Musicians

Rhys Watkins – Violin

Welsh violinist Rhys Watkins has an established career as a soloist, recitalist and orchestral leader. Rhys graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 and became a member of the first violin section of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2009.

He has since enjoyed performing in all of the world’s major concert halls and has represented the orchestra by giving recitals in embassies in Beijing, Tokyo, New York and throughout Europe.

At Abbey Road & Air Lyndhurst Studios, London, Rhys has recorded the music for many films including Harry Potter, Thor, Star Wars, The Twilight Saga : New Moon, The King’s Speech, Marvel’s The Avengers, Rise of the Guardians, Zero Dark Thirty, Brave, The Imitation Game, Cinderella, The Shape of Water, Coco before Chanel, Tamara Drewe, The Special Relationship, The Golden Compass, Superman and many more.

He has also enjoyed working with acclaimed film directors Guillermo del Toro, George Clooney and Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Rhys has been a finalist and prize-winner in several major international competitions including the Jeunesses Musicales International Violin Competition (Belgrade) and the Paganini International Violin Competition (Moscow) and is currently a member of the award-winning Artea String Quartet with whom he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and BBC Proms. The Artea Quartet have made numerous live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and have recorded several CDs of the Mendelssohn and Schubert quartets under the Champs Hill label to great critical acclaim.

Alongside his classical concerts, Rhys has also shared the stage in performances with Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Queen, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Ray Davies, Tom Jones, Annie Lennox, Rod Stewart and Tony Bennett.

Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn – Piano

Hailed as a musician with “sensitive pianism” by The Straits Times Singapore, pianist Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn is one of Thailand’s most sought after classical musicians. He endeavours to raise the artistic standards of classical music through his performances and pedagogical philosophy.

Akkra’s performing career has brought him to various countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. His performances have been broadcasted on public radio stations in Thailand, Canada, and the United States of America. As an accomplished chamber musician, Akkra has collaborated with members of leading orchestras, such as London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Israel Chamber Orchestra. He is also a founding member of Trio Phoenix, an award-winning piano trio which explores beyond the traditional piano trio repertoire, from non-canonical baroque works to contemporary compositions.

Akkra holds degrees from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore (B.Mus. in piano performance), Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (M.Mus. in piano performance and GPD in chamber music), and Schulich School of Music, McGill University (D.Mus. in piano performance). His major mentors include harpsichordist Adam Pearl; fortepianist Tom Beghin; and modern pianists Eri Nakagawa, Thomas Hecht, Yong Hi Moon, and Stéphane Lemelin. In addition, he worked in masterclasses and private coaching sessions with internationally acclaimed artists such as Leon Fleisher, Fou Ts’ong, Jiří Hlinka, Leslie Howard, and Ronan O’Hora. With two decades of piano teaching experience, Akkra has had opportunities to sharpen his mentoring skills since early in his career. His students have won top prizes in national and international competitions. While at the Peabody Conservatory, he served as a Graduate Assistant in Music Theory and Keyboard Studies. In Canada, He was hired as a part-time lecturer at Schulich School of Music, McGill University.

Akkra currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand, where he regularly performs solo recitals and chamber concerts, works with talented pianists of the next generation and gives talks on music for general audiences and academic lectures at top local universities.

Noa Chorin – Cello

The Israeli Cellist holds the position of principal Cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

Noa started playing the cello at age 9 with Mr. Uri Chen and later on with Mr. Hillel Zori, with whom she studied her Bachelor of Music at the Buchman-Mehta School of Further studying with Mr. Zvi Plesser (Israel) and Prof. Josef Schwab (Germany).

She graduated with highest honor her Master degree with Prof. Stefan Forck at the Musikhochshule “Hanns Eisler”, Berlin.

Noa took part in master-classes with well-known cellists such as Prof. Uzi Wisel, Prof. Bernard Greenhouse, Prof. Janos Starker, Prof. Wolfgang Boettcher, Prof. Franz Helmerson among many others.

Since 2005, she has been a member of the “West Eastern Divan” Orchestra directed by Daniel Barenboim, who also granted her a studying scholarship. There she also holds the positions of assistant principal and principal cellist.

Noa played with the Staatskapelle Berlin, Germany State Opera, as an academist from 2009 until 2012.

She has won several scholarships such as the “American-Israel Cultural Foundation” for cello performing (1999-2009) and chamber music (1999-2001), The “Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now foundation”, Berlin (2013), the “Friend’s Association of the Hanns-Eisler Musikhochschule” (2012-2013) and “Germany Scholarship”.

Noa has won a price in the “Ben-Haim” competition, and a price of the “Buchman-Mehta School of music” competition.

As an active chamber music performer, she participated in many music festivals in Israel and Europe such as the Chamber music festival of the young outstanding musician unit at the Jerusalem music Center “Mishkenot Sha’ananim”, International Cello Congress in Israel, Rolandseck Chamber music festival, The Voice of Music in the Upper Galilee Chamber Music Festival (Israel), “Serenata Berlin” festival (Spain), “Vareler Hafen” music festival and Wiesel music festival (Germany); there she also performed as a soloist with the “Israeli young Kibbutz Orchestra” and  “Wiesel Festival Orchestra”. Lately Noa performed as a soloist with “The Israel Chamber Orchestra”.

Noa performs in various chamber music groups and is a permanent cellist in “Trio Mia” and in “Ensemble Collage Tel-Aviv” which she founded herself.

Currently Noa is based in Bangkok, Thailand, where she performs regularly with various chamber music groups and festival and a guest lecturer at the Princess Galyani Institute of Music.