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 Conference Hall on Dec 13, features the Singapore premiere of Chinese-American composer Chen Yi’s avant-garde composition Percussion Concerto and Chinese composer Wang Jianmin’s Erhu Rhapsody No. 6.

Gay, who began conducting at the age of 16, is also the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra’s associate conductor and 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.