PICTURES

Carnival theme for ChildAid 2013, featuring acrobats, magicians and jugglers

ChildAid performers having rehearsals at Media Centre auditorium Genting Lane on Saturday, Nov 30, 2013. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
ChildAid performers having rehearsals at Media Centre auditorium Genting Lane on Saturday, Nov 30, 2013. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
ChildAid performers having rehearsals at Media Centre auditorium Genting Lane on Saturday, Nov 30, 2013. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
ChildAid performers having rehearsals at Media Centre auditorium Genting Lane on Saturday, Nov 30, 2013. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
(From left) Akira McLatchie, 7, Noa Suzuki, 10 and Anne-Sophie Cazaubon, 6 are among the youngest performers in the concert. They are singing a medley of three songs - Over the Rainbow, Lollipop and It's A Small World, which will get the audience tapping and clapping with them. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
The acoustic group from Republic Polytechnic and dancers from Saltare Beats collaborated in a dynamic performance entitled Buttons. Saltare Beats members are beneficiaries of The Business Times budding artists fund. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
The acoustic group from Republic Polytechnic and dancers from Saltare Beats collaborated in a dynamic performance entitled Buttons. Saltare Beats members are beneficiaries of The Business Times budding artists fund. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
 Award winning TAG, also known as The Acappella Group from ITE, has wowed audiences over with their harmony and zest. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
 Award winning TAG, also known as The Acappella Group from ITE, has wowed audiences over with their harmony and zest. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
They are set to tickle your funny bones in their comedic routine involving one piano and 8 hands. Animato Quad is made up of members Marc Neo, 15, Luke Wong, 16, Jonathan Tan, 17 and Shawn Loh, 16, who will be playing Galop Marche by Albert Lavignac. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
They are set to tickle your funny bones in their comedic routine involving one piano and 8 hands. Animato Quad is made up of members Marc Neo, 15, Luke Wong, 16, Jonathan Tan, 17 and Shawn Loh, 16, who will be playing Galop Marche by Albert Lavignac. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
Young Gymnasts From CHIJ (Kellock) School aim to enchant the audience during the opening act as the orchestra plays movements from Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival Of The Animals, while award-winning flautist Ong Yi Ting (above) will be showing off the skills that have wowed audiences as far away as the United States and Russia. ChildAid will be staged on Friday and Saturday at the Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands. Tickets are priced at $18, $28 and $38. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
Young Gymnasts From CHIJ (Kellock) School aim to enchant the audience during the opening act as the orchestra plays movements from Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival Of The Animals, while award-winning flautist Ong Yi Ting (above) will be showing off the skills that have wowed audiences as far away as the United States and Russia. ChildAid will be staged on Friday and Saturday at the Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands. Tickets are priced at $18, $28 and $38. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

This year's ChildAid children's concert has a Carnival theme and features acrobats, magicians and jugglers alongside extraordinary musical performers, some as young as six years old.

The ninth in the concert series organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times, the annual event raises funds for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund. Some past performers have gone on to bigger things. Singer Julia Abueva, who performed in the 2008 ChildAid concert when she was 13, is now set to take the lead role in a London production of Miss Saigon.

One of the highlights this year is Circus Infinity, a dazzling group of 11 children aged 13 to 16 who can juggle clubs, walk on stilts and perform tricks on the diabolo and the spinning square. "These kids persevered over a few years to master these circus acts. And they can't wait to perform for a good cause," said instructor Ernie Tan.

ChildAid will be staged on Friday and Saturday at the Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands, the official venue partner. Tickets at $18, $28 and $38 (excluding booking fees) are available from www.marinabaysands.com/ticketing, Marina Bay Sands theatre box office, SkyPark, ArtScience Museum and MBS retail mall concierge. Alternatively, call 6688-8826.

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