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.

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.

Since its inception 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, the wind symphony’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.

From its humble beginnings as a military band, NUSWS has since grown from strength to strength, playing works of increasing depth and sophistication. 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. In recent years, the wind symphony has successfully premiered several critically acclaimed works, such as Rhythms and Rhapsodies composed by local talent Iskandar Ismail, and the local premiere of renowned Dutch composer, Johan de Meij’s Symphony No. 3: Planet Earth.

NUSWS has continuously been challenging itself, actively participating in several music festivals and competitions overseas. Its most recent achievements include clinching the Gold Award (Division 2) at the renowned World Music Contest (Kerkrade, The Netherlands) in 2017.

As one of the pioneering bands in Singapore, NUSWS will continue to serve as a leader in the wind band community through creating innovative programmes and cultivating advocates for wind band music.