Jason Lai (born 1974) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

orchestral conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties o ...

. He was assistant conductor of the

BBC Philharmonic The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

from 2002 to 2005. At present he is the Principal Conductor of the Conservatory Orchestra at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music which is part of the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

. He is also an integral coach, presenter and speaker.

Biography

Early years

Jason started his musical studies at the age of 10 when he took cello, piano and composition lessons, which continued with the help of a scholarship at Chetham's School of Music in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. In 1993 he was awarded a Hadow Scholarship to study at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, where he became music director of the Oxford University Philharmonia. On completion of his studies at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

he was awarded a Masters in composition and a Diploma in cello. Jason was then appointed the Fellow in Conducting at GSMD from 2000-2002.

2002 onward

Lai was the winner of the BBC Young Conductors Workshop in February 2002 and was awarded the post of Assistant Conductor with

. His successful tenure there gave him the opportunity to work closely with many conductors and led to invitations with the other BBC orchestras and the BBC Singers, he made his

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

debut with the BBC Philharmonic in 2003. Jason was a prize winner at the Leeds Conductors Competition in 2005 and has assisted and taken part in masterclasses with

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom ...

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (, ; ; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conducting, conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director o ...

and

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

. In opera, Lai has conducted Haydn's ''

L'infedeltà delusa ''L'infedeltà delusa'' (''Deceit Outwitted''), Hoboken catalogue, Hob. 28/5, is an operatic ''burletta per musica'' in two acts by Joseph Haydn. The Italian libretto was by Marco Coltellini. Performance history The earliest recorded performance ...

'' for

Bampton Classical Opera Bampton Classical Opera is an opera company based in Bampton, Oxfordshire and founded in 1993. It specialises in the production of lesser known opera from the Classical period. Performances are always sung in English. ''Opera today'' called the ...

(2004 and 2005) and

Gazzaniga Gazzaniga (Bergamasque: or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italy, Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and northeast of Bergamo. Gazzaniga borders the following municipalities: Albino ...

’s ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'' (2004).O’Connor P. Review of performance. ''Opera'', November 2004, 1390. Orchestras he has guest-conducted include

Hong Kong Philharmonic The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra () is a symphony orchestra based in Hong Kong. Colloquially referred to as the HKPO or HKPhil (), the orchestra was first established in 1947 as an amateur orchestra under the name Sino-British Orchestra (), ...

Hong Kong Sinfonietta The Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Chinese: ) is a professional symphony orchestra based in Hong Kong. It was established in 1990 by a group of local music graduates. It has always aimed at promoting classical music to the public. The orchestra was reorga ...

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom ...

Royal Philharmonic The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

, Malaysian Philharmonic,

Taipei Symphony Orchestra The Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO, ), founded in 1969, is one of the leading orchestras based in Taipei, Taiwan. TSO works with European music directors and conductors, such as Reinhard Goebel, Martin Fischer-Dieskau, and Maurice Steger. O ...

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (''unofficial English translation'': Bremen German Chamber Philharmonic) is a chamber orchestra based in Bremen (Germany), with place of residence in the historical building Stadtwaage. History A group of ...

, New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Swan, Macao Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Television

In addition to his conducting Jason has been a broadcaster for a number of years. He was invited to be the panel expert for the 2006 edition of

BBC Young Musician of the Year BBC Young Musician is a televised national music competition broadcast biennially on BBC Television and BBC Radio 3. Originally BBC Young Musician of the Year, its name was changed in 2010. The competition, a former member of the European Uni ...

. In 2007 he was one of the judges in the BBC2 classical music talent show Classical Star, and in August 2008 he appeared in the BBC reality TV show

Maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning " master" or "teacher," plural: maestros or maestri) is an honorific title of respect, sometimes abbreviated Mo. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and oper ...

where he was a conducting mentor to

Sue Perkins Susan Elizabeth Perkins (born 22 September 1969) is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in ''Mel and Sue'', she progressed into radio a ...

. After conducting their way through many rounds Jason and Sue went on to win the competition. In 2009 Jason was a mentor in Clash! for CBBC in which two teams of 5 talented musicians compete to reversion classical music. In 2015 he was asked to form a community orchestra in Singapore and Project Symphony, an eight part series for Okto Channel, followed this journey which ended with a big concert in the Singapore Conference Hall. In 2016 he was one of four presenters chosen to be a presenter for Tales From Modern China which was a coproduction between BBC World and Jiangsu Broadcasting in China. His most recent TV presenting has been for BBC World's Heart of Asia series in which Jason explores the arts and culture scene in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Korea.

References

External links

Jason Lai website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Jason 1974 births Living people English people of Chinese descent English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians BBC music people