Who Are You?

Name: Kevin Field
Age: 45
Designation: Associate Conductor - Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), Principal Conductor – Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO)
Nationality: British
Number of years in Malaysia: 12

Since joining the MPO 12 years ago, Kevin Field has founded and directed the MPO Forum for Malaysian Composers, helped develop talent throughout Malaysia with the MPYO and the MPO’s Education & Outreach Programme. He also hosted the 2005 inaugural International Composers Award.

KEVIN ON:

First instruments and the early years

There were a few instruments that were my first; flute, trumpet and cello and eventually settling by the age of 11 with all the percussion instruments such as the drum kit, timpani, the tuned instruments and all the Latin ‘toys’, though initial practice at home was restricted to a pair of sticks on the radiator—go ask the neighbours!

Becoming a conductor

I was an orchestral percussionist for several years before committing ‘full time’, as it were, to conducting. I was already guest conducting in the UK and forming my own ensembles when I was invited to Malaysia for a week to ‘see how’ and a few months later moved to Kuala Lumpur to undertake the full time position as Associate Conductor.

First impressions conducting were as a 15-year-old at a music summer course in Harrogate, UK when I put up my hand in response to the question ‘who wants to have a go at conducting the Mahler this afternoon?’ Those opportunities are few and far between.

I was bitten by the bug but it was not until studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London did I have more regular opportunities to conduct.

Preparing mentally for a performance

I suppose you want to hear that ‘we’ conductors lock ourselves away from mankind in some kind of silent yogic retreat to cleanse ourselves of distracting influences like the gridlock getting in to work or the fact that Leicester City have, again, lost?! The truth is we all approach performance differently and it very much depends on the content of the concert programme, the orchestra you are working with at the time, (and the gridlock and football result) it’s all about preparation, i.e. knowing the composer’s score.

Of the 500 plus works I have conducted just with MPO alone I would say that fewer than 5 per cent are ‘encore’ performances, in that I have returned to the same repertoire again and again. This is partly due to the residential nature of my MPO position with all of its education and outreach initiatives. If you are a regular ‘freelancer’ guest conducting around the world—like a professional golfer—then you would have evolved a cycle of works with which you are most comfortable—a certain wedge or iron on a certain par 4 if you like.

If therefore you are repeating mainstream classics over and above new or contemporary repertoire then the process may be easier but no less thorough.

The MPYO and developing talent

I hope we have all had some influence at MPO on developing Malaysian talents, via the MPYO or the general education outreach activities with the MPO’s Education & Outreach Programme (ENCOUNTER).

Performing great music to the highest standard possible each quarter is the icing on the cake; the subtext though is that MYPO is there to make a difference and influence a positive change in the individual.

Involvement in any form of music can do that but with orchestras, the shared team experience from preparation to performance offers genuine lifelong experiences, skills and memories. Hearing from ex-MYPO members going off to or coming back from international tertiary education is a real pleasure.

Music education perimeters are unique country to country so making comparisons to my own UK training would be folly, suffice to say though that the MPYO these past six years has been acknowledged as one of the finest youth orchestras in Asia and has the potential to go further; though the nature of youth orchestras is one of high turnover in membership, thus predicting standards and assigning repertoire is a real balancing act!

MPO Forum for Malaysian Composers

After working with the Australian Composers Orchestral Foundation for several years I saw a programme that, with a little nip and tuck could suit Malaysia. It all started in 2002 when the MPO Forum has nurtured (and cajoled) 21 Malaysian composers and premiered over 30 works for orchestra.

The commissioning of new music is a vital modus operandi for any orchestra the world over and this project is a key element in MPO’s connection and relativity within the community. In 2005 we hosted the inaugural MPO International Composers Award which saw a capacity Dewan Filharmonik Petronas witness five world premieres from Japan to Mexico; and a Malaysian, Chong Kee Yong won!

Comparing the Malaysian classical music scene with that of Europe and the UK

As I have already said to compare would be folly. After all, Europe had a 600 year head start! When business colleagues, guests and music associates visit Malaysia they are (still) surprised by the quality of the orchestra and the venue as they are by the sheer variety of music performances each season that would, as they tell me, rival any single arts institution in the world.

Music education is the key foundation stone supported by the best pedagogy available; indeed there are some wonderful centres of excellence dotted all over the country and with the combined message that ‘music is good for everyone’ we can look at creating more performing opportunities first and then secondly, more quality performance spaces.

We also need to create a greater awareness with respect to the ‘culture of giving’—and not necessarily with money—but with space, skills and resource, an ‘arts bank’ if you like, to support, nurture and promote the emerging and satellite arts venues and their residents groups. This would be a start in helping the many talented musicians to remain or return to Malaysia.

Exciting experiences

It’s not possible to round it down to one or two events as I have a wonderfully varied job scope and have witnessed all manner of inspirational moments. Stand-out moments include performing huge monster-like-works like John Adams’ ‘Harmonielenre’, fun showstoppers like the Sheila Majid-MPO concerts, the world premiere of Kee Yong’s ‘A Starry Night Ripples’.

Then there are all of the workshops with primary schoolchildren across the country and the MPO school concerts performing great music to hundreds of children who have taken an overnight bus to hear a ‘live’ orchestra for the first time, all special moments.