Hailed as a musician with “sensitive pianism” by The Straits Times Singapore, award-winning pianist, Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn, is one of the most sought-after classical musicians in Thailand. He endeavours to raise the artistic standards of classical music through his performances and pedagogical philosophy.

 

Akkra's performing career has brought him to various countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. He has worked in masterclasses and coaching sessions with internationally acclaimed artists such as Leon Fleisher, Fou Ts'ong, Richard Goode, Pascal Rogé, Roy Howat, Dina Yoffe, Leslie Howard, Ronan O'Hora, and Jiří Hlinka. As an accomplished chamber musician, he is a founding member of the piano trio, Trio Phoenix, which was awarded the Peabody Conservatory’s Honors Ensemble for two consecutive years in 2014 and 2015, and brought him the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music in 2015. Their live performances have been aired on USA public radio stations such as WBJC 91.5 FM and WWFM 89.1 FM.

 

Akkra completed his undergraduate studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, where he won the Conservatory’s Piano Concerto Competition and received the Best Accompanist Award for two consecutive years. He subsequently earned his Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Graduate Performance Diploma in Chamber Music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Music degree at Schulich School of Music, McGill University.

 

Equipped with almost two decades of piano teaching experience, Akkra has had opportunities to sharpen his mentoring skills since early in his career. He was selected as Yong Siew Toh Conservatory's “Junior Mentor in Piano" during his undergraduate studies. While at the Peabody Conservatory, he served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Music Theory and Keyboard Studies. In Canada, he was hired as a part-time lecturer at Schulich School of Music, McGill University.

 

With his enthusiasm for historically informed performance practice, Akkra enjoys exploring non-canonical repertoire on early keyboard instruments. His major mentors include a harpsichordist - Adam Pearl, a fortepianist - Tom Beghin, and modern pianists - Eri Nakagawa, Thomas Hecht, Yong Hi Moon, and Stéphane Lemelin.

 

Akkra is currently residing in Bangkok, Thailand, where he works with talented pianists of the next generation, gives lectures on music, and performs in solo concerts and chamber concerts with Bangkok's leading musicians.