Arts, CCA Events, Student Features

A House, Full: The Odyssey 2026
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Lerraine Neo (26A01A) and Koh Shin Robbie (26A01A)

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra concert hall, RICO’s chosen venue for this year’s ArtSeason concert, has a maximum capacity of 750 people. That’s by no means a small number; 750 hours is about a month’s time, $750 can buy 150 McDonald’s value meals, and 750 metres is only 78 metres short of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. 

It takes a certain confidence to book such a large external venue. To believe in the support of your friends, the effectiveness of your publicity materials, your own ability to draw crowds and sell tickets. RICO’s confidence did not stop at the size of their concert hall—their setlist, consisting of duets, solo concertos, medleys and ensembles on top of the usual orchestral pieces, posed challenges in both logistics and performers’ skill. 

All this from an orchestra which—until as late as March—was struggling to recruit enough members to pad out their ranks. Where, then, had they gotten the confidence to plan such an ambitious concert? 

Continue reading “A House, Full: The Odyssey 2026” →
CCA Events, Sports

15 Strong: Netball NSG 2026
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Aidan Tan (27A01D) and Christian Adriel Tan (26S07B)

Photographs provided by Christine Zhu (27S03G) unless otherwise stated.

DEJA VU

A year ago, Raffles Netball stood where every team hoped to be: NSG champions, after a commanding 13-8 win against ACJC. One season later, they are standing once against ACJC again in the semi-finals, a fixture carrying an unmistakable sense of deja vu. 

The spectators, perhaps rightfully, almost always give their most attention to the finals: the last round of the game; the arbitrator of who’s the best. But turn your attention to the more unforgiving semis, and the tension is no less palpable. 

You’re in that precarious position where you’re within a whisker of being on the podium. Win, and you’re guaranteed a podium victory. Lose, and you’re relegated to the bronze medal match. Falter on the penultimate step to victory, and you must still collect yourself and give it all once more to leave the season with something to show. 

That day, it was either RI or ACJC who would falter—and unlike last year’s final, no consolation of a silver medal was waiting on the other side of defeat.

Raffles Netball preparing themselves before the fateful semis match.

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Arts, CCA Events, School Life

CLDCS Production 2026: 寻 (Seek)
Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Gao Yuanji (27S06M) and Tan Yun Jun (27S03M)

All photographs courtesy of Xu Fengxuan (27S03M) from Raffles Art and Photographic Society

On the evening of 28 May 2026, the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) was bathed in a warm, contemplative glow for the Chinese Literary, Drama and Debate Society’s (CLDCS) annual production, this year titled Cui Gu Hui Xiang: Seek (翠谷回响: 寻). Confronting themes of memory, emotional entrapment, and bittersweet reconciliation, this year’s presentation featured a fully original dual-format lineup of eight songs and a play. For a comparatively small CCA whose student members play overlapping roles as writers, performers, and technical crew behind the scenes, the showcase stood as a quiet testament to a year of persistence and artistic experimentation.

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Features, Humans of RI, Student Features

Setting Sail on a New Voyage: 46th Students’ Council Investiture
Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Rebekah Yew (27S05A) and Saadhana Kalimuthu (27A01C)

All photos courtesy of Daniel Lo Kai Ngee (Lu Kaiyi) (27S03F), Edward Tham Ming Hong (Tan Mingkang) (27S07B), and Khoo Zheng Yuan Orlando (27S06F) of Raffles Art and Photographic Society (RAPS)

A Formal Affair With Warmth

The PAC had never looked so prim, so proper, so formal. On 28 May, the 45th and 46th Students’ Councils gathered for the much-anticipated investiture. But beneath the stiff collars and ceremonial gravity, something warmer was already happening: councillors slipping notes and small gifts into one another’s hands, quiet exchanges of gratitude for the past year and before the weight of responsibility fully settled in.

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Commentary

“Sing!” — Raffles Chorale Showcase 2026
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Kunchur Bharat (26A01B) and Prajna Girish (27S06O)

All photographs provided by Skyler Chen Yuanzhe (27S03A) and Huang Zhi En (27S03B) from Raffles Arts and Photographic Society 

As the evening light reflected off the ivy that crept down the walls of the School Of The Arts (SOTA), friends, family, and even some members of the School Management rapidly filled both upper and lower floors of the concert hall. Some held bouquets of wildflowers, others carried handmade boards–but everyone had the same eager smile and peeled ears for this year’s joint performance by RI’s Voices (Secondary) and Chorale (JC), Sing!

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