Conductors

Gudni A. Emilson

Chief Conductor

Gudni A. Emilsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1964. At the age of 4 he started music lessons with his father. At the State University of Music Trossingen in Germany he finished his Master Degree in piano and conducting. Gudni has also taken Master Classes, Workshops and assisted conductors including: Sergiu Celibidache, Walter Hügler, Kirk Trevor, Lutz Köhler, Rudolf Barshai, Ilya Musin, Manfred Schreier, Myung Wung Chung, Helmut Rilling, John Eliot Gardiner and Bernard Haitink.

Gudni A. Emilsson has won numerous national and international prizes for conducting.

Amongst the rewards he has received:

• “Herbert von Karajan Award” in Salzburg – Austria
• “Richard Wagner Award” in Bayreuth – Germany
• The “LIND -Artist Award” in Reykjavik – Iceland
• The “Masaryk Artist Award” of the Masaryk University of Brno – Czech Republic

He has enjoyed serving as guest conductor with German Orchestras such as the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Orchestra of the University of Leipzig, Nürnberg Symphony Orchestra, Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, Mannheim Chamber Orchestra and North West Germany Philharmonic. He has further served as a guest conductor for other European orchestras and choirs like the Radio Orchestra of Prague, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Bankja Chamber Orchestra of Sofia, the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria, Kotor Art Festival Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra Greece, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in Prague, Symphony Orchestra of the National Theatre in Prague, Radio Symphony Orchestra Prague, Radio Choir of Prague, Bukarest Radio Choir, the South Bohemian Chamber Orchestra, Poland Philharmonic and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna. Outside of Europe he was been well received as a guest conductor of the Arctic Chamber Orchestra (USA), the Orchestra “Sesi” Porto Alegre (Brazil), Arkansas Symphony Orchestra USA and the Vietnamese National Symphony Orchestra.

Scheduled of conducting invitations for 2009 to 2011 include: Haydn Festival Vienna (Austria), the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (Germany), Avignon Symphony Orchestra (France), San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (USA), Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), Philharmonic of Poland, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Pilsen (Czech Republic), Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine), Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra, Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Lodz of Poland, Belgrade Philharmonic and the Orchestra dell` Arena di Verona in Italy.

Gudni has toured all of Europe, East and West Africa, Near and Middle Eastern Countries, Japan, South Korea, South East Asia, China, North and South America.
Gudni A. Emilsson has further performed in several important musical centres and at festivals such as: Bohuslav Martinu Festival Prague, Gewandhaus Leipzig Germany, Luxembourg,
Rio de Janeiro Sala Cecilia Mireles in Brasil, Alba Music Festival Italy, Mozart Festival Dortmund Germany and the Prague Spring Festival in “Rudolfinum – Hall”.
He has had the pleasure of working with such soloists as: Emmanuel Pahud, Katona Twins, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Perca Du, Lambis Vassiliadis, Josef Suk, Pavel Sporcel, Pieter Wispelwey, Ara Malikian, Reinhold Friedrich, Stefan Schilli, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Mischa Maisky, Lucia Aliberti, Hasmik Papian, Uto Ughi, Valery Oistrach and Shlomo Mintz.

From 2000 to 2004 Emilsson was the Chief Conductor of the Suk Chamber Orchestra in Prague, Czech Republic.
2005 he started as the Artistic Director of the Orchestra Camerata Bohemica Prague.

Since 2002 he has been serving as the Artistic Director and Cultural Attaché of the Classical Music Festival of the University City of Tübingen in Germany.

From 1999 he has been the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tübingen Chamber Orchestra touring in over 40 countries all over the world supported by the German Council of Music, the German Government and the Goethe Institute.

From 2005 Emilsson took over the new role as Chief Conductor of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, which is under the patronage of the Royal Thai Government and Mahidol University College of Music in Bangkok.

Radio, Television and CD productions are available in Europe, USA and Thailand.

Capt. Prateep Suphanrojn MA BA LRSM

Resident Conductor

Capt. Prateep Suphanrojn MA BA LRSM was born in Suphanburi, Thailand. In 1988, he joined in the Royal Thai Army School of Music as the Oboist and the Tubaist. Then 1966, he was awarded a scholarship to study the Band Master Course at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall and Kingston University. He received the Bandmastership from the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music (LRSM) in 1997 and a Bachelor of Arts from the Kingston University in 1998. In the final year competition, he won prizes for arrangement, composition and conducting. He also was the Best All – Round and Best Oversea Student Bandmaster in 1998.

