Thailand | Michellina Chan

An unimaginable journey to the 5th Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition 2017. Through it all, it was an assortment of feelings! Definitely a nice way to make many new friends, have interesting conversations about music/life/another culture and explore another city. Of course – an exposure to a diverse range of music.

Here are some photos, followed by my videos below, enjoy! x

Arrival at the Mahidol College of Music

With my fellow Bordelaise

Cultural visit to the Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha)

With jury, Susan Fancher

With the president of jury, Monsieur Jean-Marie Londeix

With jury, Lin Chien-Kwan

With jury, Masataka Hirano

With jury, Dr. Chen Yi

Getting feedback from the jury session

Hang out with the fellow competitors

To the floating market with fellow competitors

With the artistic director of the competition, Shyen Lee

Made friends from all over the world including Faroe Islands, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Belgium, South Korea, Japan.. etc. The academy was set at the College of Music, Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand. It started on the 31st July 2016 to the 4th August 2016. During the 5 days, we had private/chamber lessons, lectures, master classes, and ensembles. Everyday our ears were treated to a recital by different ensemble groups. I learnt invaluable lessons from my teachers, Joshua Hyde (Australia), Stephen Page (USA), Pieter Pellens (Belgium) and Zhang Ding (China); I also gained insights into a musician’s life from talking to the rest of the faculty there.

This trip would not have been possible without the National Arts Council (Singapore) and the Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy sponsors. A big thankyou to NAC, Singapore for the grant and also to the APSA Faculty for the scholarship. Thankyou also to Leslie Wong (Singapore) and Wong Tak Chiu (Hong Kong) for the planning and excellent execution of the academy.