Lam, who is director of orchestral studies at the Tianjin Juilliard School and resident conductor of the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra, stresses a sense of togetherness.

"It has been such a pleasure working with students from so many different conservatories and music schools. All of them are fantastic players but of course, we had to find a way to work together for our concert, and that means being flexible, working toward unifying our musical ideas, finding ways to match and blend, and listening to and learning from one another.

"Bringing together a 'festival orchestra' in a few short rehearsals is never easy and requires a lot of give-and-take on everyone's part, but I hope we have found the process to be stimulating and productive."