INSTITUTIONAL GREETINGS
The Philharmonic Winds (Singapur) HISTORY OF THE BAND The word "philharmonic" translates to a fondness or devotion to music, and The Philharmonic Winds truly embraces that. The members of the wind orchestra came together in 2000 because of a love for music and have since endeavoured to present the finest wind music to audiences worldwide. The Philharmonic Winds is privileged to have collaborated with internationally renowned musicians, including Jörgen van Rijen, Ko-ichiro Yamamoto, Vincent Gnojek, Shin-ichiro Hikosaka, Yasuto Tanaka, Kenneth Tse, Kevin Bobo, the Boston Brass, Kevin Thompson, Dai Zhonghui and Yeh Shu-Han, as well as pianist Hae-Jung Kim, baritone Maarten Koningsberger, cellists Qin Li-Wei and Roeland Duijne, daiko drummer Makoto Tashiro and yangqin player Qu Jian Qing. The ensemble has performed under the baton of such distinguished conductors as Principal Guest Conductor Timothy Reynish, Johan de Meij, Douglas Bostock, Luis Serrano Alarcón, Yasuhide Ito, Felix Hauswirth, Surapol Thanyawibool, John Boyd, Zechariah Goh, founding Artistic Director Robert Casteels and Music Director Leonard Tan. In 2002, The Philharmonic Winds initiated the Philharmonic Youth Winds, providing an opportunity for young and passionate musicians to further their ensemble experience. The young orchestra was crowned the top First Division band at the inaugural Singapore International Band Festival in 2008 and emerged amongst the top three bands in the Open Division of the same festival in 2010 and 2012. In 2005, The Philharmonic Winds participated in the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, the Netherlands, and became the first wind orchestra from Singapore to be awarded a Gold Medal with Distinction in the First Division. The following year, the ensemble became the first wind orchestra to perform at the Singapore Arts Festival. The ensemble performed at the 40th Anniversary of the Japan Band Clinic in 2009, and at the 15th World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) Conference in Chiayi, Taiwan in 2011. BIOGRAPHY OF THE CONDUCTOR Timothy ReynishTimothy Reynish has emerged as one of the leading conductors of wind bands and wind ensembles in the world. In the past few years he has conducted many of the principal professional bands in Asia, Europe, North and South America; these include civilian bands such as the Dallas Wind Symphony and Philharmonic Winds, Singapore, and leading military bands including the "President's Own" US Marine Band, the Staff Band of the Norwegian Army, the Singapore Armed Forces Band, the Band of the Royal Marines, Portsmouth, and the US Coast Guard Band.After graduating from Cambridge, he was first horn in Sadlers Wells and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. His conducting studies were with George Hurst, Sir Charles Groves and Sir Adrian Boult, Dean Dixon, and Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. A prize winner in the Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in New York, he has conducted leading professional symphony orchestras throughout the UK. In 1975 he was invited to become tutor of Postgraduate Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music. Two years later he became Head of School of Wind & Percussion. At the RNCM, he conducted a wide range of opera, symphony and chamber concerts and he developed the wind orchestra and ensemble to become one of the best in the world, commissioning works from many major composers, making commercial recordings and performing regularly in festivals. He has given clinics, lectured, guest conducted and adjudicated in Asia, Canada, South America, Europe and USA, and he is an Editor with Maecenas Music. Engagements last season included concerts in Hong Kong and the USA, and at the Royal College of Music and RNCM where he coaches chamber music. He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the State University of the Arts, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and is Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonic Winds, Singapore. |
