Phnom Penh’s Classical Music Scene
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008One word… Art Cafe. My friend Anton Isslehardt is a German flautist and music teacher and he nearly single-handedly sits at the epicenter of Western classical music in Cambodia.
The Art Cafe features weekly performances (with dinner) on Friday and Saturday evenings. In addition to running the Cafe, which is a lovely space on Street 108 near Street 51, Anton also teaches and conducts a cadre of young talented Cambodian musicians in a music workshop he runs each Sunday morning.
Anton also runs an NGO called the Art+ Foundation which is organizing the upcoming 5th Annual Phnom Penh Music Festival that features, in addition to the impressive local talent that Anton teaches, about a dozen accomplished musicians as guests from America, Europe and Asia.
I am very excited to photograph this series of performances starting on October 30th at a variety of venues around town.
Here are a few shots from the Sunday morning workshops where I've recently had the priviledge to be a "fly on the wall"…
