However considerably incongruously, there are nearly 200 of us gathered at Pangkor Laut Resort, a non-public island in Perak, Malaysia for this efficiency ‒ the inaugural annual Opera in Paradise weekend competition held in honour of the legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Whereas modest in dimension, the line-up, which was curated by Griminelli who additionally serves as musical director for the occasion, was compelling sufficient for some friends to fly in specifically from Singapore only for the live performance (the resort is both a three-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur or a 90-minute drive from Ipoh, adopted by a 15-minute ferry experience).
Additionally among the many opera followers in attendance had been VIPs together with Dato Mark Yeoh, government director of YTL Company’s motels and resorts division, which owns the resort; Rebekah Yeoh, company finance director at YTL Company; in addition to their enterprise associates.
It begs the query: Why would a non-public island resort go to such lengths to launch an opera competition?