Kevin Field
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor
Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

Kevin Field started playing music at the age of 11 as a percussionist at the Northamptonshire Music School, UK, regularly performing and touring in the county’s youth orchestra, symphonic wind band and jazz band. After a brief stint at art college, studying design and architecture (and the obligatory rock band period!), Kevin went on to study at the Birmingham School of Music where, from his first year, he was invited to work with the City of Birmingham Symphony and Simon Rattle; including a BBC Prom at the age of 19. This was followed by a period of study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, before he joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with whom he regularly toured Europe and the USA, and recorded hundreds of CDs.

It was at the Royal Academy of Music that Kevin’s interest in conducting was ignited and where he made his début as a conductor with a special invitation to conduct the Bernstein Memorial concert. In 1995 Kevin spent a summer at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire studying with the legendary Ilya Musin.

While at Bournemouth, Kevin established, Kokoro, the new music ensemble of the Bournemouth Orchestras, which went on to perform 35 concerts a year, hold residencies at Dartington School of Art and The Anvil in Basingstoke and appeared at the Cheltenham International Music Festival.

In 1998 Kevin was invited to Malaysia for one week and stayed for another 10 years!
This 10-year association with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has seen Kevin instigate and establish numerous key music activities and events. Whether as Associate Conductor of the MPO, Principal Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, founder and Director of the MPO Forum for Malaysian Composers and the MPO International Composers Award, Kevin’s seemingly limitless drive to inspire and create knows no bounds.

With a genuine and dedicated commitment to music education, Kevin’s passion is the development of Malaysia’s music youth via the MPYO, of which he is the founding conductor and Artistic Advisor. Now in its fifth year the members of MPYO meet at four annual music camps performing and touring music from seminal classics to contemporary music.

It is through contemporary music that the MPO, directed by Kevin, established one of the leading new music series to be found anywhere in the world by a symphony orchestra, with over 200 premières of works by living composers and numerous commissions, notably from Malaysian composers Sunetra Fernando, Ahmad Muriz Che Rose, Adeline Wong, Tazul Tajjudin and Chong Kee Yong.

In addition to his performances with the MPYO and MPO, Kevin has guest conducted, among others, the Melbourne Symphony, Tasmania Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Opera North and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland worked with a variety of leading international soloists including Chic Corea, Gary Burton, Akiko Suwanai, Daniel Binelli, Peter Donohoe, Marc Kaplan, Leonidas Kavakos, Jose Gallardo del Ray and Eitetsu Hayashi.