Friday.
The Juilliard school has produced graduates who have won prominent awards in their field. Many of the alumni have collectively won more than 105 Grammy Awards, 62 Tony Awards, 47 Emmy Awards, 26 Bessie Awards, 24 Academy Awards, 16 Pulitzer Prizes and 12 National Medals for the arts.
Founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Arts by Dr Frank Damrosch, the school only takes in less than seven per cent of the thousands of applicants each year. Last year, 5,000 applied but only seven per cent were taken in.
Expressing her gladness over Malaysian music prodigy Tengku Ahmad Irfan Tengku Ahmad Shahrizal, 13, being the first Malaysian to be accepted by the prestigious school, Rosmah said she hoped that under the personal tutelage of well-known and sought-after pianist Dr Yoheved Kaplinsky, he would be able to realise his fullest potential as a pianist and become a world=renowned musician.
She said that two years ago, Tengku Ahmad Irfan came to Washington and New York to perform in conjunction with the “Faces of 1Malaysia” festival.
Tengku Ahmad Irfan is taking a double major in piano and composition, and an elective in conducting, under a scholarship from the school.
During the visit, two of Permata Seni’s young talented violinists, Denise Mubin, eight, and Joyce Lee Rui Jing, 11, give an impressive performance, with Mubin performing Vivaldi’s “Summer” Concerto and Lee, Paganini’s Caprice No 16.
Tengku Ahmad Irfan gave a piano recital of his own composition titled “12 tones variation” which he composed while in New York.
Meanwhile, Juilliard School President Dr Joseph Polisi, in his welcoming remarks, said the school, which offers education up to doctorate in fine arts, currently has 800 students with the majority, a total of 650, taking up music, and the rest, dancing and acting.
He said only 30 per cent of its 800 students were foreigners.
Rosmah, who is also president of the Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti), was accompanied by the Raja Puan Muda of Perak, Raja Nor Mahani Raja Shahar Shah, and the wives of several ministers. –Bernama