Dr Steven Baxter

Founding Director of Singapore's Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM), Dr Steven Baxter, passed away on 5 July 2010.

According to a tribute on the National University of Singapore's website:

'News of his passing was received with great sadness by those who knew Dr Baxter and who had worked with him at NUS. Building a conservatory from scratch in a country with no extensive history of classical music was a mammoth task and Dr Baxter came highly recommended as the man who could do the job. Under his leadership, the Conservatory grew dramatically from its first intake of over 70 students to a full school with 185 students in just a span of a few years. Operating initially from a two-storey interim building with no performance facilities of its own, the Singapore Conservatory of Music, which was renamed as the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in 2003, came to have its own iconic building on the NUS campus, complete with state-of-the-art facilities for teaching and performing music.'

Dr Baxter was YSTCM’s Director from 2002 to 2005, having previously been Dean of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, John Hopkins University. He was also one of the Board of Directors of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (2003 to 2004), member of the NUS Council (2002 to 2005) and member of Arts Education Council (2002-2005).

Sydney Conservatorium of Music

The success of UK music teaching scheme Musical Futures has spread to Australia where Dr Michael Webb of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music has introduced the scheme into the Conservatorium's initial teacher training programme. 

Musical Futures is being developed in Australia with part-funding from NAMM in California and education departments in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Download Dr Webb's report outlining the trial implementation of the Musical Futures' programme here.