ArtsPerforming Arts

Front Row

BFM Media

Don’t be afraid of the arts. You too can enjoy it! Don't believe us? Tune in to Front Row to find out about the best shows and exhibitions that will recharge your brain and restore your spirit, as told by the producers, performers and artists themselves.

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43 episodes
Avg 23 min
English

Episodes 43

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Friday · 23 min
Thrown by Jodi Gray
What happens when the memories you're trying to make sense of begin to blur with someone else's? That's the question at the heart of Thrown, a new theatrical production written by Jodi Gray about childhood, memory, and the experiences that shape who we become. It's also a rather special production for renowned actress Sofia Jane, who takes on her first-ever one-woman show, directed by Gavin Yap. We speak to Sofia and Gavin about bringing this intriguing story to the stage, and what audiences can expect from this intimate, multisensory experience. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Friday · 16 min
Symphonic Rock 3: Where Rock and Orchestra Collide
Rock music and orchestral music might seem like an unlikely pairing, but when you bring them together, you can get some pretty interesting results. That's what TUTAN Entertainment is doing with Symphonic Rock 3, which returns for its third edition this November. Expect some familiar rock anthems from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Prince, Linkin Park, AC/DC and many more, all reimagined with a full orchestra. Joining us to share more are Kevin Field, Conductor Laureate of the TUTAN Festival Orchestra, appearing courtesy of the Bentley Music Academy, and vocalist Joy Victor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
November 5 · 9 min
SeaShorts Film Festival 2026
The SeaShorts Film Festival returns for a special 10th anniversary edition, bringing together short films and filmmakers from across Southeast Asia. Over four days, audiences can look forward to a diverse programme featuring films from all 11 ASEAN countries, with stories exploring identity, culture, migration and community, alongside a showcase of emerging filmmakers from Timor-Leste, films centred on Filipino-Chinese experiences, and programmes highlighting women filmmakers and Indigenous perspectives. To tell us more about this year's programme and what audiences can look forward to, we speak to Eddy Tan, Program Director of SeaShorts Film Festival 2026. Image Credit: SeaShorts Film Festival Facebook See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 30 · 23 min
Silly Bees & Sweet Woods
If you've ever turned to a sad song after a heartbreak, you'll know that sometimes, music just gets you. 400 years ago, there was John Dowland, a composer who became famous for doing just that. His songs of love and longing remain some of the best-known music of the Renaissance, but there's more to the music of his time than melancholy. A new concert, Silly Bees & Sweet Woods, explores Dowland's soulful music alongside the more playful works of his contemporaries Thomas Morley, Thomas Campion and John Farmer, presented by the KL Madrigal Singers and Players. We speak to Scott Woo, tenor and director of the ensemble, and musician and recorder player Eunice Loh, to find out more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 30 · 30 min
The Failed Romances
Love, heartbreak, and the stories we tell ourselves about romance. These are some of the things explored in The Failed Romances, a hybrid cabaret that brings together theatre, live music and storytelling, drawing inspiration from Tamil cinema and real-life relationships. To find out more about the show and how it came together, we're joined by Govin Ruben, the show's co-creator, performer and director from TerryandTheCuz, and also Sharmilla Ganesan, who worked on the production as dramaturg. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 23 · 24 min
Missing From The Scene
What does it mean for something to be missing from the scene, and what can its absence tell us about the world we live in? In Missing From The Scene, artist Sharon Chin brings together shadow puppet-inspired animal figures, prints of their habitats without the animals, and a live feed of an oil refinery near her home in Port Dickson. Her first solo exhibition in Kuala Lumpur since 2017 reflects on everything from the changing Malaysian art scene to biodiversity loss and the environmental impact of industry. We speak to Sharon about absence, place, and the role art can play in helping us pay attention to what is disappearing around us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 23 · 21 min
Curtain Up! Celebrating 10 Years
The Philharmonic Winds of Malaysia is celebrating a decade of music with Curtain Up! Celebrating 10 Years, a concert featuring everything from the sweeping drama of The Phantom of the Opera to the vibrant sounds of West Side Story. What does it take to bring these iconic musical theatre works to life through a wind orchestra, and what does this milestone mean for the ensemble? We speak with resident conductor Eric Lee and guest vocalist Izen Kong about the music, the performances, and ten years of making music with Philharmonic Winds of Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 16 · 21 min
Turandot
A princess, a series of impossible riddles, a mysterious prince, murder, romance and some of the most spectacular music ever written for the stage. That's Turandot, Puccini's epic final opera, which is returning to Malaysia after more than two decades. It's big, dramatic, emotional and visually spectacular, and you don't necessarily need to be an opera expert to enjoy it. This new production by KL City Opera brings together a 50-piece orchestra, a 70-member chorus and an international cast, under the baton of Italian conductor Alessandro Mazzocchetti, with Eleanor Greenwood, starring as Princess Turandot. They join us to share more of what to look forward to at this staging. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 16 · 19 min
Tribute to Brian Tan with The klpac Orchestra
Music has a way of keeping memories alive, and The klpac Orchestra is celebrating 20 years of making music with a special tribute to the man who started it all, the late Maestro Brian Tan. Brian founded the orchestra in 2006, bringing together musicians and music lovers to build a community around their shared love of music. Two decades on, that community is coming together to celebrate his legacy under the baton of the orchestra’s current Resident Conductor and Music Director, Maestro Lee Kok Leong. The concert features a wonderful mix of music, from Chopin’s Romance and excerpts from the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto to Defying Gravity from Wicked, Cinema Paradiso and so much more. We find out what's in store from Kok Leong, and also Phinn Tan, a trumpeter with the orchestra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 9 · 29 min
Brand New Day: A Symphonic Broadway Celebration
