MMF 2018

Message from the Directors

Dear friends,

Welcome to Myanmar Music Festival!

It is with great pleasure and honor that we present to you the fifth edition of the festival. This year, we celebrate our fifth anniversary, an important milestone for our festival. On this occasion, we celebrate all the people that have joined us to make this beautiful and meaningful adventure possible and some of the music that was performed the past four years.

Meet Our Directors

Kimball Gallagher,
Artistic Director,
Piano, Composer

Kimball Gallagher has risen to prominence as one of the most dynamic and multifaceted pianists on the stage today. Gallagher’s sold-out 2008 debut at Carnegie Hall launched his international 88- Concert Tour blazing a trail across all 7 continents appearing in 30 countries, while performing in distinguished venues and intimate gatherings all over the world, from the Kennedy Center to Kabul, Bombay to Boulder, Chicago to Shanghai, and Tuscany to Tunisia. The number 88 alludes to the 88 keys of the piano.

Kaiyin Huang,
Executive Director,
Piano,
Chamber Music

Valuing the power of music and its importance to transform lives, Kai-Yin in 2015 founded Kairos Arts, of which she is the artistic director. Graduated from The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music, she received the Doctor of Music Arts at SUNY Stony Brook University. She has appeared on the stages around the world, in countries such Italy, United States, England, Germany, Denmark, Egypt, Tunisia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and China.

YiLing Chaing,
Vocal Director,
Mezzo Soprano

YiLing holds her bachelor degree from Birmingham Conservatoire (UK) as vocal and operatic performance singer and completed master degree at the Kodály Institute of Franz Liszt Academy of Music (Hungary) as Kodály expert. During her studies in England, YiLing won gold medals for opera and lieder category in North London Music and Drama Festival, Ella Ceshire Soprano Award, Margaret Pascoe Singing Prize, and Joseph Weingarten Prize, a full scholarship for her postgraduate study in Hungary.

Erina Iwasaki,
Associate Director

An educator and polyglot, is the curriculum director and developer at Khayay International School in Yangon, Myanmar. With a background in philosophy and the spirit of an entrepreneur, she empowers her students and colleagues to be empathetic and active global citizens. She is building and refining an innovative curriculum that weaves the study of multiple languages, peace education and ethics into traditional curricula of science, math, social studies and the arts.

Assistant Directors

Aung Moe Kyaw
Assistant Artistic Director

Aung Moe Kyaw, a student from Myanmar, started his studies in piano at the age of 12. He spent most of his high school years self-studying piano due to the limited availability of music programs in Myanmar schools. After finishing his freshman year majoring in Mechatronic Engineering at Mandalay Technological University, he decided to take a year off to prepare for college music auditions abroad and fortunately, he was offered a full scholarship to study at Missouri Western State University, where he is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, with a minor in French. He has studied piano extensively with Dr. Nathanael May at MWSU, as well as dedicated teachers such as Kimball Gallagher, Kai-Yin Huang, Gloria Campaner and Maiko Kurihara.

Pyi Phyo Aung
Assistant Vocal Director

Pyi Phyo Aung is a music teacher and vocal director at the International School Yangon. Graduated from Luther College with a B.A. in Music, Music Education, with a concentration in choral pedagogy, his teaching experience in international schools has given him ample experiences to teach classes in music theory, history, appreciation, and to manage a variety of rehearsal settings. Since returning from the United States in 2017, he has directed the Strand Singers, Orchestra for Myanmar, and the &Proud Gay Chorale in the Yangon community that bring collaborative and inclusive performances to the Yangon Gallery, People’s Park, Parami Hospital, and the National Theatre of Yangon. A participant in Myanmar Music Festival since its first season in 2014, he plans to continue to support the music scene in Myanmar through education.

