Meet Jason Lim | Artistic Director and Conductor of the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra and the Greater North Texas Youth Orchestra.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Lim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?

Many years ago, I was approached by an agent who wanted to represent me. I asked him why he wanted to and he responded that I had good pictures and on my website looked good. I was taken aback because he wanted to represent me not for my talent as a conductor but for the image. That interaction was eye-opening but it also confirmed all my observations about the industry all along.

Orchestras around the world are struggling to gain younger audiences and many face closures and budget cuts because they cannot sustain themselves while they charge an exorbitant amount in admission prices.

When I began my tenure with the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra, I recognized the need for an orchestra to have a strong relationship with its community, and for that to succeed, first and foremost, its conductor needs to be present, I implemented a Community-based mission; with one of its core values focusing heavily on education which is why I created the Greater North Texas Youth Orchestra. Since the formation of the youth orchestra, I have been very involved with the development of our youth orchestra and also conduct the Young Artist Orchestra which is the top-level orchestra for the Greater North Texas Youth Orchestra.

The success of the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra is also due to my involvement with the members of the orchestra. Some of them have taken on the leadership role in helping me build the youth orchestra and have been very involved in training our young students to excel as an instrumentalist and orchestral musicians. I also take a personal interest in them, recognizing what they do best and giving them the opportunities to shine. All our musicians are incredibly gifted and some of them, have other special talents, playing musical genres from various traditions. I create opportunities for them and try to involve them in more meaningful ways. I also do my utmost to encourage them to be of a “Community mindset” individual so we can show our community that musically talented and gifted people care about their community. It can be challenging because the music industry is a “me” driven profession and musicians are not trained to engage with the community. Today I am so proud of the several musicians in the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra who have been instrumental in helping me build the orchestra into what it is today. These are truly unique individuals and I hope the orchestra will continue to grow with musicians like them.

Many of our patrons approached me telling me they keep coming back because they appreciate my humility. I think it is very important that we as musicians and artists recognize that we all have opportunities because of “community”. I make myself available to host small events like recitals and I serve our patrons coffee and snacks. Although I do not practice the viola as much, I sometimes bring out my viola to perform in small community events to get to know our community as well.
Orchestras survive through local arts grant programs, (which are funded by taxpayers), grants, donations, business sponsorships, and so on. Without the support from the local community, we will not have any orchestras. I will not have orchestras to conduct and musicians will not have orchestras to play with.

Throughout the 12-year history of the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra, our audience participation has steadily increased and grown every single year and slowly inching toward reaching its full potential. Today, the McKinney Philharmonic has a robust concert season, performing up to eight concerts and several free recitals while our youth orchestra has three-level ensembles performing up to 6 concerts. Our youth orchestra does some good community events, like performing chamber music recitals at assisted living home facilities and performing at city festivals like the Frisco Arts Walk and the McKinney Asian Festival.

One of the most rewarding moments is receiving many messages from our patrons, saying “We just went to another concert by another orchestra and we enjoyed coming to the McKinney Philharmonic Concerts”. This makes me extremely proud of my achievements in a short period and I can only be excited about the future of the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra and the Greater North Texas Youth Orchestra.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

When I was 12 I saw a video of Simon Rattle conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and I was enamoured by his style. I wanted to be a conductor then and watched his video hundreds of times. This dream did not seem possible for a young boy living in Malaysia behind a shophouse. We had a piano in the bedroom where I shared the room with my two siblings. My mom would wake me up at 5 every morning to practice the piano and I made breakfast for my siblings after I was done practicing.

My mom used to call Malaysia a cultural desert because there weren’t any professional orchestras to listen to and attend concerts but she took me to the few that were available. I remember that we received a subscription to Reader’s Digest every month and sometimes they had features of classical musicians and their life stories. None of them were about people who came from a similar background than I did. They were either child prodigies or came from privileged backgrounds and had every opportunity and access to succeed in the classical music world. We could not afford music lessons and my uncle helped pay for them. My grandmother bought me a viola that cost RM $1500 many years ago and I still use that same viola today. I remember when someone asked me “Hey Jason, I heard your wish to be a conductor”, I often deny with embarrassment because I felt this was a dream that was not attainable for someone like myself. Today, I recognize and acknowledge myself as a conductor. Furthermore, growing up in Malaysia where a System of the majority racial preference exists, makes it rather difficult for a minority like myself to gain any recognition. Many minorities who study abroad never return home, including musicians.

