In Conversation With
A 22Muse Media series

A conversation with Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi, Former Music Director & Chief Conductor, National Symphony Orchestra

Words by Adinazeti Adnan
Photography: Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi

I was nineteen when I first walked into Istana Budaya.

Not as an audience member, but as an intern with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). Istana Budaya, the National Theatre, wasn't just a building. It was Malaysia's answer to the great opera houses of Europe, a RM210 million architectural statement that opened in 1999, declaring that Southeast Asia deserved world-class stages for world-class performances. The main theatre seats 1,412, with acoustics designed for everything from grand opera to full symphony. The stage itself was engineered to accommodate the technical demands of international touring productions. Walking into that space for the first time felt like stepping into a different country altogether, especially at my raw nineteen, one where art wasn't an afterthought, but a priority.

And there, in the center of it all, was Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi.

He wasn't just conducting an orchestra. He was building one. Shaping one. Willing one into existence against odds I didn't yet understand. I was just a young violinist trying to keep up, trying to learn, trying not to disappoint. But what I witnessed over those years wasn't just music-making, it was nation-building through sound.

Decades later, I was greeted warmly by Datuk Mus at his home. We meet again, not in the rehearsal halls of Istana Budaya, but in this quiet sanctuary - a serene modern space where floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of lush greenery, carefully tended plants cascade from elegant pots, and the air is punctuated by the cheerful chirping of his beloved birds.

The roles have shifted, student to interviewer, but the respect remains. What follows is a conversation about legacy, sacrifice, and what it means to build something that outlasts applause.

This isn't just an interview. It's a reckoning with history. And it starts where all great stories do: at the very beginning.

Istana Budaya known as National Theatre located at Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
Built in 1999, it features world-class stage infrastructure with engineered technology in cluding a movable orchestra pit, designed to accomodate large-scale productions such as ballet, musicals, and Broadway shows.

When There Was Nothing But Vision

"People forget," Datuk Mustafa begins, his voice carrying the weight of someone who lived through what most only read about. "In 1993, there was no National Symphony Orchestra. Not really. We were a project. Twelve to fourteen musicians. No conductor. Just guest conductors and a dream that felt impossible."

He was thirty-three when he became concertmaster, far too young for such responsibility, by world orchestra standards. But tradition had no place in what they were attempting. Malaysia didn't have a conservatoire. Most Malaysian musicians at the time were trained through ABRSM examinations, exam-level playing, not performance-level artistry.

"Suddenly, we had to play symphonies," he says, shaking his head at the audacity of it all. "Many musicians had never played in an orchestra before. They were starting from the National Symphony Orchestra itself. Can you imagine?"

I can. Because I saw the tail end of that struggle. I saw musicians who had learned to sight-read under pressure, to listen across sections, to transform themselves from soloists into a collective. What I didn't know then was how much of that transformation was Datuk Mustafa's doing.

"As concertmaster, I carried responsibilities I wasn't prepared for," he admits. "I had to study constantly. Practising wasn't enough. I had to understand the philosophy of music, how composers think, how to develop musicians who had talent but no formal training. I read everything I could. I recruited local Japanese expatriates, engineers, architects who happened to play violin. We invited guest musicians from Singapore, Japan, Thailand. We didn't have an oboe player at one point. Every programme required guest musicians just to fill the sections."

It was more than pioneering. It was cultural alchemy.

"We were starting a culture that didn't exist here," he reflects. "Western classical music performed at a professional level was so foreign to Malaysia. But when we soft-launched in May 1993 at Tun Hussein Onn Memorial, the 700-seat hall was full. I remember being afraid no one would come. But they did."

We started a culture that didn't exist here.
- Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi

The official launch came on August 28, 1993, at the Putra World Trade Centre, under the directive of Minister Sabaruddin Chik from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (now under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture). It was a political statement as much as a cultural one: Malaysia had arrived.

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer with National Symphony Orchestra Malaysia.

Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia under conductor Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi.

Soloists Mayya Musaeva (violin) and Datin Veronika Thoene (viola) at Istana Budaya, 2005.

The Making of a Conductor

In 1997, Datuk Mustafa did something that stunned everyone. He left his position as concertmaster, an established, respected role, to study conducting in the Netherlands.

"It wasn't my decision alone," he clarifies. "I received a cultural grant from the Ministry of Culture and Sports. It was part of the Malaysia government's vision. The National Cultural Policy of 1971 outlined this: Malaysia must have a national theatre. Malaysia must have a national symphony orchestra. And that orchestra must have its own conductor. The ministry was moulding me for that role."

