SCO’s Associate Conductor, Moses Gay is also the Music Director of National University of Singapore (NUS) Chinese Orchestra, Conductor of NUS Symphony Orchestra，Artiste Faculty of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and Principal Guest Conductor of Wind-Sough Classical Chamber Orchestra. He is also currently an Executive Member of the Singapore Huqin Association. A multitalented musician, Moses learnt the erhu under the tutelage of Zhang Yuming, late erhu doyenne Min Huifen and erhu master Zhang Shao.
In 2024, apart from regular engagements with SCO, NUSCO and NUSSO, Moses was invited by overseas orchestras, namely Macau Chinese Orchestra and Wind-Sough Classical Chamber Orchestra as Guest Conductor, of which the latter conferred him the position as Principal Guest Conductor. Huayue caught up with Moses to talk about his current work and upcoming concert Towards the Light.
What are you busy with?
I have been mostly curating and performing a variety of very different outreach, community and school concerts with SCO. Be it neighbourhoods, gardens, government schools, international schools, hospices or hospitals, I have performed at them island wide!
I am also very excited with the recent developments at NUS. From Academic Year 2023/2024, students who join the Chinese Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra or Wind Symphony will be enrolled in a year-long credit-bearing course. Students hone their skills and deepen their practice in their respective artistic discipline and I get to work with students to collaborate in artistic programming. It is about how we can impact the university community and inspire them to share the passion and joy for music with the next generation of performers or audience. Hopefully, this helps to maintain a continuous pipeline of musically inclined students from primary, secondary schools to tertiary institutions, who will be our concert audiences and patrons of the arts for life.
Recently, I’ve been recommended by mentors and peers to perform with Chinese orchestras overseas and adjudicate competitions. These overseas engagements definitely take me out of my comfort zone with a change in the host country and orchestra’s culture. It provides opportunities for tactful artistic collaborations and hopefully, through such exchanges and exposures, the music industry in the region will improve collectively. By stepping beyond our shores, we will know where Singapore ranks, how do we strive for excellence in our performances and adopt best orchestra practices.
Which is your most memorable outreach concert?
Earlier in August, the audience at Canberra surprised me with an instantaneous standing ovation and enthusiastic applause. The orchestra winked at me to look back before I could put down my arms. That day, I was reminded and humbled by the power of music to evoke emotions and reactions. Perhaps it’s the choice of the crowd favourite and familiar repertoire? Everyone feels so happy, even if it is under the hot sun, so yeah that was, to me, the meaning of outreach and it made me want to do it better for future outreach concerts.
SCO Caring Series performs at hospitals and hospice care centres for a musical healing touch among the patients and healthcare personnel. A wheelchair-bound patient at Changi General Hospital once told me, “Oh, I love this music, will you come back?” I replied affirmatively thinking that eventually we will since there aren’t that many local hospitals in rotation. But guess what? We didn't until 2 years later. And there she was, the same patient who wheeled herself across the road from St. Andrew's Community Hospital to Changi General Hospital just for our performance. The first thing she said, “Moses, you said that you'll come back. And you did!” I almost teared and took a picture with her as a keepsake in my phone. Who am I as a musician that someone looks forward to the same music being performed again? This challenges my musical conviction if I’m indeed as passionate for music as a random audience member.
What are some of the favourite works to perform in your bucket list?
I was chatting with SCO musician Kenny Chan and we pondered which are the most technically challenging pieces to put the orchestra to the test. One of them is 《四季留园》Four Seasons in Lingering Garden which we performed at last October’s Forging Ahead concert. This year, I want to try to play The Fifth Chinese Symphony “Light”, Mvt V: Towards the Light, after hearing from peers overseas that this is a very tough piece to execute. I’m always up for musical challenges, with the goal of pushing boundaries of Chinese orchestral music, especially premieres of forward-looking compositions in Singapore.
