DBKL Hits the Right Notes

ANN MARIE CHANDY | 26 June 2025

The Kuala Lumpur Orchestra Festival 2025 featured more than 30 events this month, including public concerts and school showcases.

OVER the past two years, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has quietly orchestrated something transformative – using orchestral music as a powerful tool for community engagement, international exchange, youth development, and music tourism. The Kuala Lumpur Orchestra Festival (of Festival Orkestra Kuala Lumpur in Bahasa Melayu – FOKL), now in its second year, has grown from a four-day pilot in 2024 to a month-long cultural movement across the capital in June 2025. It is, in many ways, DBKL’s most harmonious contribution yet to the city’s creative and cultural economy.

“We started small last year just to test the waters,” says Dr. Isabella Pek, Head of Music at DBKL and Festival Director of FOKL. “And it worked better than we expected – every show sold out. This year, we wanted to go deeper and broader, to not just entertain, but to build capacity, promote inclusivity and give our young orchestras the platforms they deserve.”

From Performance to Policy

The 2025 edition of FOKL features more than 30 events throughout June, including public concerts, workshops, school showcases, and a flagship two-day forum on orchestral development. According to the FOKL 2025 Booklet, the festival brings together stakeholders across South-East Asia to address themes of sustainability, diversity and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Held at the historic Mayor’s Courtyard at Jalan Tangsi, the Kuala Lumpur Orchestra Festival Forum (June 3-4) marked a high point in DBKL’s commitment to thought leadership. Industry voices from Japan, Thailand, China and Malaysia discussed the future of orchestral ecosystems, sharing models of success and best practices. “We had real people from the industry – leaders from professional orchestras, educators, and cultural policymakers,” Pek says. “The quality of discussion was very good.”

Speakers included Masaki Mochizuki of the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras, and Jiang Taihang, a well-known orchestral reviewer from Beijing. More importantly, the forum fostered new networks between local youth orchestras and seasoned institutions like the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, paving the way for mentorship and future collaboration.

A two-day flagship forum brought together local youth orchestras and established institutions, sparking new connections in orchestral development.

Numbers that Matter

Quantifying DBKL’s role goes beyond audience numbers. This year’s festival engaged over 1,500 performers from six countries – Thailand, China, the Philippines, Japan, Croatia and Germany – making it a special international orchestral gathering hosted in KL.

Musicians from abroad often travelled with their families and chaperones, fulfilling DBKL’s KPI for “music tourism.” “One Chinese youth orchestra brought 50 musicians and another 50 chaperones,” Pek shares. “They toured Putrajaya, ate durian, and spent on local food and services. That’s real cultural exchange and economic impact.”

Local participation was no less significant. Nine schools and ten student orchestras performed. DBKL even bussed in 240 students for one afternoon showcase. “Orchestra management, to us, includes logistics, hosting, education and making sure everyone gets the experience,” Pek adds.

Dr. Isabella Pek, Head of Music at DBKL and Festival Director of FOKL: “This year, we wanted to go deeper and broader, to build capacity, promote inclusivity and give our young orchestras the platforms they deserve.”

Rich Tapestry of Sound

This year’s programme featured everything from flute ensembles to opera, percussion orchestras to youth wind bands. Standouts included:

Music For Sight, a charity concert supporting the Malaysian Association for the Blind, which paired Croatian Eurovision singers with community orchestras;
Colours of Passion, a performance led by Thai National Artist Maestro Somtow Sucharitkul;
A fully Filipino repertoire by the University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra in honour of Philippine Independence Day;

And the BOMB concert – what promises to be a thrilling cross-cultural percussion showcase, featuring marimba virtuoso Pei-Ching Wu and the high-energy Seremban Chung Hwa 24 Festive Drums Team.

Inclusivity wasn’t just a theme; it was embedded in the festival’s DNA. “I always ask guest orchestras to conduct workshops,” says Pek. “This is about capacity building – not just performance.” The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra even mentored KL’s own youth orchestra, KLYO, in sectional rehearsals and full ensemble sessions, free of charge.

Curated, Not Random

Though the festival programme may seem eclectic, it is far from haphazard. “It might look arbitrary,” Pek admits, “but it’s deeply curated. We try to cover multiple genres, age groups, and cultural contexts. Everyone from the Clap & Tap community orchestra to PJ Philharmonic to Sadhana Indian Music Centre had a role to play.”

DBKL has also worked hard to meet partner needs, navigating challenges such as coordinating orchestras of varying capabilities, handling last-minute cancellations due to budget cuts, and even dealing with a missing passport.

Conductor Behind the Scenes

Planning for FOKL 2025 began as early as January, Pek is quick to credit her team at DBKL: “They’ve worked day and night – even though this isn’t our core monthly duty. I just feel very grateful.”

That gratitude resonates with festival-goers and collaborators, who now see Kuala Lumpur as a serious node in the regional orchestral map. The Forum’s alignment with Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship underscores this leadership role.

As the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif (pic below), said in her welcome message: “This forum invites us to reflect, reimagine and reframe the role of orchestras in today’s society.”

More than just concerts, FOKL represents a blueprint for how the arts can be civic, sustainable and inclusive. It’s proof that a local government can drive cultural policy while also nurturing creativity at the grassroots.

As Pek aptly puts it: “It may not be what I envisioned at the beginning. But when you have Eurovision singers performing with our community orchestras, or Beijing youth playing under a Malaysian conductor – it’s magic. And it all happens right here in KL.”

With FOKL, DBKL is not just filling auditoriums. It’s filling the city with sound, soul and a vision of what public culture can be.

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