After thirteen months of silence, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra steps back onto the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas stage — and conductor Naohisa Furusawa says he will never forget the sound of applause filling the hall again.
For thirteen months, the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas stood in silence. The Covid-19 pandemic had done what no force in the MPO's 23-year history had managed — emptied the hall, suspended the season, and sent one of Asia's finest orchestras into an uncertain limbo. When conductor Naohisa Furusawa walked onto the DFP stage on April 17, 2021, for the Strauss: A New World concert, the audience's response told him everything he needed to know.
"The most memorable thing was the applause," Furusawa said afterward. "I will never forget hearing the audience's applause resounding throughout the hall for the first time in 13 months."
I will never forget hearing the audience's applause resounding throughout the hall for the first time in 13 months.
— Naohisa Furusawa, MPO Resident ConductorThe return was not without its constraints. The MPO implemented a full range of health and safety protocols, including socially distanced seating and regular sanitisation of all facilities before and after each concert. Audience numbers were limited. But the music was live, the orchestra was in the hall, and the hall was open — and for a city that had been deprived of its classical music anchor for over a year, that was more than enough.
The opening concert of the MPO's live return was an all-Sibelius programme titled Finlandia!, followed rapidly by subsequent offerings across April and May. In the days before the first public concert, the MPO had quietly tested the waters with a private chamber music concert featuring MPO ensemble members, presenting works by Hindemith, Beethoven, and contemporary composers including Tilburg and Thomas. The private event confirmed what the management hoped: the hall still worked, the musicians still played, and the audience was ready.
The reopening in April 2021 coincided with the appointment of German conductor Jun Märkl as MPO Music Director — a landmark announcement made in December 2020 that promised a new chapter for the orchestra. Though the pandemic complicated the early stages of that tenure, the momentum of the live return signalled that the MPO was ready to move forward. The Hari Raya concert on May 29 — a tribute to legendary Malaysian composer S. Atan featuring beloved local vocalists — was exactly the kind of programming that reminded audiences why the MPO matters beyond the classical canon: it is, at its best, the musical heartbeat of the city.
For ticket information and the full 2021 concert listing, visit mpo.com.my or call the DFP Box Office on 03-2331 7007.