National Youth Winds

Founded in 2009 with the mission of celebrating youth talent and fostering musical excellence, the National Youth Winds (NYW) was re-established in 2024 with renewed vigour and purpose. Presented by the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band, the NYW aims to identify and nurture talented Singaporean musicians aged 15-25. Members are provided with opportunities to learn from and perform alongside musician-mentors from the SAF Central Band.

In collaboration with the Band Directors Association (Singapore), the NYW gave their debut performance at the Festival Winds Gala Concert on 15 December 2024 at the School of the Arts Concert Hall. They presented a well-rounded programme that included Eric Whitacre’s melancholic October and Philip Sparke’s virtuosic The Year of the Dragon.

The combined clarinet sections of the NYW and the SAF Central Band then performed on 1 February 2025 at the Esplanade Concourse. As part of Band Weekend, they played familiar tunes from jazz, ballet, and musical theatre classics transcribed for the rich sonorities of the instrument. The ensemble also took the opportunity to feature local arrangers and composers, highlighting their contributions to classical music in Singapore. The local composer featured in this programme was Germaine Goh, who was commissioned to write a suite of folk songs for clarinet octet.

Most recently, the NYW was honoured to be invited to perform at the Asia and Pacific Band Directors’ Association Gala Concert held at the Esplanade Concert Hall on 26 August 2025, under the direction of renowned composer Yasuhide Ito.

The National Youth Winds is a premier collaboration between the Band Directors’ Association (Singapore) and the Singapore Armed Forces Band.