In July 2016, award-winning Cambodian-American composer Chinary UNG led a two-week workshop in Siem Reap, aiming to spark new creativity in composers from Cambodia and the wider Mekong.
10 emerging composers and traditional musicians from Cambodia, 2 emerging composers from the United States, as well as mentors and emerging composers from Laos and Myanmar worked intensively with a world-class faculty of composers and performers from 8 countries around Asia and the USA.
They studied technical skills, and took part in creative sessions, rehearsals, and performances. The students’ pieces were recorded at the end of the two weeks – the first time in living memory that traditional musicians have composed new work, as far as we know.