CHILDAID 2022 ended on Tuesday (Dec 13) night with rapturous applause from the audience. After two years of staging restrictions that forced it to contend with small casts, the return of scale and spectacle to the charity concert was more than welcomed by the 1,400-strong audience at the University Cultural Centre in Kent Ridge.

By the end of the night, the concert, organised by The Business Times and The Straits Times, had raised over S$2 million, with generous donations from main sponsors United Overseas Bank, Citi Singapore and MES Group, as well as platinum sponsor Kanesaka Sushi Pte Ltd. The presentation of the cheque from key donors to SPH Media Trust was witnessed by guest-of-honour President Halimah Yacob. 

For much of the show, the music held the audience in thrall. Weaving the backdrop for a story of four teenagers trapped in a virtual world, the songs were undeniably infectious, ranging from ABBA pop confections to current K-pop chart-toppers. 

Creative director Jeremiah Choy worked with music director Evan Low and choreographer Ahmad Kamil to blend the old with the new, the East with the West, and various contrasting genres all at once. 

OneRepublic’s I Aint Worried was performed with K-pop beats and choreography. Nicky Youre’s pop ditty Sunroof was spliced with hip-hop beats and rapping. Even strains of Mozart’s 1792 classical aria Queen Of Night were weaved into the entire show, before appearing as an item of its own, whistled – not sung – by 13-year-old phenom Lim Jing Rui. 

Contemporary dancers from Jitterbugs Swingapore, hip hop dancers from Mini Groovers, acro dancers and other dancers lent marvellous support to the singers. 

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Now in its 18th year, the concert has raised more than S$27 million over the years for its two charities, The Business Times Budding Artists Fund and The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. The former helps underprivileged children with artistic talent attend arts courses for free; the latter helps similarly disadvantaged children buy lunch and pay for transport to and from school.

Wong Wei Kong, Editor-in-chief, English/Malay/Tamil Media Group, was thrilled to be able to welcome the audience to a full-capacity concert again. “Now that we don’t have to sit one metre apart from each other (which was mandated last year as a pandemic precautionary measure), we can once again enjoy the concert the way it is meant to be enjoyed – sharing an experience together, marvelling at the talent and showmanship on stage, sensing others around us being moved by good music as much as we are.”

The two funds have helped more than 180,000 underprivileged children in 18 years. Chen Huifen, editor of The Business Times, said: “Many of our past recipients are now adults, and some still speak appreciatively of the funds extending critical support in their growing years. 

“Even now, we have ex-students of The Little Arts Academy and 10 Square Youth (two youth arts training centres supported by The Business Times Budding Artists Fund) returning to the centres to say how the training changed their lives.”

 * If you missed the live show, you can still watch it on BT’s YouTube channel.