The inaugural International Bachfest Malaysia features the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra alongside local and international artists. Photo: The Star/Low Boon Tat
CLASSICAL: INTERNATIONAL BACHFEST MALAYSIA 2025
Venue: Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: July 23-27
Celebrating 10 years of bringing German composer J.S. Bach’s music to audiences in Malaysia and beyond, Bachfest Malaysia is holding the inaugural International Bachfest Malaysia 2025, themed “Bridging Bach.”
With a diverse programme of concerts, lectures and forums over five days, the festival's highlights include St. Matthew Passion featuring acclaimed Austrian tenor Daniel Johannsen; the Goldberg Variations, performed by renowned Malaysian pianist Ng Chong Lim in his first public interpretation of the piece; and a performance by Bernice Ooi, concertmaster of Bachfest Malaysia, who will present two of Bach’s unaccompanied violin partitas.
At Quan’s Kitchen at Four Points by Sheraton Kuala Lumpur in Chinatown, Malaysian jazz artist Tay Cher Siang, alongside WVC Jazz Ensemble, offers an innovative reimagination of Bach’s music from a jazz lens.
Beyond performances, the festival includes a forum titled “Bach in Asia", bringing together speakers from China, the Philippines, and Malaysia. The discussion will explore Bach’s significance in an Asian context, examining his music’s lasting impact and continued relevance in contemporary society, while a series of lectures will also provide deeper insights into Bach’s music, with speakers approaching his work from the perspectives of religion, philosophy and musicology.
More info here.
THEATRE: 'ANAK-ANAK MALIK'
Venue: Pentas 2, KLPac
Date: July 24-27
Federico García Lorca’s classic The House Of Bernarda Alba gets a bold new twist in Anak-Anak Malik, reimagined by The Actors Studio Seni Teater Rakyat series with an all-male cast. Written by Yusof Bakar and directed by Christopher Ling, the story moves from 1930s Spain to a remote 1970s fishing village on Pulau Aman, Penang.
Running at Pentas 2, KLPac until this Sunday the play follows Malik, who, after his wife’s death, forces his five sons into a strict 100-day mourning period indoors. As pressure builds, buried emotions begin to surface. Ling’s minimalist staging casts the audience as silent witnesses, with sound and movement by Zhafir Muzani adding depth.
Performed in Bahasa Malaysia with English subtitles, the cast features Sunio Rushairi, Aidil Rosli, Ammar Aqsya, Aniq Syahmi, Asraf Zulk, Danish Zakwan, Mark Beau De Silva, SaifulWazien, Sudhan Nair and Ubai Talib.
More than just a gender-flipped retelling, this is a local, layered reflection on patriarchy, control, and unspoken longing.
More info here.
THEATRE: MENITI CAKERAWALA 2.0
Venue: Auditorium Dewan Bandaraya KL
Date: July 25-27
After debuting last December, Meniti Cakerawala returns to KL for a limited run before heading on a national tour. Conceived by Sutra Foundation, this multimedia theatre-dance production delves into the shared cosmic curiosity of astrophysicist Tan Sri Mazlan Othman and choreographer Datuk Ramli Ibrahim.
Meniti Cakerawala 2.0 runs at Auditorium Dewan Bandaraya KL this weekend. Blending dance, film, music, and spoken word, it transforms astronomy into a poetic, sensory experience.
Mazlan herself appears as narrator, guiding audiences through the history of the universe, the beauty of stars, and Malaysia’s place in space.
The show also features artwork by Jalaini Abu Hassan, voiceovers by literary names like Muhammad Haji Salleh and Johan Jaaffar, and one of the late Mano Maniam’s final narration roles — a touching tribute to the theatre icon.
After Kuala Lumpur, the production is set to tour six other cities nationwide.
More info here.
A view Japanese senior artist Yoshisuke Funasaka's printmaking exhibition at Museum of Asian Art, Universiti Malaya, KL. Photo: The Star/Ong Soon Hin
EXHIBITION: ASIAN MASTER SERIES: 03 YOSHISUKE FUNASAKA’S ‘INTIPATI’
Venue: Museum of Asian Art, Universiti Malaya, KL
Date: ends July 31
Step into the world of renowned Japanese artist-printmaker Yoshisuke Funasaka, 86, in this eye-catching exhibition - his first in Malaysia. Intipati showcases Funasaka’s distinctive fusion of traditional woodblock printing with contemporary techniques like silkscreen and katagami stencilling, resulting in striking, modernist compositions.
The show, organised by Japan Foundation, LL, features nearly 100 works dating back to the 1970s. It offers a glimpse into the craft that has made Funasaka a celebrated figure in Japanese printmaking.