I think this whole Towards the Light concert programme is very challenging yet innovative. Many premieres reflect much about my personality and work persona. The repertoire is very carefully curated to fit into the progressive theme. I'm working with Sin Yeo and Zhu Lin, who are both from the pioneer generation of SCO musicians, to re-interpret pieces that they premiered more than 20 years ago. Zhu Lin and Sin Yeo will be performing the diyin erhu piece Fantasia of the Western Regions and the dizi piece Cascades respectively.
I've never done "Towards the Light" before. I think that being one of the best orchestras in the world, SCO should have a say in how we are re-interpreting this piece. I just hope that the audience will attend this concert and have a different feel about Chinese orchestral music. Usually, it is mostly about Chinese classics but I think that we can actually play modern stuff that are very colourful, sometimes not very rhythmic but still very captivating. I really feel that I want to challenge stereotypes and at the same time, challenge the orchestra to take on different genres that they have yet to experience. Hopefully, the audience will return for more after listening to the newer works.
The current concert season is titled SEAMLESS. What does SEAMLESS mean to you?
Beyond concert repertoire, I think it is about how I bring the orchestra musicians together, across different age groups or backgrounds to play all the repertoire in unison. At the same time, it is also about our audience of diverse expectations with varied levels of music appreciation. How do we educate and entertain? They may or may not like the music, but please don’t reject it without first engaging in a discourse. I hope that over time, both audiences and musicians will be more open to experience new works and support young composers.
If you could relive your life, would you be a conductor, composer or instrumentalist?
My friends say that I should be a conductor with my personality traits like charisma, team player, also they observe how I bring people together and practise my craft. However, I wish that I could be an instrumentalist with the ability to produce exactly the sound that I want. A conductor does not play an instrument at performances, it is the instrumentalists that count and the musicians who are more important in making music. As a conductor, it is about how we take care of the musicians and ensure that they are in tip-top performance. The combined effort is immense, especially when everyone works towards a common goal in an orchestral setting and take ownership of the stage collectively.
