Angkor Youth Orchestra
Ikeda Bonsamnag
Ram Daravong
Markus Gundermann
Anton Isselhardt
Mari Jinnai

Angkor Youth Orchestra

The ANGKOR YOUTH ORCHESTRA is established in 2007.
Conductor Rom Daravon and his wife Tep Kuntereth are teaching
sucsesfully - together wir other teachers from RUFA - this young musicians.
The ART+Foundation supports the initiative with the international music teacher network
The training methode is created by Shinichi Minami (Japan).

Ikeda Bonsamnag

Ikeda Bonsamnang got his first music education at the School of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh. He continued his studies at State Musical College/Ukraine and the Birmingham Conservatoire/England. In addition he studied at the Elizabeth University of Music, Japan and obtained a Master Degree. Ikeda Bonsamnang played first clarinet at the Asean-Japan Symphony Orchestra.

Ram Daravong

Ram Daravong studied at the Gnessin Musical College in Moscow (clarinet and conducting). Since decades he is the head of the orchestra team of Royal University of Fine Arts. Ram Daravong is also the technical team leader and conductor of the ANYO (Angkor Youth Orchestra)

Markus Gundermann

Markus Gundermann, concertmaster of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, was born in 1970 in Dresden, Germany.

Born into a music-loving family, Markus started early with musical education.
He was admitted at the Special School of Music Dresden, an institution for early professional music education and later he continued his studies at the college of music, Carl Maria von Weber.

During this time he already collaborated with the Staatsoper Dresden, and had been invited to lead a number of chamber opera productions. He founded a String quartet, and won several prices and awards participating in solo and chamber music competitions and festivals.

After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 he was able to meet and study with distinguished teachers like Igor Osim, Valery Klimov, Saschko Gawriloff, Ruggiero Ricci and Zakhar Bron - a time of intensive study and numerous Chamber music and solo performances throughout Europe.

1998 he joined the newly founded Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Concertmaster, in the following years performing together with internationally acclaimed musicians including Lorin Maazel, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sir Neville Marriner.

He is also regularly touring around the South East Asia region performing chamber music and holding master classes and work shops. Recent projects included Rangoon, Vientiane, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok. Markus Gundermann plays a modern Violin built by Sebastian Schneider-Marfels, Dresden, Germany

Anton Isselhardt

He served as a flutist at the State Philhamonic Orchestra, Rheinland Pfalz. These orchestral experiences, especially with renowned conductors like Sergiu Celibidache had a serious impact on his musical consciousness. Since 2003, he acts as program director of ARTplus Foundation. He is the founder and conductor of P.S.O. Phnom Penh String Orchestra.
Anton Isselhardt and plays a major role in improving the standards of Western Art Music in Cambodia.

Mari Jinnai

Mari Jinnai was born in Osaka, Japan, Mari received diploma in vocal study from the Tokyo College of Music and later studied at the l’Écôle Normale de Musique de Paris. She has given several solo concerts in Phnom Penh since 1997, and participated in the International Music Festival Phnom Penh and Yogjakarta. Recently in Japan, she sang at church concerts in Osaka and Tokyo.

Katia Michel

Swiss-Spanish pianist Katia Michel dazzles critics and audiences alike with her “great musicality and poetic elegance,” her "extremely communicative interpretation" as well as her " brilliant technique.” Since her debut at age 17 playing the second Rachmaninoff Concerto, she has performed extensively in Europe, the US and Central America, and in prestigious venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall, the Royal Dublin Society Concert Hall, Bonn's Beethoven Kammermusicsaall, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música and Auditori, Madrid’s Teatro Monumental and Sevilla’s Teatro de la Maestranza.
She has been featured as soloist with many orchestras, including the Swiss and Spanish Radio and Television Orchestras, the Böhmische Kammerphilharmonie, the Orchestre Régional de Cannes, the San Salvador Symphony, the Sinfónica del Vallès and the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla with conductors such us P. Bender, P. Béran, J. Mena, U. Munt and U. Schneider. Ms. Michel is a regular guest at festivals, including the Gstaad New Years Festival, the Antibes Génération Virtuoses, the Schubertiada de Vilabertrán, and the festivals of Suchitoto, Gijón, Blanes, and Sitges.
Beginning with her first award at age 7 in Stresa, Italy, prizes in various competitions have made Katia Michel one of Spain’s best known young pianists, leading to performances in most of the country’s renowned halls. Among many top awards, she has garnered first prizes at the Concurso Permanente de Juventudes Musicales de España in 2004, the Andorra International Competition and the Rotary International Competition in Mallorca. She was the representative of Spain in the European Federation of Youth Competition, and was a finalist of the 2000 Grand Prix Eurovision for young musicians in Lugano, Switzerland.
Ms. Michel studied with Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music, with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Reina Sofia de Madrid and with Stanislav Pochekin at the Barcelona Conservatory. She has also worked extensively with pianists Ilan Rogoff, and with the late Alicia de Larrocha, for whom she first played at age 8.
Critical response to Katia’s interpretation of Spanish music has been particularly enthusiastic: "A masterly Albéniz," (La Porta Clàssica) “It was luminous and full of fresh air,” (El Punt diari) and “played with magnificence” (Avui). She recently released a solo CD featuring works of Isaac Albeniz on the label Columna Musica and she received the Rosa Sabater prize for Spanish music in the 2010 Jaen International Competition. On another Columna musica release, she performs music by the Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Katia Michel performs regularly with cellist Verena Sennekamp, with pianist David Kaplan, and with her brother, violinist William Michel. This season, she begins collaborating with the Quartet Albéniz. In addition to her activity as a performer, Ms. Michel has given public Masterclasses and has taught in the Yale University School of Music.

Phnom Penh String Quartet

PNH String Quartet is a group of passionate young Khmer musicians excited by the experience of playing chamber music, and committed to authenticity, the ensembles had established them self’s as important-ranking chamber ensembles in Cambodia. They are one of the pioneers of the chamber music scene in Cambodia and performing together for 4 years in the Phnom Penh metropolitan areas. All members : Chhun Sopha & Uy Thach, Violin, El Leang, Viola, Sim Ratha, Violoncello, Him Savy, Flute) enjoy a varied musical life away from the ensemble. The collective experience of the quartet’s members include: studying music at the Faculty of Music at RUFA and in addition a permanent collaboration with the ART plus Foundation.