At present, he works in the Royal Thai Army Band in the Bandmaster Position and also as an officer of the Education Department and working his master degree program on composition at the College of Music, Mahidol University. He has also been the resident conductor of Dr. Sax Chamber Orchestra since June 2002.

Claude Villaret

Principal Guest Conductor

Claude Villaret’s baton leading the Berliner Symphoniker caused the euphoria of thousands spectators … Because of the magic he created beetween music and public, Claude Villaret, was the unquestionable protagonist of the IIIrd edition of the International Festival of Ushuaia. 4th May 2007 www.swissinfo.org

Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Claude Villaret studied piano and conducting. He was then invited by the celebrated conductor, Bernard Haitink to follow his work at the Euyo and the Berliner Philharmoniker.

In 1990 whilst living in Argentina, he founded the Youth Orchestra of Latin America and conducted them at the famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

On returning to Europe, in 1994 he won the much prized conducting competition of the music academy in Biel, following which he was invited to be guest conductor of the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic. His career as a conductor has since taken him to leading music centres such as Milan, Zurich, Salzburg, Buenos Aires, Prague, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and Geneva in famous concert halls like Buenos Aires Teatro Colon, Tonhalle Zürich, Megaron Athen and other international venues with orchestras such as:

• Berliner Symphoniker (Germany)
• Symphony Orchestra Zurich (Switzerland)
• Musikkollegium Winterthur (Switzerland)
• TKO- Chamber Orchestra Thurgau (Switzerland)
• The New Orchestra of Geneva (Switzerland)
• Sinfônica Nacional (Brasil)
• Plovdiv State Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria)
• Camerata Boemica Prague (Czech Republic)
• Dvorak Prague Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic)
• South Bohemian Chamber Orchestra (Czech Republic)
• Chamber Orchestra of Tübingen (Germany)
• State Philharmonic Orchestra of Arad (Romania)
• State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu (Romania)
• Orquesta Sinfónica Uncuyo (Argentina)
• Orquesta Sinfónica de Bahia Blanca (Argentina)
• Orquesta Sinfónica de la UNT (Argentina)
• Orquesta Sinfónica de Matanzas (Cuba)
• Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (Bangkok)
• Athen State Symphony Orchestra (Greece)
• A.S.O.

He has maintained his interests in South America and in 2000 he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional (Brazil). 2002 saw him appointed as permanent guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica UNT de Tucuman (Argentina).

In 2004 he was appointed chief conductor/artistic director of the TKO Chamber Orchestra Thurgau (Switzerland), in 2005 he was also appointed a permanent guest conductor of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.

His success has led to invitations to give conducting masterclasses in Germany and South America and also to be guest conductor at several music festivals.

His recent conducting repertoire includes the operas, La Boheme, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Il Trovatore. In addition he enjoys being innovative in conducting many first performances of both Swiss and foreign composers. He also realized projects combining video installations with contemporany music.

Christopher Hughes

Guest Conductor

Dr. Christopher Hughes is Professor of Conducting, Chair of the Conducting Faculty and Director of Bands for the College of Music at Mahidol University. In this capacity, Hughes conducts the Mahidol Wind Symphony and Chamber Winds, guides the masters and doctoral programs in conducting, and administers all aspects of the university ensemble program. Prior to this position, Hughes served on the faculties at Lander University and the University of Colorado.

Born in Aspen and raised in the scenic beauty of the Rocky Mountains, Hughes’s interest in the power of music began early. He decided to pursue conducting as a profession after watching many of the great conductors who were in residence at the Aspen Music School. In 2005, Hughes was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in instrumental conducting and literature at the University of Colorado where he was a student of world-renowned conductor Allan McMurray.

Hughes served as Director of Bands at Lander University from 2005-2008. There, his duties included conducting the Lander Chamber Strings and Lander Wind Ensemble. In addition, he founded the Chamber Winds program while teaching courses in conducting. From 2002-2005 Hughes filled dual roles as an instructor and doctoral teaching fellow in the College of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He served as guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band. Many of Dr. Hughes’s university students have gone on to earn prominent conducting positions while others have been awarded graduate assistantships at several universities.

