Om and Friends

Korean-American violinist Hayne Kim made her solo Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 16 and has since performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been a soloist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and Tuscia Operafestival orchestra, and has performed as a chamber musician in some of New York City’s most beloved halls, such as Merkin Hall and Stern Auditorium.

 

Taking a special interest in contemporary music, she is the violinist and co-founder of Círculo Trio, an ensemble dedicated to exploring and presenting new and/or underperformed works alongside standard repertoire. Projects that the trio has commissioned include The Triumph of Time, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale for actor and trio with original music, and a collaboration with Bangkok City Ballet for Thea Musgrave’s theatrical chamber work, "Pierrot."

 

Hayne holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Michigan State University. Her past mentors include Lyman Bodman, Grigory Kalinovsky, and Dmitri Berlinsky. She joined the faculty of Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in July 2017.

 

Omporn Kowintha began her violin lessons with Prof. Choochart Pitaksakorn at the age of thirteen. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Music Education from Chulalongkorn University. In 1998, she received a scholarship from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, which enabled her to study with Michael Ma. In 2000, Omporn went to the U.S.A, and studied violin with Kathryn Lucktenberg and Fritz Gearhart at the University of Oregon. She also studied Suzuki Violin Pedagogy with Shelley Rich and was a violin instructor at the Suzuki Program of Community Music Institute at University of Oregon during the time she was there. Omporn received her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy in 2003.

 

Playing both violin and viola, Omporn participates in many chamber music ensembles and orchestras in Thailand, including the Glom Piano Quartet, Bangkok String Quartet, the Artist Ensemble of Bangkok, and Pro Musica Orchestra. She also has her own chamber music series called “Om and Friends”, which has been giving chamber music concerts regularly since 2018.

 

Omporn is one of the most sought-after violin instructors in Thailand. She founded the first Suzuki Studio in Thailand called “Albyrd Violin Studio” in 2008. She is also a founding board member of Thailand Association for Talent Education.

 

Miti Wisuthumporn has forged a career as one of the leading violists of his generation in Thailand. Currently the principal violist of the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, his appearances as concert soloist have included the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, the Pro Musica and the Chulalongkorn University String Orchestra. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the members of the Pro Musica, Bangkok String Quartet, as well as Andres Cardenes, Thomas Hampson, Clive Greensmith, Roeland Hendrikx and many others.

Dedicated to introducing classical music to a broader audience in Thailand, Miti worked with five fellow musicians to form the JEEB Ensemble. The ensemble sought to present core classical music repertoire in funky ways that reached a wider audience. It proved to be popular. The JEEB Ensemble held sold-out music festivals in 2013 and 2017, went on a China tour in 2018, launched Thailand’s first digitally-streamed classical music album distributed by Universal Music amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and will soon launch its third festival.

 

Miti is currently a viola lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University, and Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music.

Israeli cellist Noa Chorin holds the position of principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Noa started playing the cello at the age of 9 with Mr. Uri Chen and later on with Mr. Hillel Zori, with whom she studied her Bachelor of Music at the Buchman-Mehta School of Music. She furthered her studies with Mr. Zvi Plesser and Prof. Josef Schwab, and later graduated with the highest honour with her master’s degree with Prof. Stefan Forck at the Musikhochshule “Hanns Eisler,” Berlin.

 

Since 2005, she has been a member of the “West-Eastern Divan” Orchestra directed by Daniel Barenboim, who also granted her a scholarship. There, she also holds the positions of assistant principal and principal cellist.

 

As an active chamber music performer, she has participated in many music festivals in Israel and Europe such as The Voice of Music in the Upper Galilee Chamber Music Festival (Israel), “Serenata Berlin” festival (Spain), “Vareler Hafen” music festival and Wiesel music festival (Germany). Noa also appeared as a soloist with "The Israel Chamber Orchestra.”

 

Currently, Noa is based in Bangkok, Thailand, where she performs regularly with various chamber music groups and festivals. She is also a guest lecturer at the Princess Galayani Institute of Music.

 

Hailed as a musician with “sensitive pianism” by The Straits Times Singapore, award-winning pianist Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn is one of Thailand’s most sought-after classical musicians. He has worked in masterclasses and coaching sessions with internationally acclaimed artists such as Leon Fleisher, Fou Ts'ong, Richard Goode, Dina Yoffe, Leslie Howard, Ronan O'Hora, and Jiří Hlinka.

 

As an accomplished chamber musician, Akkra has collaborated with members of leading orchestras, such as London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, and Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a founding member of the piano trio, Trio Phoenix, which brought him the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music in 2015. Their live performances 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. 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 recently completed his Doctor of Music degree at Schulich School of Music, McGill University.

 

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