26 May 2008 - I have less than three weeks left until my return to Malaysia and my job with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. I'll be there again from August 2008. But first, some more valve work with the Bergen Philharmonic: this week I'm playing bass trumpet for Die Walkűre, then again in Gurrelieder (Schoenberg) next week.
11 March 2008 - The final tour of a peripatetic 2007-08 concert season found us in Vienna playing at the Musikverein.
1 December 2007 - November was a busy month: the Bergen Philharmonic went on a US tour for much of the month, and I followed that with a few days in Toronto.
1 September 2007 - I've been in Norway for a month now, and am enjoying working with the Bergen Philharmonic. We have already been on a tour (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Symphony Hall in Birmingham; and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London), given several concerts in Bergen, and made a Mendelssohn recording for BIS. I also had time last weekend to fly to Lucerne and play off-stage brass in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle with the Boston Symphony. It has been a productive month!
August 2007 - I'm excited to report that I have been invited to play Principal Trombone with the Bergen Philharmonic from August 2007 to July 2008. I am looking forward to living in Norway for a year; working with Andrew Litton; playing with another great group of brass players; and going on some exciting tours (such as this one).
10 May 2007 - The London Symphony Orchestra was here last week, playing for two nights in my concert hall (Dewan Filharmonik Petronas) as part of a tour of Asia. The highlights of their two concerts were performances of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, and encores from "Star Wars". Maurice Murphy, who has played principal trumpet with the LSO for 30 years, sounded spectacular, which would be inspiring enough were it not for the fact that he is 72 years old!
14 & 16 April 2007 - I played euphonium and guitar with the Vancouver Symphony in two performances of Mahler's 7th Symphony. The euphonium (Mahler's tenor horn) plays only the first movement, and the guitar plays only the fourth (of five). The Vancouver Sun review didn't seem to notice the very prominent euphonium part, but I did get a mention for the "exotic sound of the guitar"!
26 March 2007 - The MPO performed a special concert for the Global Islamic Finance Forum, including an arrangement for euphonium and orchestra of P. Ramlee's classic Malay song "Tunggu Sekejap".
11 - 13 March 2007 - Just spent two days in Tronoh, Malaysia, working with the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, a fun and highly talented group of young Malaysian musicians. Our music camp was held on the beautiful campus of Universiti Teknologi Petronas.
11 March 2007 - Another euphonium solo appearance with the Perak Symphonic Wind Orchestra, an energetic and inspiring group of young musicians from Ipoh, Malaysia. We performed before a captive audience of about 2000 delegates to the annual meeting of the Malaysian Chinese Association.