Mia Palencia who is set to perform at No Black Tie KL with the WVC Trio on the 10th July launched her luminous career in the Malaysian music scene at the age of 14 as the other half of well-loved Sabahan jazz duo Double Take. Together with finger-style guitarist Roger Wang, they released their first album when she was just 16 years old. This became the launching pad for numerous music festival invitations and concerts throughout Asia over the next 15 years, including prestigious venues like Stadium Negara, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas and the Esplanade Theatre, Singapore. In 2003, Louis Vuitton labelled Mia as Malaysia’s Most Promising Musician at their Next Generation Awards.
Mia began writing and producing original music in 2007. She has released 3 solo albums and toured Indonesia, Singapore and Australia. In 2010, Mia was offered a full scholarship to study Songwriting at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Tasmania, Australia. She has since been awarded a University Medal to recognize her outstanding work, and is currently pursuing her PhD.
In 2014, Mia composed her first musical, MUD: Our Story of KL. The show was commissioned by the KL City Council and ran for an unprecedented 3 years, making it Malaysia’s longest running musical. In 2017, Mia was invited to compose and produce “So Many Hands”, which became the official theme song of the 2017 South East Asian Games. She was given the honour of performing her song at the opening ceremony to an audience of 87,000 people at Bukit Jalil Stadium.
Mia’s most recent project involved her composing music and lyrics for the highly-anticipated Ola Bola The Musical. The musical was directed by Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina and has just completed a sell-out first season at Istana Budaya, KL in March 2018.The Malaysian jazz outfit with multiple influences, WVC, comprises of Tay Cher Siang (piano), Julian Chan (saxophones), AJ (bass) and KJ Wong (drums).
NO BLACK TIE: 17, Jalan Mesui, off Jalan Nagasari, KL: Admission: RM45. Concert menu available. Call 03-2142 3737 after 5pm or visit www.noblacktie.com.my for bookings.
