Celebrate the power of music…International concert pianist Lee Jae Phang delivered a series of high-profile performances in Cambodia recently. The Grand Opening of the First Edition of the European Music Cultures Festival (Nov 1 – 3, 2024) saw him sharing the stage with violinist Dino Akira Decena and cellist Steven Retallick, performing piano trios to a full house. At the festival’s Grand Finale , Lee Jae who performed a solo piano recital was honoured with a very rare standing ovation – a testament to the festival’ s success.
Photos: Courtesy of Lee Jae Phang
By Foong Pek Yee
foongpekyee@gmail.com.
Nov 14, 2024
Held at the luxurious Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh, the festival was attended by local audiences as well as ambassadors, dignitaries, and invited guests.
Present at the event were the EU Ambassador to Cambodia (H.E. Igor Driesmans), the German Ambassador to Cambodia (H.E. Stefan Messerer), the Ukrainian Ambassador to Cambodia (H.E. Oleksandr Gaman) and Ukrainian First Secretary (Kseniia Ohorondyk).
An honour: This trip also saw Lee Jae performed a solo piano recital for invited dignitaries and guests at the German Embassy in Phnom Penh .(from left) Christoph Stadtler, H. E. Jacques Pellet (the Ambassador of France to Cambodia) and H. E. Stefan Messerer (the Ambassador of Germany to Cambodia) and their spouses, Lee Jae and Anton Isselhardt.
Simply brilliant: Lee Jae who performed a solo piano recital at the festival’s Grand Finale received a standing ovation.
This year’s festival spotlighted music written by composers who have lived and worked either in Leipzig, Prague, Budapest, or Kyiv.
The audience was therefore treated to a wide variety of music, some of which is very rarely performed due to its complexity or the difficulty in obtaining the sheet music for it.
The specialty on the program for the Grand Opening was the piano trio by Vasyl Barvinsky (1888-1963) , a Ukrainian composer.
Lee Jae, Dino Akira Decena and Steven Retallick (named D.R.P. Trio after the first letter of the individual members’ surnames) presented the colourful program to a full house.
The audience showed their appreciation by their generous applause after each item on the program.
At the Grand Finale of the festival, Lee Jae presented a solo piano recital, celebrating the works of Lyatoshynsky, Reger, Lysenko, Szymanowski, Chopin, and Cambodian composer Bosba Panh.
Blending rich European and Cambodian influences into a captivating program, the audience who was visibly moved, honoured the performance with a very rare standing ovation – a testament to the impact of that remarkable evening and a fitting tribute to the festival’s success.
The festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of Cambodia, the Delegation of the European Union, the German Embassy Phnom Penh, Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Soundskool, and The Piano Shop Cambodia.
Collective power : (from left ) Kseniia Ohorondyk (Ukrainian First Secretary), Gabi Faja (CEO of Soundskool Music Cambodia and Director of The Piano Shop Cambodia), Anton Isselhardt (Artistic Director of European Music Cultures Festival), Lee Jae Phang (international concert pianist and piano pedagogue), H.E. Oleksandr Gaman (Ukrainian Ambassador to Cambodia) and his spouse, Dino Akira Decena (concertmaster of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra), Steven Retallick (former principal cellist of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra), Christoph Stadtler (guest speaker for the pre-concert talk and professional guitarist).
Landmark: Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh
This trip also saw Lee Jae performed a solo piano recital for invited dignitaries and guests at the German Embassy in Phnom Penh.
True to the culture of the performance venue, Lee Jae presented a program that featured masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin.
This was Lee Jae’s second time performing at the German Embassy and he says that it is always an honour and a delight to receive an invitation to perform there.
The audience applauded enthusiastically after every item on his program and he had the pleasure of speaking to some of them, including H.E. the Ambassador of South Korea to Cambodia Park Jung-wook, after the concert.
Lee Jae says this concert trip highlights the importance of always striving for and upholding high standards in music-making.
He says a high level of skill and a professional attitude has made it possible for him to learn all that music while teaching full-time back in Malaysia, let alone perform it for a series of events in a short space of time..
He notes that two days of intense rehearsals to put together an evening concert program was made possible with high calibre musicians like Dino Akira Decena, who is currently concertmaster of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, and Steven Retallick, a former principal cellist at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
D.R.P. Trio : (from left) Dino Akira Decena, Lee Jae and Steven Retallick.
“The concerts also remind us of the power of music to bring people from different walks of life together.
“Let us appreciate the beautiful fact that the audience at the events comprised of individuals coming from different places around the world, with different backgrounds and lives.
“At those three evenings, these people came together to enjoy music written by a group of composers as diverse as themselves,” says Lee Jae.