新加坡华乐团副指挥倪恩辉也是新加坡国立大学（国大）华乐团的音乐总监、国大交响乐团指挥、国大杨秀桃音乐学院教职员、台湾的闻韶轩丝竹室内乐团客席指挥，目前为新加坡胡琴协会的委员之一。倪恩辉是一位多才多艺的音乐家，师从张玉明、已故二胡大师兼女中豪杰闵惠芬、二胡大师张韶。
2024年，除了与新加坡华乐团、国大华乐团、国大交响乐团的常态合作以外，倪恩辉也受澳门中乐团和闻韶轩丝竹室内乐团等海外乐团邀请担任客座指挥。其中，闻韶轩丝竹室内乐团甚至正式委任倪恩辉为客席指挥。《华乐》与倪恩辉进行了一段访谈，请他分享工作现况，以及谈谈即将来临的《奔向光明》音乐会。
倪指挥最近在忙些什么呢？
我最近主要的工作就是和新加坡华乐团合作，一起策划一系列各式各样的音乐会，包括教育与拓展音乐会、社区音乐会、校园音乐会等。当然，少不了在这些音乐会中表演。无论是全岛各地的组屋区、公园、政府学校、国际学校、安养院、医院，我都到此一“演”过了！
我也对国大课程规划新发展感到非常兴奋。2023/2024学年起，加入国大华乐团、交响乐团或管乐团的学生将被视为加入了一年的课程，并获得学分。学生在课程中，可磨练各自的音乐表演技巧，深化自身音乐造诣。而我呢，则可以借此机会和学生联手规划艺术活动。这些活动关系到我们如何通过音乐影响整个大学社群，并启发学生，鼓励他们与下一代表演者或观众分享自己对音乐的热情，以及从音乐中得到的快乐。希望这些活动有助于让热爱音乐的学生，从小学、中学到大专院校，都可以维持对音乐的热情。毕竟，这些音乐爱好者，或许会成为我们一辈子的观众和支持者。
近期，我也因乐坛前辈和友人推荐，到海外与其他华乐团合作，并担任了几个比赛的评审。这些跨国工作无疑让我走出舒适圈，体验不同国家与不同乐团之间的文化差异。这些工作机会也让我构思如何在艺术方面巧妙地与各伙伴合作。希望通过这些交流与接触，本区域的音乐产业能够集体提升。走出国门，才能知道新加坡所占的位置，更加理解如何在演出中更上一层楼，并落实最佳的乐团管理策略。
你最难忘的教育与拓展音乐会是哪一场呢？
刚过的 8 月，坎贝拉的民众给了我一个惊喜！演出结束后，他们立刻起立鼓掌，而且掌声还非常热烈！当时，我手都还没来得及放下，乐团成员便对我眨了眨眼，示意我回头看。那天对我是一个很好的提醒，也让我重新省思音乐打动人心以及唤起听众反应的力量。或许，是因为我们的选曲是观众熟悉的经典名曲？即使我们在烈日当空下演出，大家都汗流浃背，但也都好开心。这次的经验启发了我，让我想在未来的教育与拓展音乐会中做得更好。
新加坡华乐团关怀系列音乐会走访各医院和安养院，把音乐的疗愈力量送到病人及医护人员心中。有一次，樟宜综合医院有位坐轮椅的病人来跟我说：“我好喜欢你们演奏的音乐，你们还会再回来表演吗？”我当时想，我们本地巡回的医院不多，一定会再轮到樟宜综合医院的，所以就向她保证我们会再回去表演。然后，你猜发生什么事？我们下一次回去，竟是两年后。当时，这位病人真的又出现了！她当时住在圣安德烈社区医院，一路推着轮椅过马路到樟宜综合医院，就为了看我们的演出。她对我说的第一句话是：“倪指挥，你说过你会再回来，也真的做到了！”听到她的话时，我差点感动流涕。于是，我用手机和她合影，作为纪念。竟然有观众如此期待看到我们呈现同样的演出！这件事让我反思我音乐家的身份，思考我对音乐的热情。我对音乐的热情，真的有如一位素昧平生的观众一样浓烈吗？
你的愿望清单中，有哪些首选曲目？
我前阵子刚好和新加坡华乐团音乐家曾靖文聊天，聊到有哪些曲子在演奏技巧上是最具挑战性的，正好可以考验一下乐团。其中一首是《四季留园》。这首曲子，我们在去年十月的《韶音生辉》音乐会中演出了。今年，我想挑战第五中国交响曲《光明》的第五乐章：奔向光明。原因是因为我听海外同行说，这是一首难度很高的作品。我一直都乐于迎接音乐上的挑战，因为我想突破华乐的界限，所以尤其喜欢在新加坡首演具有前瞻性的作品。
新加坡华乐团2024/25乐季的主题为“融汇”。请问倪指挥怎么诠释“融汇”这个主题？
除了选择音乐会曲目之外，我也尽量让乐团音乐家产生“融汇”的氛围，让他们不分年龄，不分背景，一起同心演奏各种曲目。同时，“融汇”也关系到观众。观众间期望各不相同，音乐鉴赏水平也有异。我们要如何教育和娱乐他们？观众对我们的音乐，可能喜欢，也可能不喜欢，但我希望他们不要在还没尝试了解这些作品前就直接否定它们。我希望，观众和音乐家都会渐渐对于新作品产生更开放的态度，并支持年轻作曲家。
你要是能够从头再来，你会选择成为指挥、作曲家，还是乐器演奏家？
我的朋友都说，我适合成为指挥，因为我可以借此发挥人格魅力和团体精神等特质。而且，他们也提到，我有办法在展现艺术能力的同时让一群人拉近距离。但是，我还是希望自己能成为一名乐器演奏家，想要什么声音，就自己演奏。演出中，指挥不会弹奏乐器，舞台上的主角是乐器演奏家。演奏乐器的音乐家比指挥重要！指挥的工作，则是照顾好音乐家，确保他们能够展现一流的水平。呈现一场音乐会，所需的共同努力十分庞大，尤其是每个音乐家在乐团中朝着共同的目标努力，一起为舞台负责。