SINGAPORE - Capitol Theatre, the iconic venue in Stamford Road built in 1929, is now managed by live entertainment company IMC Group Asia.

In a news release on Tuesday (April 20), IMC said it took over the management of the venue in January from Perennial Holdings, which owns the theatre.

Since January, IMC has organised the Al!ve series of multilingual, multi-genre concerts at the venue, where home-grown acts perform in front of limited, socially distanced live audiences.

As part of this concert series, Taiwanese singers Yuming Lai and Where Chou performed earlier this month, becoming the first foreign acts to play live shows in Singapore since the start of the pandemic.

The 977-seat venue, which also serves as a cinema, is part of Capitol Singapore, which also includes Stamford House and Capitol Building.

IMC, which has its headquarters in Singapore, also has offices in China, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. It has organised more than 400 concerts around the world in the last 13 years, including shows by American band Guns N' Roses.

IMC Group Asia chief operating officer Romell Song said in the statement: "Venue management is a natural extension of the live entertainment industry and the partnership will see IMC Group Asia further developing Capitol Theatre as the venue of choice for performances and events.

"IMC Group Asia is also keen to move forward from the pandemic and pursue the many strategic opportunities present through its current expansion efforts."

Jazz musician Jeremy Monteiro, who headlined a concert at Capitol Theatre in January, said the move will benefit the local arts and culture scene.

"I am sure that under the direction and curation of IMC, Capitol Theatre will rightfully take its place as one of the most iconic, similarly sized venues in the world, along with such globally famous venues such as the Apollo Theatre in New York, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and the Beijing Concert Hall in China."

Theatre company Dream Academy will stage all its 2021 productions at the venue, said founder and managing director Selena Tan.

"As a venue, Capitol Theatre is steeped in culture, heritage, and has a special place in Singapore's history," she said.

"In IMC, Capitol Theatre has in place the ideal management team to take it forward, and to ensure that quality entertainment with local content continues to be provided for Singaporeans at this very special venue."