Moses Gay, 31, is assistant conductor of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO).
He is one of four award-winning young conductors who will be performing at Youthful Strokes Of Exuberance, a concert taking place on Aug 19 and 20 at SCO Concert Hall. Tickets are available from Sistic.
Gay joined the orchestra in 2011 as a conducting assistant while pursuing a master's degree in orchestral conducting at the China Conservatory of Music on a scholarship.
He will also be conducting A Nation Celebrates by SCO tomorrow, to celebrate National Day. The free concert is held at the Singapore Botanic Gardens Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage from 6pm.
Gay, who has a fiancee, lives with his parents and elder brother in a five-room Housing Board flat in Tampines.
Do you have a regular weekend?
Usually on Saturdays, we have performances, so it's a bit unpredictable.
On Sundays, I go to church and try as much as possible to have family time. But I don't really get that because, sometimes, I might have rehearsals or I might get invited to watch a concert.
What is your favourite restaurant and why?
Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill at 91 Tanglin Road. I have eaten there since I was in secondary school when a friend took me there. It can be pricey, but it serves American-sized portions, so you most likely have to share the food with others. The ambience is really nice.
I met a waiter there when I was a student and he is now the restaurant manager. He helped me out the day I proposed to my girlfriend there, so that place holds a lot of memories for me.
Can you describe your perfect weekend?
I would gather my friends and relatives to enjoy everyone's company, eat and chill.
I don't usually get this and I would like to enjoy life's simple pleasures.
If you could hang out with anybody, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
The late Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan because he was a visionary.
He knew that classical music would go digital one day and made it accessible to the masses by recording his orchestra on CD.
I want to chat with him and ask him what he thinks would happen in the music world in the next 50 years and where he gets his courage and ideas from.
