My Perfect Weekend with music conductor Moses Gay
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Singapore Chinese Orchestra associate conductor Moses Gay hits the gym during his alone time.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MOSES GAY
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Who: Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) associate conductor Moses Gay, 40. The Singaporean will helm the Percussion Rhapsody concert, which also features SCO percussionist Derek Koh and zhonghu musician Wong Qin Kai. The concert, which takes place at the SCO Concert Hall on Dec 13, features Chinese-American composer Chen Yi’s avant-garde composition Percussion Concerto and Chinese composer Wang Jianmin’s Erhu Rhapsody No. 6. It is the first time both works are being performed in full by a Chinese orchestra.
Gay, who began conducting at the age of 16, is also the National University of Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s music director.
Beyond Chinese orchestral music, he has also collaborated with the Orchestre Regional de Cannes in France in 2015 and conducted the Moravian Philharmonic and the South Czech Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, and the Berlin Sinfonietta in Germany in 2017.
His wife is a special needs teacher and they have a son, four, and daughter, six.
“My ideal weekend starts with a hearty Nanyang breakfast at Ya Kun – there is something comforting about kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs that set the right tone for the day.
As a Singaporean boy with Singaporean taste buds, I am a devoted fan of hawker food, especially my ‘Four Heavenly Kings’ at Bedok 85 Market: char kway teow, fried Hokkien mee, oyster omelette and fried carrot cake. A good bowl of black bak kut teh – from Hong Ji Bak Kut Teh at Marsiling – is always on the menu too.
Singapore Chinese Orchestra associate conductor Moses Gay with his daughter, wife and son.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MOSES GAY
Sundays are sacred family time in our household. We usually attend church and then head to my in-laws’ place, where my adorable son and daughter go cycling and rollerblading. Watching them zoom around with pure joy never gets old.
As Friends of the Zoo members, we love spending time at wildlife parks, where my children’s wide-eyed wonder at the animals reminds me to see the world with fresh eyes.
I treasure walks in skate parks in the east with my wife and kids, and I have become quite skilled at persuading my parents to join me for walks too. They’ve learnt that resistance is futile when I show up at their door with my walking shoes on. I think they have come to secretly enjoy our conversations during these strolls. It is my way of ensuring they stay active while we catch up.
For alone time, I hit the gym in the early morning or late at night. I am addicted to lifting weights. The discipline of these sessions mirrors the precision needed on the podium during the week.
Even on weekends, music finds its way into our home, whether it is my children experimenting with sounds on their toy xylophone or me stealing a quiet moment to listen to whatever music YouTube recommends to me.
I am also a fan of Japanese detective and mystery dramas. I am watching The Greatest Teacher (2023), a drama about a chemistry teacher who travels back in time to look for her killer.
Weekends remind me why I love what I do: the spontaneous joy of watching my children play reminds me that music, at its heart, is about freedom and expression.
Having lived and studied abroad, coming home to Singapore’s hawker centres and watching my children grow up in our parks make me appreciate this little red dot even more.
The perfect weekend balances family connection, good food, staying active and those quiet moments that help me return to the week ahead refreshed and ready to make music.”
Book it/Percussion Rhapsody
Where: SCO Concert Hall, Level 1 Singapore Conference Hall, 7 Shenton Way str.sg/DeSN
When: Dec 13, 7.30pm
Admission: From $20 to $80 via Sistic (go to