Curated by veteran printmaker Juhari Said - who studied under Funasaka in Japan in the early 1990s - the exhibition is also a tribute to their shared artistic journey. As part of his legacy, Funasaka has generously donated over 240 original works to Universiti Malaya, enriching its permanent collection and paving the way for future research and exhibitions.
Free admission exhibition. Gallery is closed on Sundays.
More info here.
In a three-hour session at Sunda Shelves, Huda guides participants to create linoprints inspired by fungi. Photo: Handout
WORKSHOP: 'PATTERNS IN NATURE' LINOCUT PRINTING
Venue: Sunda Shelves, Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya
Date: July 25, 2pm
In the first edition of Cikgu Huda's 'Patterns in Nature' monthly linoprint workshop series, we look at the 'fun guy' of the nature world – fungi.
In the three-hour session, Huda - a teacher, artist and trained in architecture - will guide participants in creating their own linoprints, inspired by various shapes, patterns and colours from the diverse fungi kingdom.
Linocut printing is a form of fine art printmaking where the printing plate is cut from lino sheets. The lino sheet is then carved or cut out into a shape of choice, inked, and run through a printing press machine or pressed by hand to transfer the ink on paper.
The class is limited to 8 people, aged 12 and above. Registration required.
More info here.
Yasuo Izumi, a Japanese national, will share how he came to translate 'No Dram Of Mercy' by Malayan war hero Sybil Kathigasu. Photo: Handout
BOOK EVENT: 'A JOURNEY TO MALAYA' WITH YAZUO IZUMI
Venue: Riwayat Bookstore, Jln. Tun H.S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur
Date: July 27, 10am
Meet Yasuo Izumi, a Japanese national on a mission to make a story of Malaya under the Japanese Occupation known to his fellow citizens.
His interest in the Japanese occupation during World War II in Malaysia, then known as Malaya, was piqued during an initial trip in the 1980s, which marked the first of many trips to visit multiple locations across the nation which has been ravaged by war atrocities.
For the first time in Kuala Lumpur, hear Izumi’s story on how he came to translate Sybil Kathigasu's No Dram Of Mercy, a stark memoir of the heroic nurse's struggles during that dark period in our history.
Sybil, an Indonesian-born nurse, ran a free clinic in Papan, Perak, with her husband during the Japanese occupation. She aided the resistance by secretly treating Allied forces, but was later captured and tortured by the Japanese secret police.
RSVP required for the talk at Riwayat bookshop.
More info here.
A selection of musical instruments on display at the ‘Chinese Opera’ exhibition at Muzium Negara, Kuala Lumpur. Photo: The Star/Art Chen
CHINESE OPERA EXHIBITION: AN INTRODUCTION AND A REMEMBRANCE
Venue: Galeri 1, Muzium Negara, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Sept 8
The newly opened Chinese Opera Exhibition: An Introduction And A Remembrance at Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur takes visitors into the vivid world of traditional Chinese opera – with its legendary tales, striking costumes, delicate props, and timeless music.
This showcase is a collaboration between Muzium Negara and the Pat Woh Association Malaysia, a KL-based group known for preserving and promoting Cantonese opera.
It also how Malaysian Chinese opera draws from the Xiqu tradition, blending stylised acting, singing, graceful movement, and symbolic props.
Visitors can also learn about Malaysia’s own opera legends – Siew Chan Wan (1919–2022) and Choo Sau Ying (1927–2003) – whose dedication kept the art form alive for future generations. Choy Him Heong, now 92, continues to be a living link to this enduring tradition.
From ornate headgear to hand-painted backdrops, intricate musical instruments to archival photographs, each display – there are more than 90 exhibits – reminds us how Chinese opera has long served as both entertainment and living heritage for generations of local communities.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: LYNE ISMAIL’S ‘CAT TOWN: ENERGY, MATTER, AND THE ART
Venue: Temu House, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends July 27
Cat Town: Energy, Matter And The Art Of Becoming brings science and art into thoughtful, immersive dialogue. Visual artist, material scientist, and academic Lyne Ismail invites viewers to explore abstraction, sensory perception, and expansive ideas through the lens of resonance and transformation.
On view is a new series of large abstract paintings alongside a live cymatic installation, where water responds to sound and vibration by forming intricate, mandala-like patterns. By making resonance visible, Lyne encourages viewers to feel their way into meaning, rather than decode it intellectually.
The exhibition also expands on her book Musings Of The Spring Water, launching in tandem with the show. Together, they offer a sensory and reflective journey into energy, intuition, and the act of becoming.
More info here.
