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Tutor's Bio
Iskandar Ismail
Music Director
Iskandar Ismail is an accomplished musician, a much sought-after composer, producer, music arranger, music director, conductor and orchestra conductor. He has composed and arranged music for local and foreign stars of leading record companies, including Dick Lee, Jimmy Ye, Jacintha Abishergenaden, Andy Lau, Sandy Lam and Aaron Kwok.
As Singapore's leading music arranger, he has composed and arranged for the Singapore National Day Parade since 1988 and worked as Music Director/Composer on the first WTO Show in 1966. Iskandar's theatre credits include creating orchestral arrangements for a number of Singapore musicals such as Kampong Amber (1994), Big Bang (1995), Mortal Sins (1995), Sing To The Dawn (1996), Hot Pants (1997) and Twist of Fate (1997 and 1998).
Iskandar has been involved in various international collaborations, conducting the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Malaysia's Istana Budaya Orchestra, Xiamen's Song & Dance Theatre Orchestra, and the National Opera & Ballet of China Orchestra which accompanied famous American Jazz vocal group, Manhattan Transfer, in the opening segment for A Nation Connects '97. He has also created orchestral arrangements for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra for major concert events including SSO Goes Pop (2000), featuring Singapore talent Mavis Hee and Tanya Chua.
Iskandar is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, where he was awarded the John Lewis Jazz Masters Award in 1979. In 2003, he received The SPH Achiever of the Year Award 2003 for his contributions towards the arts. In 2004, he was the Music Director for the National Day 2004, Singapore Idol and Dick Lee's 30th Anniversary Show held at the Kallang Theatre.
In March 2005, Iskandar was appointed Music Composer/Consultant for Singapore Season at the Gala Dinner in London. Iskandar was also Music Conductor/Orchestra conductor for Action Theatre's Admiral's Odyssey in July and Music Composer/Director for Amoy, Amoy, Amoy - a dance musical performed in Xiamen, China, in collaboration with the performers from Xiamen's Arts and Theatre in August.
Some of Iskandar's most recent projects are the May 2006 are the May 2006 NUS Centennial musical, Man of Letters (Music Director, Arranger and Conductor) and Generation/s in Tokyo as part of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Singapore and Japan (Composer and Music Director). In 2008, Iskandar was awarded The Cultural Medallion (Music Category).