By the time he returned in 1999, Istana Budaya had already opened. The NSO had a permanent home. And Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi had become the orchestra's Music Director and Chief Conductor, a position he would hold for the next 21 years.

"Dr. Ota Takahisa from Japan designed a training programme for the orchestra," he recalls. "We had no direct mentorship from abroad, but we had structure. We had discipline. And we had the belief that Malaysian musicians could perform at the top level, just like athletes. You train, you drill, you push beyond what you think is possible."

This philosophy would become his hallmark: excellence through rigour, not compromise.

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi as the first leader to hold the baton of National Symphony Orchestra (NSO ) Malaysia.

Between Two Worlds: Classical Rigour Meets Popular Culture

For years, the NSO performed both high art and popular concerts, Puccini's Tosca alongside collaborations with Siti Nurhaliza and Yuna. I ask him how he navigated between these worlds.

"Classical music has structure," he explains. "The score exists. The conductor score exists. There are hundreds of recordings to study. You know what you're getting into."

He pauses, choosing his words carefully.

"Pop music in Malaysia? There's often no proper score. Our artists aren't trained to read notation. Many are gifted, truly gifted, with incredible musicality and feel. But technically, there's a gap. It was a clash of cultures, orchestra musicians trained in precision, pop artists trained in instinct. But over time, he notes, things improved.

"The younger generation of Malaysian artists now take music courses. They work with keyboardists who understand arrangement. They come prepared. The early days were challenging because the orchestra had to accommodate artists who weren't used to the formality, the punctuality, the structure. But I learned so much from them too, especially when I conducted Tosca Opera. I felt like I was in music college again, learning from the acting director. He had memorised the entire opera, every scene, every dialogue. That level of dedication reminded me why I do this."

He smiles, remembering. "I used to be very strict about timing. Orchestra starts at 10am, but musicians must be seated by 9:30am. Even the rock musicians who performed with us eventually learned: when En. Mus conducts, come early. I didn't care if you were a star. Standards are standards."

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer conducting the NSO with guzheng soloist from China - a Malaysia- China cultural exchange supported by both embassies

Traditional Malay joget music reimagined for orchestra.

Joget, a fast-paced traditional dance form Joget originally performed with violin, gong and drums, here transformed through classic orchestral arrangement under conductor Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi.

The Funding Wars and the Cost of Excellence

For all its prestige, the NSO faced brutal funding constraints throughout Dato' Mustafa's tenure. I ask him what he refused to compromise on.

"My vision," he says immediately. "We had to minimize our concert schedule because of budget cuts. Once a month wasn't enough to develop musicians properly. But I refused to lower the quality of what we performed."

His strategy became one of calculated sacrifice: save money throughout the year to afford the big programmes, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with 80 musicians and a full choir, flying in guest musicians from Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan to fill missing sections.

"I wanted every NSO musician to be able to play everything, from Baroque to Tchaikovsky to Bela Bartok. I found that the more you challenge musicians, the better they become. We had to use minimum budget for maximum results. But we never played mediocre music just to save money."

He also pioneered fundraising efforts outside government coffers, establishing Kamerata Kuala Lumpur, a chamber ensemble, and helping register Yayasan Seni to create alternative revenue streams. The International Piano Festival from 2000 to 2004 became a cultural landmark, bringing world-class pianists to perform with the NSO at a time when such events were rare in Southeast Asia.

But it was never easy.

"Malaysia has a culture of freebies," he says, his frustration still palpable years later. "Shopping malls offer free concerts. Museums in Kuala Lumpur are free. Everything is subsidized. Then we try to sell tickets to a symphony, and people balk. They don't value culture the way Europeans do. Questioning about why Serunai performances would cost RM100, why not just RM20. But Malaysians aren't educated to pay for art."

It's a challenging systemic issue, he argues, rooted in education, or the lack thereof.

"Art education should start in schools, in communities. Without that foundation, you can't build an audience that understands the value of what we do."

The Serunai, a ceremonial double-reed instrument traditionally played at Malay royal courts and festive occasions.
Photo : motac.gov.my

The Teacher Who Shapes Futures

Beyond conducting, Datuk Mustafa has trained countless violinists, many of whom now perform in major orchestras across Asia and beyond. He co-founded Kamerata Kuala Lumpur, mentored musicians at Universities, and shaped the Bandaraya Orchestra, where half the members are his former students.