Guest Artists

Win Ko Khine

Win Ko is Rakhine the elder son of U Than Shwe and Daw Thaung Khin, have one younger sister. He was born in Taung Gup Township, Rakhine State. His celebrity name in Win Ko Khaing and he is a vocalist and a song writer. Art of music is one of their family traits, belonging to that family was born with the passion for music. Played the Rakhine traditional flute and mandolin since he was a young boy.

May Sweet

May Sweet was born on February 13 in Yangon. She started singing publicly at the age of thirteen. She sings hundreds of variety of songs such as Myanmar classical songs, contemporary songs. She is not only well- known as a pop singer but also an actress who has performed in movies. Her mother is a Myanmar celebrity and a five academy award winner, SITHU Daw Myint Myint Khin. May sweet has traveled to Asia, Europe, Australia, Jamaica and within the US to perform at charity events and solo concerts entertaining the Myanmar communities.

Myanmar Traditional Artists from the Ministry of Culture

Sa Nyi Nyi Tun, Myanmar Flutist

Sa Nyi Nyi Tun has been a professional Myanmar Saing Waing (Drum Circle) and Myanmar oboe player for over 20 years, having won seven gold medals in the Myanmar Traditional National Ethnic Performing Arts competition and having performed in Laos, Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam, Korea. He knows over 200 songs on the oboe and, as a Saing Waing player, is one of the most important musicians in the Myanmar Traditional Orchestra. He has been promoted to a Staff Musician in the Production Division, Fine Arts Department under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture. Born in 1972, he studied Myanmar traditional oboe at the State High school of Arts and Drama in Yangon.

Sai Htet Aung, Myanmar Xylophonist

Mr. Sai Htet Aung was born in 1988. He studied the Myanmar Traditional
Orchestra (Myanmar Saing Waing) at the State School of Fine Arts, Yangon, in 2006 to 2008. He won 3 gold medal awards in the Myanmar Traditional National Ethnic Performing Arts Competition. He has been working since 2011 as a skillful musician Grade 4 at the Department of Fine Arts and nowadays he is a Assistant Tutor of string instrument subject at the State School of Fine Arts.

Sein Kalar,
Circle Drum

Sein Kalar, aka. Mr. Aung One Two, is a Myanmar Saing Waing (Drum Circle) and Xylophone player and a Staff Officer of the Myanmar Traditional Orchestra in the Department of Fine Arts in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture. He is the winner of seven gold medals and four silver medals in the Myanmar Traditional National Ethnic Performing Ar ts Competition and has performed in Japan, India, China, Korea,Vietnam and France as part of cultural exchange programs and international cultural events.

Ei Ei Lin,
Myanmar Traditional Singer

Myanmar Music Festival Choir

The members of this choir were selected through an audition process launched by MMF in February, 2018. Members come from different states around Myanmar. Our goal is to include singers from each state and region of Myanmar to create a Myanmar national singing group.

List of Choir Members >>>

Malaysian Mixed Choir

This choir comprises university students of UCSI and Sunway University. MMF vocal director, Yiling Chaing is a lecturer at both universities and invited her students to join MMF this year.

List of Choir Members >>>

Guest Choir: Han Chiang Alumni Choir

This is the alumni choir of the Han Chiang School. Mr. Lim Kean Seng is the choral director and Lee Yi Chen is the accompanist. They actively participate in exchange programs, concerts and competitions and are frequently awarded prizes.

List of Choir Members >>>

Festival Program

mmf_booklet_2018.pdf
File Size:	9914 kb
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Guest Speakers

During the Myanmar Music Festival Music Camp (June 12 to 18, 2018), we had three guest speakers and a leadership trainer come to meet the Myanmar Choir.
The guest speakers were Daw Mi Lwin, former business development executive, U Nay Oke, distinguished professor of English, and U Win Min, community leader and program associate of Myanmar Center for Responsible Business.
U Pyi Wa Tun, CEO of Parami Energy and Young Leader of the World Economic Forum gave a leadership training.
Thank you to all the guest speakers and leaders for coming and sharing their wisdom with us!