SYO (Singapore Youth Orchestra) is thirty years old this year. It might soon fade into obscurity because it has changed it's name to SNYO (Singapore National Youth Orchestra). So this is an account of my years as Music Director and Resident Conductor of the Singapore Youth Orchestra from 1980 to 1990.
Those were pioneering years, and I remember with pleasure all the very unique characters who played in the orchestra in those 10 years. I believe there is only ONE member who was there nearly the whole time I conducted, and that is Voon Hai Wei (trombonist). She is now married to Cheong Ming Foong (tuba player), whom she met in the orchestra.
No, the Orchestra was not formed to create more families. The original idea was for it to serve as a training ground for potential members of the SSO (Singapore Symphony Orchestra) which had been established the year before (1979). It was to provide "rigorous" training for budding musicians.
In the first few years, a flood of SYO members did attain scholarships from the Singapore Government and returned to play in the professional orchestra.
Today, some SYO members from this period have served in the SSO for over 20 years. More importantly, many more XYO (ex-SYO) members work as coaches of school bands and orchestras in Singapore, give music lessons in music schools or privately. Some have even opened their own music schools in Singapore and abroad!
All this has enriched the lives of present-day Singaporeans in countless unnoticed but powerful ways. XYO members will attest to the fact that their years in SYO has left an indelible mark on their lives, not only in terms of what they learnt about music, but also the lifelong friends that they made and the lifeskills that they learnt.
Instrumental to the founding of SYO were Dr Goh Keng Swee (Minister of Education), Dr Tay Eng Soon(Minister of State for Education) and Dr Bernard Tan(Dean of the Faculty of Science, NUS) .
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