Music Director
Alvin Seville Arumugam
Alvin Arumugam is the Music Director of the Musicians’ Initiative (Singapore). His international engagements have resulted in notable appointments in the last 3 years including Music Director of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra. From 2005 to 2021, he also served as resident conductor at several award-winning wind orchestras in Singapore.
Alvin graduated with a masters degree in conducting from the Royal College of Music, London which has consistently ranked as the top conservatoire globally. During his time at the Royal College of Music, Alvin regularly conducts the college orchestra and has assisted visiting conductors such as Martyn Brabbins, Antonio Pappano, Jac Van Steen and Rafael Payare.
In 2016, he was one of two conductors selected to represent Singapore in the World Music Contest Conducting Masterclass and Competition to be held in 2017. As of 2017, he was appointed the Music Director of the Musicians’ Initiative which has developed into one of the leading orchestras with innovative and bold programming that continues to challenge the conventional music-loving public. In 2021, Alvin was appointed as the Music Director of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (SASO) by the former foreign secretary of India, Ambassador Nirupama Rao.
In 2023, Alvin was assistant conductor to Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra for its World Premiere of Iain Bell’s Beowulf. Alvin was the assistant to Toby Purser, Head of Conducting (Royal College of Music) for the 2022 production of Cosi Fan Tutte at the Vienna Opera Academy. In 2018 and 2019, he conducted the Musicians’ Initiative in its collaboration with The Opera People in staging Il Re Pastore and Der Zwerg respectively. Alvin made his debut as assistant conductor to Darrell Ang with Manila Symphony Orchestra in its 2015 production of La Cenerentola. Additionally, he has collaborated with outstanding artists such as Kanon Matsuda (Deutsche Grammophon) and Neil Varon (Eastman School of Music).