Datuk Ooi Chean See

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Datuk Ooi Chean See (Chinese: please fill in) is among the few women in the classical music world to hold a major position as a conductor of an international orchestra after her appointment in 1997 as Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra ( MPO ). The MPO gave its inaugural concert in the newly built Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur in August 1998. She left the MPO in 2005.

[edit] Life

Born in Malaysia, Datuk Ooi started studying the piano at an early age of 5. In 1987, she studied conducting with Volker Wangenheim in Cologne where she graduated in 1991 with highest honours, and has since gained experience with Wolf-Deiter Hausschild, Heribert Beissel and Dennis Russell Davies.

[edit] Achievements

In 1991, she won First Prize at the International Conductors Competition in both Halle and Hamm and until 1994 held the position of First Conductor of the Classic Philharmonic Orchestra, Bonn. She has subsequently appeared as a guest conductor with other European orchestras, including the Beethovenhalle Orchestra Bonn, Bremen State Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle State Philharmonic Orchestra and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Datuk Ooi’s work as a conductor has taken her throughout most of Europe, South America and parts of South East Asia. She has held workshops in Malaysia, Germany, France and most recently with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in Manila followed by a tour of Korea and Malaysia.

Her appointment as Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra is the latest in a series of conducting engagements that have included concerts with the Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and Southwest German Chamber Orchestra; recent productions, in collaboration with the State Opera of Dresden, Germany, in Salvadore de Bahia, Brazil; guest conducting engagements with the Czech Virtuosi at the Easter Festival of Sacred Music in the Czech Republic; and a continuing series of concerts with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Datuk Ooi toured Slovenia recently with the Chur Coelnischer Choir Bonn, which won the World Choir Award under Datuk Ooi’s musical directorship. In 2008 Datuk Ooi has resigned from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra after having problems trying to increase her role beyond minor family and childrens events.

In recognition of her achievements, Datuk Ooi was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship in 2000 and visited the USA on the Fellowship Programme together with personalities selected from around the world for excellence in their profession and potential for advanced leadership. In April 2003, she was conferred the Federal Cross of Merits by the Federal Republic of Germany.