At the end of my senior in high school, my mom saw an ad in the newspaper that the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts would be visiting Penang and was conducting auditions for new students. My mom encouraged me to try out. I knew I did not have the technical faculty or any proficiency in the viola then, but I decided to skip school for several weeks to practice. With a lot of luck, I did gain admission to the school with a scholarship.

When I got there I had to start from scratch and practice scales for 6 months. I was not allowed to play in the orchestra or play in any ensembles. I spent the next few years catching up. Because I was a very hard-working student, my professor asked me to follow her back to Australia when she had completed her contract and I continued my musical education with her. I spent 5 years in Australia before moving to the States to study at the University of North Texas.

When I was searching to continue my music education in the States, I could not afford to travel to the States to do live auditions but was so lucky and fortunate to be accepted by the University of North Texas with a taped audition where I started my Master’s degree in viola performance. When I arrived, my siblings and I came with $1500 (US$500) each, a gift from our uncle. He told us, that’s all we are getting and the rest is up to us. The immigration system at the time prohibited international students from working for the first 9 months so we lived on ramen and ham sandwiches for several years. My sister was awarded a Teaching Assistant and she was able to help and make ends meet. We had an apartment with no furniture and only had cheap mattresses to sleep on.

My siblings and I put ourselves through school and worked several jobs to pay for school and rent. I stayed back during the summers to work and sometimes sent home money when my parents were in need while our friends and roommates traveled around the world and country attending music festivals.

I later joined the conducting program at the University of North Texas and when I graduated, I quit conducting for several years because my time as a conducting student was not the best experience – I had a professor who did not have much interest in helping me. It was a struggle to ask for podium time and often begged for even a few minutes here and there. Sometimes I went around the school asking the other programs if they would have conducting opportunities. On occasion, I would put together an orchestra with my friends and organize my little concerts.

Dr, Thomas Clack who was the associate dean at the time, and Dr. Joseph Klein, the composition professor created a position for me to lead the NOVA ensemble. The program had seen better days back then and it was an opportunity for me to revive the program. Today the NOVA ensemble is an essential program of the composition department. Till today, I have felt a great sense of gratitude towards Dr. Clark and Dr, Klein. They believed in me when others did not.

Today, I am known as an orchestra builder. Helping groups build from scratch and taking organizations to new heights. I learned to navigate and manage orchestras with limited funding preparing and programming concert seasons with limited rehearsals. I also quickly learn to fundraise and write grants. Today, I volunteer my time and talent to help new organizations take off.

For many years, I tried to pursue and chase my dreams as a conductor. Still, I realize more so that the more successful the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra and the Greater North Texas Youth Orchestra become, it is vital that I stay committed to helping it reach its full potential.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I need to recognize that I did not make it to where I am alone. I did not do it myself. My parents made sacrifices, my grandmother bought me my viola and my uncle helped pay for my music lessons when I was growing up. Music professors, I have met helped me not only grow as a musician but helped me through hard times. Dr. Dubois, helped me pay for a telephone bill once when I was not able to pay it.

There are many individuals I am grateful for. but Annie Royer in McKinney who is the Director of the Arts and Music Guild has the biggest impact on my success as a conductor and helped support the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra when it got started there. Her unwavering support gives me hope every year, and when times get challenging. she is always there to let me know I will always have her support.

Of course, I cannot forget Dr. Thomas Clark and Dr. Joseph Klein from UNT who believed in my ability as a conductor and created opportunities for me when I could not get any form of the conducting program I was in.

Website: www.jasonlim-conductor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conductor.jasonlim

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi0U8wC891doFar97OjzMxQ