Mervyn Peters

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Mervyn's involvement and experience in musical theatre is as varied as it is extensive - ranging from Producer, Director, Musical Director, Conductor, Chorus Master, Stage Manager, Lighting Designer, Technical Director to Actor.

From as far back as 1962 he was a member of a skiffle band at his college, the Maktab Sultan Abdul Hamid, in Alor Setar. After moving to Kuala Lumpur in 1963 he joined Pos Malaysia in 1964 and kept his interest in music by singing in the St. Francis Xavier Church choir and was eventually appointed Choirmaster from 1972 to 1976. That was the start of his serious interest in music and in particular working with choirs or choruses.

The mid-1970s also saw his interest in theatre develop with chorus roles in Die Fledermaus (1975) and The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1976) and principal roles in Cinderella (1976); The Boyfriend (1977); and Hello, Dolly! (1982) with The Philharmonic Society of Selangor. Oddly enough his debut as Musical Director was in Camelot (1977) for the Malaysian Drama Council.

Having joined The Philharmonic Society of Selangor in 1976, he conducted almost all of the Society’s choral concerts at Easter and Christmas until 1990. Whilst his pet project was producing concerts for upcoming young musicians, his involvement in other productions were mostly as Producer and Musical Director/Conductor: Amahl and the Night Visitors (1979, 1989); Oklahoma! (1980), Macbeth-A Musical Revue, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1984); Guys and Dolls (1987); The Mikado (1989); and the World Premiere of Stand and Deliver written by a British duo, lyricist Wilfred Harrison with music by Stuart Barham (1990).

His also got involved with other theatrical societies in the late 1970s and 1980s in productions such as The Fantasticks; Anna Karenina; An Inspector Calls; The Importance of Being Earnest; Plaza Suite; Macbeth; The Teahouse of the August Moon to name a few.

In 1981 attended a six-week summer workshop for conductors in Nice, France. In 1986 returning from a four-month Director’s course with the British Theatre Association at Regent’s College, London, he focused on the technical aspects of theatre, mainly in Lighting Design and Technical Direction, the latter in a number of foreign concerts by The New York Metropolitan Opera staged by Sime Darby Bhd and ballets: The Scottish Ballet; The Sadlers Wells Ballet; The Royal Danish Ballet all brought in by their respective embassies; and musicals from the US staged by The STAR Publications: My Fair Lady; The Sound of Music; Oliver and Peter Pan – all the productions in the 1990s.

He was Resident Conductor with the Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra (1986 – 1991) – then an orchestra for young musicians which performed suitably arranged classical works. From 1991 to 1994, among other productions, he lit the Calvary Church’s Singing Christmas Tree concerts at Stadium Negara.

Retiring from Pos Malaysia in January 1997, he joined The Actors Studio at Dataran Merdeka as their General Manager/Technical Director. He also lit their major productions of Antigone; As Is; A Streetcar Named Desire; Philadelphia, Here I Come!; Savages; The Scorpion Orchid and The Trees.

He was appointed Orchestra Personnel Manager with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra from June 1999 till December 2010. Touring with the MPO included concerts in Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Singapore, Seoul, Taiwan and several cities in Australia, Japan, South Korea and China. He worked with Music Directors Kees Bakels, Matthias Bamert and C. P Flor on these tours and also with some of the best visiting guest conductors in the world.

In 2008, he won the Boh Cameronian Arts Award as Best Musical Director for Ismail – The Last Days staged by The Actor Studio.

After twenty-eight years, he returned as Guest Conductor for The Philharmonic Society of Selangor’s Songs for the Season: Starry Starry Christmas in 2018 and Song For The Season – Peace On Earth in 2022. His last production with The Phil was Music from the Musicals and Movies their 65th Anniversary in July 2023.

Now it is ‘full circle’ forty-eight years later conducting once again for the St. Francis Xavier Church, Petaling Jaya. This Christmas Cantata - John W Peterson’s King of Kings is scheduled for 21st and 22nd December 2024 at Loyola Hall.