I ask him what separates a great teacher from a great performer.

"A good teacher is often a great performer," he says. "But not every great performer knows how to teach. Teaching requires the ability to transform a student, not just technically, but philosophically. You must understand how composers think, how to shape phrasing, how to teach color and style. It's very objective work, but also deeply subjective."

He pauses, reflecting.

"There's a difference between preparing students for exams versus preparing them for performance. Many Malaysian music students are trained for ABRSM exams, but they've never played in an ensemble. That's a critical gap. If you want to be a real musician, you must play in orchestras, chamber groups, youth ensembles, not for money, but for development. Sight-reading, listening, adjusting to others in real-time, that's how you grow."

His students, he notes with quiet pride, carry this philosophy forward. They arrive early to rehearsals. They prepare thoroughly. They understand discipline as a form of respect, for the music, for the ensemble, for the audience.

"That's what I tried to instill in the NSO. By 9:30am, 100% of musicians were seated, ready to begin. Even when they performed with other orchestras, NSO musicians were always the first to arrive. That's the culture we built."

Two Orchestras, Two Destinies

Malaysia has two major orchestras: the National Symphony Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). I ask Datuk Mustafa how he sees their roles in the cultural landscape.

"MPO is under Petronas," he states plainly. "You can't compare them financially. They can hire foreigners, pay competitive international salaries. NSO never had that luxury."

But he believes this disparity also defines their different purposes.

"MPO performs more symphony concerts, that's their strength. But NSO should cater to theatre: musicals, opera, ballet, dance. Istana Budaya is the only venue in Malaysia with a proper orchestra pit and the technical infrastructure for large-scale theatrical productions. We performed Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, worked with international conductors and ballet companies. That's where NSO should lead."

He also envisions NSO as a champion of Malaysian composers.

"We should commission new works, symphonic arrangements of traditional Malay music, contemporary compositions that reflect our identity. But commissioning costs money. So instead, NSO has to sell the hall by playing pieces people already love, family-friendly programmes, popular classics."

It's a tension he knows well: the balance between artistic ambition and financial survival.

"Both orchestras can thrive if we understand our distinct roles. But without proper funding, without government support that matches the rhetoric about culture, we're always fighting uphill."

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi with his wife Datin Veronica Thöne at Istana Negara during the national honours ceremony where he received the Panglima Mangku Wilayah (PMW) in 2018.
Photo : Dato Fauziah Nawi from X

Life After NSO: Watching from Outside the Aquarium

Datuk Mustafa retired from the NSO in 2020 after 27 years, since the orchestra's very inception. I ask him what it feels like now, watching from the outside.

"It's bittersweet," he admits. "I feel like I'm looking at an aquarium. I wish the NSO well. I hope the people leading it now understand the struggles we went through to build it, the discipline, the training, the sacrifices."

He remains fiercely proud of what the orchestra became under his leadership.

"By Lambang Sari rehearsals, musicians were seated by 9am. By 9:25am, we were at 100% attendance. By 9:30am, we started, precisely. That level of discipline took years to instill. At the beginning in 1993, it was chaos. But we trained them. And now, even when NSO musicians perform elsewhere, they're known as the most disciplined, the most prepared. That's the legacy."

Still, he remains critical of the broader cultural landscape.

"Malaysia struggles to value the arts in practice. The government says they support culture, but without proper funding, you can't run an orchestra. I used to be very vocal about it. Maybe too vocal. But someone has to say it: if you want world-class art, you have to invest in it, not just with words, but with money."

He believes the solution starts with education.

"Teach children about music, theatre, visual arts from a young age. Build audiences who understand why art matters. Otherwise, we'll always struggle to sell tickets, always fight for funding, always justify our existence."

Life after NSO : Datuk Mustafa Fuzer was invited to conduct a classical piece of Jazz Gershwin Piano Concerto in F ; a Classic to Jazz Festival.

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi at his retirement ceremony at Istana Budaya.
Photo : Istana Budaya Facebook

A Family Legacy in Concert: The Karl Thöne Festival

Next week, Datuk Mustafa will conduct a concert celebrating the 101st birthday of his late father-in-law, Karl Thöne, a composer born in Germany in 1924. The programme includes the world premiere of Thöne's Concertino for Cello, a work discovered only in recent years, performed with string orchestra and featuring German cellist Manuel Lipstein as soloist.

