Master's Tea with Mr Jason Lai

Jason Lai is Principal Conductor of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory at NUS and Associate Conductor with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. His career was launched after winning the BBC Young Conductors Workshop where he was appointed Assistant Conductor to the BBC Philharmonic. Since then he has conducted orchestras all over the world.

In addition to his conducting, Jason is also a broadcaster and has featured as presentor, mentor and judge on many programmes for TV including Maestro, Classical Star and The Culture Show for BBC 2. His most recent appearance was in Project Symphony for Mediacorp's Okto channel, where he set up a new orchestra made up of musicians from all walks of life, leading them in a concert after only 8 weeks of intense rehearsals.

His musical life started at the age of 10 when he took lessons on the cello. This led to an intense period in which he immersed himself in music and started also to play the piano and to compose. He was soon accepted into Chetham's, a school for talented Children in Manchester, UK. After graduating from Oxford University, he continued postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

Photography is a huge passion for Jason and he hopes to have his own exhibition soon.