Some of musical theatre’s biggest hits, an all-star cast, eight dancers and a 73-piece orchestra. Brand New Day: A Symphonic Broadway Celebration brings the magic of Broadway to KL in a spectacular concert featuring songs from Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Dreamgirls and more. We speak to Sean Ghazi, director of the show and director of SWG Symphonic Concerts; Aaron Teoh, performer; and Melissa Teoh, producer of the show and Director of the Jeffrey Cheah Performing Arts Centre, about bringing this musical celebration to life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 2 · 17 min
Rocking for a Cause 2026
The Falcons, Sons of Adam, Freedom, The Strollers, Alleycats and Heavy Machine are just some of the names that feature in the history of Malaysian music. This October, their music and contribution to the local scene will be celebrated at a special night bringing together musicians from different generations. Rocking for a Cause is the fourth annual benefit concert organised by Musicians for Musicians Malaysia, supporting the wellbeing of working musicians while celebrating the people who have shaped our music history. Edwin Nathaniel, Deputy President of the Musicians for Musicians Malaysia Association, joins us to share more. Image Credit: Musicians for Musicians Malaysia See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
October 2 · 17 min
The Relationsh*t Chronicles
Ghosting, situationships, terrible first dates and the things we do for love. They’re all fair game in The Relationsh*t Chronicles, a comedy made up of nine stories inspired by real relationships. After it’s Penang run, the show is coming to KL for four performances, and we're joined by director and co-writer Karam Tabba, and cast member Andi Zephyr, to talk about turning relationship chaos into comedy. Image Credit: © The Relationsh*t Chronicles by Big Nose Productions See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 25 · 23 min
The Bouquet and the Wreath (Rebirth)
Contemporary Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook has spent more than four decades exploring some very big questions through very ordinary things: flowers, beds, words, the human body, and everyday encounters. Her work can be playful, strange, intimate, and sometimes quite confronting, as she considers subjects like desire, mortality and what it means to be human. Now, for the first time, a solo exhibition of her work is being presented in Malaysia. The Bouquet and the Wreath (Rebirth) brings together works from across Araya’s 45-year practice, including early pieces alongside more recent works, in an intimate exhibition at ILHAM Gallery. To tell us more about the artist, the exhibition, and his own long collaboration with Araya, we speak to the exhibition's curator, Roger Nelson, who is also an art historian and an Assistant Professor of Art History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Image Credit: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Has Girl Lost Her Memory? (1994/2025), courtesy of Ilham Gallery See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 25 · 20 min
Lisa Macuja Elizalde's Snow White
Lisa Macuja-Elizalde has spent decades on stage and behind the scenes, from an internationally celebrated ballet career to founding and leading Ballet Manila. We last spoke in 2024, when the company brought Greatest Hits to Malaysia. Now, Lisa, the Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet Manila, joins us to talk about her adaptation of Snow White, and how she is bringing the familiar fairy tale to life through dance, and also to share about the romance, comedy and magic of the production. Image Credit: Ballet Manila See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 18 · 25 min
Socrates in D# Minor
What do the Big Bang, evolution, alien life, death and the possibility of nothingness have to do with the human experience? Presented by EJKLS Seni, Socrates in D# Minor explores these questions through four experimental theatre pieces, using science as a way into some very human questions about existence, identity and meaning. We speak to writer-director Asyraf Syahir Mohd Najib and actor Nandagopall Mohan about bringing this unusual work to the stage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 18 · 23 min
Kaleidoscope VIII: Infinite Beats
For its eighth edition, HANDS International Drumming Festival returns with Kaleidoscope VIII: Infinite Beats, bringing percussion artists from five countries together for a celebration of rhythm, culture and collaboration. We speak to Bernard Goh, founder and artistic director of HANDS Percussion Malaysia, about this year's festival, the international artists and collaborations on stage, and why percussion remains such a powerful way of bringing people together. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 36 min
Vivaldi to Borneo: The MPO’s 2026 Season Ahead
Classical music can take you just about anywhere, from the sounds of frogs and crickets in the Baroque era, to the mystery of Vivaldi, the drama of Shakespearean ballet, and even the music of Borneo. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a packed programme for the months ahead, with concerts for seasoned classical music lovers, families and anyone curious to hear what an orchestra can do. Joining us to share more is Gerard Salonga, Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 30 min
Vivaldi to Borneo: The MPO’s 2026 Season Ahead
Classical music can take you just about anywhere, from the sounds of frogs and crickets in the Baroque era, to the mystery of Vivaldi, the drama of Shakespearean ballet, and even the music of Borneo. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a packed programme for the months ahead, with concerts for seasoned classical music lovers, families and anyone curious to hear what an orchestra can do. Joining us to share more is Gerard Salonga, Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 11 · 20 min
3 Days In Chow Kit Road
What was Chow Kit Road like in the late 1970s? 3 Days in Chow Kit Road takes us into the bustling markets, colourful streets and neon-lit nightlife of one of Kuala Lumpur’s most iconic neighbourhoods. This new Malaysian dance theatre production weaves together a story of love, family, prejudice and belonging, brought to life through 31 dancers, live music and an original score. Presented by Kenny Shim Dance Collective and Asia Ballet Academy, we find out more about this production from dancers Amirah Redza and Charlotte Phun. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 4 · 26 min
The Whale
What would you do if you had one last chance to make things right? That’s the question at the heart of The Whale, Samuel D. Hunter’s play about isolation, forgiveness and the complicated ways we try to reconnect with the people we’ve hurt. The play that inspired the Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser film is finally coming to the Malaysian stage, and we find out all about it from director and production designer Christopher Ling, and actor Tania Ashwini. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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