Muhamad Yusri

As part of the conducting masterclass, Maestro Yeh requested we attend the dress rehearsal and the concert by the BHSO on 5 Mar 2017 at School of The Arts. The last time I took part in a conducting masterclass was … way to long ago. This is the first time I am taking part as a participant for an Orchestral Conducting Masterclass. I am extremely excited about it.

I arrived early to find my way around and to pick up my Backstage pass. As I walked around, I saw some familiar faces warming up backstage. I stopped by to say hello and to catch up on old times. I made my way to the stalls to find a seat. Wei Zhen arrived shortly after and we sat together. There were 2 more participants in the hall. Shunta was sitting in the middle of the stalls and Janine. I only met Janine and Scott during the meet and greet after the dress rehearsal. Scott was actually playing Viola in the orchestra.

Throughout the dress rehearsal, I was observing what Maestro was doing and how the orchestra responded. Coming from a military band background, I lack the necessary knowledge on how to get certain sounds from the strings. The time I spent during the rehearsal was invaluable.

For the concert, I got circle seats on stage left. I wanted to watch Maestro Yeh’s conducting and to see if there were any variance from how he conducted the rehearsal prior. I was not disappointed. He changed the way he conducted some of the passages during the concert when compared to the rehearsal and the orchestra responded accordingly. I always believe a conductor is not a robot and he or she must be flexible and daring enough to try different things if they make sense.

BHSO is a community orchestra and they have done themselves proud. They played really well and I am looking forward to the conducting masterclass in a couple of weeks.

The repertoire for the masterclass include:

Variation on a Theme by Haydn by Johannes Brahms
Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn

Part 2 will be sharing the conduct of Day 1 of the Masterclass – The Conducting Preview.