Prior to his doctoral work, Hughes spent nearly a decade as a high school conductor. Ensembles under his direction grew in both size and quality earning numerous honors and awards. Receiving international recognition, Hughes’s ensembles were invited on a ground breaking, multinational tour that included the first performance of an American high school ensemble at Her Majesty’s Royal Military Band Festival in Birmingham, England. The trip also included a performance in Ireland as an invited guest of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. Graduates of Dr. Hughes’s high school programs earned positions in college and university ensembles at twenty-seven separate institutions across the United States and many now hold degrees in music.

Dr. Hughes is in constant demand as a clinician and engagements have taken him to twelve US states and eight foreign countries. In addition, he has guest conducted the ensembles at several colleges and universities. Known for his sensitive interpretation of music for large and small instrumental ensembles, Hughes’s conducting has drawn praise in clinic situations from conductors in positions all over the United States. Dr. Hughes’s research interests include conductor preparation and effectiveness, the application of the Alexander Technique to instrumental conducting, and contemporary literature for instrumental ensembles. Dr. Hughes has, on several occasions, been included in the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers publication and, since 2003, has been listed in Who’s Who in America. He was recently honored by being selected for the 2009 Who’s Who In The World.

Dariusz Mikulski

Guest Conductor

Dariusz Mikulski, the bugler and conductor was born 1973 in Zelow, Poland.

Darius Mikulski works regularly with chamber orchestras and famous musician, such as for example Valery Oistrakh, Radovan Vlatkovic, Ingo Goritzki, and Sergio Azzolini.

As a soloist he played together with orchestras like the Symphony Orchestra of the Northern German Radio, the chamber orchestras from Munich, Warsaw, Stuttgart and Vienna, the Philharmony of Nations, as well as the German Opera in Berlin.

As a conductor Dr. Mikulski has worked together with the Berlin Symphonics, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmony Lodz, and the Silesian Philharmonics from Kattowitz.

Since 2000, Dr. Dariusz Mikulski is known as the founder and leader of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Great Philharmonics Poland.

Ligia Amadio

Guest Conductor

The brazilian conductor Ligia Amadio was the first woman to win a ward in 30 years at the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, in 1997. She won the first prize at the II Latin-American Competition for Conducting in Santiago, Chile, in March 1998. She has received the prize “Best Conductor of the Year” in Brazil, awarded by APCA (São Paulo Association of Critics of Art) in 2001.

Ligia Amadio is the chief conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, Rio de Janeiro since 1996, when she was elected by the musicians. Previously Miss Amadio was assistant conductor at National Theater Symphony Orchestra, Brasília. Between October 2000 and December 2003 she was also the chief conductor of Cuyo National University’s Symphony Orchestra, Mendoza, Argentina, likewise elected by the musicians.

She began studying piano at the age of five and received her Diploma at the Dramatic and Musical Conservatory of São Paulo. She completed a degree in Bachelor of Conducting and Master Degree in Arts at the State University of Campinas.

Her main conducting teachers in Brazil were Eleazar de Carvalho, Henrique Gregori and Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. She also studied with Ferdinand Leitner, in Siena, Kurt Masur, in São Paulo, Julius Kalmar in Wien, Dominique Rouits in Hungary, Georg Tintner in Czech Republic, Alexander Polishuk and Eugeni Yergemsky in Saint Petersburg, Guillermo Scarabino, in Venezuela and Sir Edward Downes, in the 35th International Kirill Kondrashin Conductors Masterclass, Netherlands.

Her international career begun in 1992. Since then Ligia Amadio has conducted important orchestras in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, French, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Russia, Slovenia, United States of America and Venezuela (Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Baden-Badener Philharmonie, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Peru, Ensemble Contrechamps, Simfoniki RTV Slovenija, Tokio City Philharmonic Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Maracaibo, Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado Mérida, The Congress Symphony Orchestra, Silesian Opera Orchestra, Amazonas Filarmônica, Orquestra Sinfônica do Paraná, Orquestra Sinfônica Petrobrás Pró-Música, Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Cláudio Santoro, Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, Arpeggione Städtisches Kammerorchester, Orquestra Filarmônica Nacional da Moldávia).

With the National Symphony Orchestra, Rio de Janeiro, Ligia Amadio recorded a CD with compositions of Heitor Villa-Lobos in 1998. In 1999 she conducted the Slovene RTV Symphony Orchestra recording Rachmaninov. Since 2001, with the Cuyo National University’s Symphony Orchestra she recorded three CDs with argentinian composers.

Mrs. Amadio produced and presented the broadcast “Music and Literature” at Ministry of Culture’s Radio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 2000 and 2003.