NUS Wind Symphony

@nuswindsymphony NUS Wind Symphony

From its humble beginnings as a military band in 1968, the NUS Wind Symphony (NUSWS) has established itself as one of the premier wind orchestras in Singapore advocating for the educational and artistic value of wind bands. Boasting an illustrious history, NUSWS’s mission is to nurture musicians through a holistic programme that encourages the spirit of excellence and passion for wind band music and its community.

Under the baton of its Resident Conductor, Mr Francis Tan, the wind symphony creates quality music with a wide repertoire of varying difficulty – from orchestral transcriptions to wind band classics, from old-school marches to modern band music.

NUSWS performs two concerts every academic year – Da Capo in October and InTempo in March. The InTempo concert series, started in 1974, is especially noted for being the longest running band concert series in Singapore.

NUSWS consistently seeks to raise the bar on its performances by actively participating in several music festivals and competitions overseas. In 2017, they clinched the Gold Award (Division 2) at the renowned World Music Contest (Kerkrade, The Netherlands).

As one of the pioneering bands in Singapore, NUSWS serves as a leader in the wind band community through creating innovative programmes, offering access to specially commissioned scores for wind band music and cultivating advocates for wind band music.

Key Past Events

2023 NUS Arts Festival, Annual Concert, InTempo 2023: Music in Living Technicolour
2022 Annual Concert, InTempo 2022: Singapore All Around the World
2021 Annual Concert, InTempo 2021: New Connections 
2019 Annual Concert, Da Capo XIV: TOTORound The World
2019 InTempo 2019: Of Music and Hope
2018 Annual Concert, Da Capo XIII: The Magic of Music!
2018 NUSWS’s 50th Anniversary, InTempo 2018: Celebrations! Our Golden Jubilee
2017 Annual Concert, Da Capo XII: Miyazaki in the Park
2017 NUS Arts Festival, InTempo 2017: Rise of the Transhuman
2016 Annual Concert, Da Capo XI: Spooky Soirée
2016 InTempo 2016: To the Stars
2015 Megapalooza! at Supertree Grove, Gardens by the Bay
2014 ExxonMobil Campus Concerts highlight, Little Treats for Everyone
2010 Participant and joint organizer for the first University Band Festival, Esplanade Concert Hall

Awards and achievements

2022 Gold with Distinction, Division 1, 8th Singapore International Band Festival
2018 Recipient of the NUS Student Achievement Award (Arts & Culture, Silver)
2017 Gold Award, Division 2, World Music Contest (Kerkrade, The Netherlands)
2017 Group of the Year, Tan Ean Kiam Arts Awards
2016 3rd place in Division 1, Singapore International Band Festival
2011 Represented NUS and Singapore at the Mid Europe International Wind Music Festival in Austria
2010 Recipient of the NUS Student Achievement Award (Arts & Culture)

Francis Tan

Music Director and Resident Conductor

Francis Huan Chun Tan is Music Director and Resident Conductor of the National University of Singapore Wind Symphony. His tenure with the National University of Singapore Wind Symphony has seen it clinch the First Prize Gold Award in Division 2 of the 2017 World Music Contest held in the Netherlands.

 

His all-encompassing mission as a Conductor-Presenter is to inject classical music into Singapore’s cultural DNA in varying capacities. To this end, he contributes extensively to the music field through leading community orchestras and wind bands in reaching out to communities of different demographics. He leverages his role of Conductor-Presenter to draw bridges between music and the audience through stories, costumes and a personal connection. He has worked with Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM), Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra and frequently conducts Westwinds (Band of the Bukit Batok Community Club). He was also instrumental in setting up the National University of Singapore Alumni Orchestra (NAO) — an orchestra that reaches diverse audiences through interactive concerts and presentations.

 

Francis also speaks at youth leadership courses and empowers youth musicians in advocating their love for music passion to the community. His passion is in developing student leadership through involvement in band programmes which emphasize on character development through music-making. His belief that each band student can be a student leader in his or her own right has fuelled his development of distinctive yet holistic band curricula which are responsive to the demands of the evolving education and music landscape. Cocreating the Wind Bands Association of Singapore (WBAS) Youth Arts Leaders Conference (formally known as WBAS Student Leadership Workshops), which is in its twelfth run, is testament to that.