How this real estate broker found second wind in his jazz music career
As a young boy, Peter Ng's parents made him accept classical piano classes. Having this structure forced upon him made Ng not feel whatever particular affinity toward music throughout his babyhood. Non until the age of 16 when he began niggling with the piano once more, did Ng feel that spark. "A friend asked me to be the stand-in pianist in his ring," recalled Ng. "That was the moment."
Ng taught himself jazz and pop through experimentation, and at the age of 18, started earning his proceed by making his way around the local gig circuit. Inside a decade, Ng constitute himself improvising on the ivories while revered songbirds of his generation – the likes of Frances Yip and Anita Sarawak – belted out their most popular tunes in Singapore's top alive music institutions. Think the iconic Tiara Supper Club in Shangri-La Hotel and the Westin'south glamorous Palm Grill.
Ng recounts these magical evenings with a blithesome glint in his center. He wasn't nether any force per unit area. He was just a boy having fun doing what he loved – "with no 'A' Level cert or university degree!" he added.
SELLING OUT
That was in the 1970s and 1980s. Ng, at present 64, sports a crown of grey merely notwithstanding walks with a spring in his step.
"Afterwards playing in all the top [music venues], I sabbatum down ane day and thought to myself: 'I demand a stable job'," Ng disclosed. After trying his hand selling advertising for magazines and trading bolt, Ng institute his calling as a existent estate amanuensis for HRL Properties selling shophouses in Emerald Hill, Mohamed Sultan and Telok Ayer.
He liked that this was a niche market, and how at the time, shophouses were undervalued. Studying market place cycles and taking reward of them made Ng a pretty penny. "Yous could buy [a shophouse] in Emerald Hill for S$200,000. Mohamed Sultan shophouses were going for around the same [toll]." This knack for calling the market brought him success not simply in Singapore only also in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia.
The early on 1990s saw Ng relocate to London. Arriving at an opportune time with a marketplace ripe for picking, Ng joined the business firm Michael Elliott and quickly managed to broker the sale of a refurbished hotel. Later on, the house was awarded sole agency for a sizeable residential property, Kensington Green.
Ng before long became known every bit the go-to guy for London property dealings among some of Singapore's elite. Beyond the British capital, Ng likewise brokered the sale of Hong Kong'southward JIA – Asia'southward first Philippe Starck-designed boutique hotel – which went on to class the stepping stones of Singaporean restaurateur Yenn Wong's legacy.
Ownership IN
In 2010, having made a decent profit from selling a building in Farringdon, central London, Ng decided to care for himself. He purchased what he had dreamed of owning for a long time: A Steinway & Sons piano, which he promptly shipped back to his habitation in Singapore.
Having developed a sense of taste for the expert life in London's individual members' clubs such equally 5 Hertford Street and The Arts Club, Ng yearned to recreate a similar experience in Singapore – an unpretentious atmosphere with just the right amount of exclusivity, where deals are made, secrets traded and cigars and fine whisky indulged in. This led him to prepare Robusto, a private cigar bar in Orchard Route, which only passed its first decade marker.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING
In 2019, Ng was presented with the opportunity to have over the flooring to a higher place all-twenty-four hour period French bistro atout in Dempsey Hill. Faced with a blank canvas, Ng dreamed of creating a tranquil, sophisticated jazz bar and listening lounge.
It'due south intriguing that an astute trader would starting time a business with an uncertain turnover in a high rent commune. "Many jazz bars fail," Ng stated candidly. "But when I saw the beautiful setting in [Dempsey Loma] and imagined classical music playing inside, I knew I wanted this."
Artists needed an audience, Ng reasoned, and businessmen needed places to concord meetings. Many jazz musicians whom he had performed alongside rallied behind his jazz bar idea.
On its opening weekend, the likes of Jeremy Monteiro, Joanna Dong, Alemay Fernandez and a litany of other celebrated local musicians sang and played their hearts out at Maduro, a Castilian word that means maturity and refers to the composure that comes with age.
ENCORE
Shuttling back and forth between London and Singapore every two months – he runs Michael Elliott Asia here – Ng'due south vision is for Maduro to be a venue for both high-stakes negotiations and laid-back jam sessions.
What about the fateful Steinway, the conquering that led to the second resurgence of his musical career?
"It's non here [in Maduro], but you can come up to my house to see information technology," Ng laughed. "I wouldn't leave it here to allow anyone and everyone blindside on information technology." Instead, he leads us to a Yamaha piano that has been played by the who's who of the local jazz scene.
Ng starts playing Memory from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats on the Yamaha. Only instead of belting out its accompanying lyrics, he serves up a few anecdotes of wisdom. In summary: You can play beautiful music with just two fingers if you tin can sing the tune; if you lot make a mistake, pretend you lot meant it as a jazz note and just get with information technology; know when to sustain, lighten and weight your actions. "When people wait something, like for you lot to return to a particular notation, play something slightly different instead. This leaves a lasting impression, similar the lingering awareness in your oral fissure afterward a spicy meal."
Ng also just finished recording a seven-rail album, titled Journey with my Friends. "My friend and Golden Horse Honour-winning producer Ricky Ho happened to be free at the time, so we sought out to record a thanks note to all my friends." He gave out the CD to his friends and assembly, asking for a donation to charity in render.
I particularly memorable rail from the album is Ng'due south rendition of Fiddler On The Roof, in which he sprinkles several jazzy accidentals, before transcending into the very jovial, contemporary pop-sounding and universally recognisable major calibration notes of If I Were A Rich Man (written by Zero Mostel, but made a household melody by Gwen Stefani). He shared that the song is dedicated to his hardworking Jewish business partners in London, with whom he has broken breadstuff in their homes.
Another song from the anthology, which Ng dedicated to no one in particular, is Movie house Paradiso. "It's a beautiful motion-picture show. I like this movie and this vocal very much because information technology's about a male child who makes it on his own and somewhen comes back to the movie theatre he one time frequented," he explained.
In a sense, it'due south very much a metaphor for his own feel.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/peter-ng-maduro-239796
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