"Karl Thöne was supposed to come to our wedding in September 1993," Datuk Mustafa says softly. "But he passed away in November before he could make the trip. I never got to perform his music while he was alive. Now, more than thirty years later, we're finally giving his work the stage it deserves."

The concert is deeply personal, a reunion of family and music across generations and continents. Dato' Fauziah Nawi, Mustafa's sister, a Veteran Actress, Theatre Director & Arts Activist will serve as narrator, and musicians from Germany will join Malaysian performers in what promises to be a historic event.

"Karl Thöne's music isn't like Mozart or Tchaikovsky. It's intimate, intricate, distinctly his. And now, two cultures, German and Malaysian, will come together to honour his legacy. For our family, this is everything."

There are plans for a second programme featuring Thöne's chamber music, ensuring that the composer's voice, long silent, will finally be heard.

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer is conducting a masterclass on 13th October 2025 Monday at DBKL Rehearsal Studio. For tickets contact : +60122293963

Get the ticket here

PERMATA SENI MUZIK: Teaching the Next Generation

In retirement, Datuk Mustafa hasn't stopped working. He now dedicates himself to PERMATA SENI MUZIK, a programme focused on early childhood music education for gifted children.

"After decades at the professional level, why gifted children?" I ask.

He leans forward, eyes bright with the same passion I remember from my intern days.

"Because it's a blessing," he says. "To work with young minds who have natural talent, to shape them before bad habits form, before they learn the wrong way, that's a gift. These children are Malaysia's future. If we train them properly now, with the right philosophy, the right discipline, the right musicality, they'll become the next generation of performers, teachers, conductors."

He pauses, and I see the weight of his years in the NSO reflected in his next words.

"I spent 27 years building an orchestra from nothing. Now I want to build musicians from the very beginning. If we start early, with proper guidance, maybe the next generation won't have to struggle the way we did."

It's a circle closing: the concertmaster who became a conductor, now returning to the foundational work of teaching children. Not for glory. Not for applause. But because he believes, still, after everything, that music can transform lives, build culture, and define a nation.

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer conducting Mendelssohn, String Symphony No. 1 in C Major (1st and 3rd movement) with new generation of talented young orchestra musicians in Permata Seni Muzik. A special program for talented students under the government of Malaysia.

The Discipline That Built a Nation's Sound

As our conversation winds down, I find myself reflecting on what Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi represents. He's not just a conductor. He's a cultural architect. A pioneer who took a project orchestra of twelve musicians and built it into a 100-piece ensemble that performs Beethoven, Puccini, and Malaysian contemporary works with equal command. A teacher who shaped a generation of violinists. A man who refused to compromise on excellence even when funding, culture, and circumstance conspired against him.

But perhaps most profoundly, he's a reminder that nation-building isn't always loud. Sometimes, it happens in the quiet discipline of showing up at 9:25am. In the refusal to accept mediocrity. In the belief that Malaysians deserve world-class art, even if the world, and sometimes Malaysia itself, doesn't yet understand why it matters.

The NSO exists because Datuk Mustafa and others like him willed it into being. Istana Budaya has a legacy because someone cared enough to train musicians how to sit, listen, and play together. Malaysia has a symphonic tradition because pioneers refused to accept that such things were only for other countries.

And now, as he teaches gifted children and conducts his father-in-law's compositions, Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi continues to build, one note, one student, one concert at a time.

That nineteen-year-old intern? She's watching still. And finally, she understands what she witnessed all those years ago: not just music, but the making of history.

Karl Thöne Festival Orchestra Concert

Celebrating the 101st Birthday of Karl Thöne (1924-1993)
Featuring: World Premiere of Concertino for Cello with Manuel Lipstein, soloist
Conducted by: Dato' Mustafa Fuzer Nawi, AMN, PMW
Narrated by: Dato' Fauziah Nawi

For concert details and tickets: Click Here

Scan for the ticket to world premiere Karl Thone 101 years

Why This Matters:

Datuk Mustafa Fuzer Nawi isn't just a conductor, he's a cultural historian, a nation-builder, and a living bridge between Malaysia's artistic past and future. In a country still learning to value its artists, he represents the uncompromising standard that transforms potential into legacy. This conversation isn't just about music. It's about what it costs to build something meaningful in a world that doesn't always reward the builders.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Interview conducted October 9, 2025, at Dato Mustafa Fuzer residence where he lived with his wife Datin Veronica Thöne, also a symphony orchestra violist.

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