Musica Felice | Charity concert in Phnom Penh

Projects

Next Charity Concert

Sunday 12 May 2024
4:30 PM to 6:30 PM

Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra Hotel
Grand Ballroom

Learn More

Get Tickets

A Choir with a Cause

International charity choir and local NGO

Musica Felice is a volunteer choir that supports charities and that includes people from all parts of the world, who live and work in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. Although from different countries, backgrounds and professions, they all have one thing in common – a love for classical music. Musica Felice performs well known beautiful pieces from the sacred to the secular, including music from the Renaissance, early Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods.

The group was founded in 2016 by Miwako Fujiwara, who arranges piano pieces and also composes contemporary music for traditional Khmer instruments. This reflects the diversity of the choir membership which currently comprises 37 members of 20 nationalities.

The choir is accompanied by Miwako on piano and a Khmer orchestra. Additionally, Khmer dancers perform to the music giving a truly unique East-West blend of musical styles. The choir has taken on more challenging continuity pieces such as “Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo” (Flanders and Horovitz), “Adiemus” and “Peace Maker” (Jenkins) and “Les Miserables” (Schonberg and Boublil).

In 2023, the Musica Felice was formally registered as a local non-governmental organization (NGO), Musica Felice Organization, enabling it to maximise its funding by receiving tax exemption on certain activities.

Charity concerts

Musica Felice has performed 11 charity concerts. All funds raised from performances go to charitable causes in Cambodia to provide opportunities for young and talented musicians who otherwise would be unable to afford music tuition.

Musica Felice's main objectives are:

To enable residents of Phnom Penh who love singing to practice their hobby and bring their performances to the public.
To enable residents of Phnom Penh who enjoy listening to live choral performances to follow their passion.
To bring the Khmer traditional performing arts to the attention of our audiences.
To raise funds for various charities and organisations that offer arts and music courses for young students.

Since its inaugural performance at the Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra hotel, Musica Felice has performed in a number of venues in the city, both indoor and outdoor. It now regularly performs two concerts per year in the Ballroom at the Sofitel, attracting audiences of almost 800 people at each performance. The choir also perform for smaller events around the Christmas Festive period.

During the COVID restrictions of 2021, rehearsals continued online, enabling the choir to immediately return to the stage in January 2022 after sanctions were lifted.

Since 2017,
we have helped

Empowering Youth in Cambodia

Kampuchea Sëla Handycap

Princess Buppha Devi Dance School

Yamada School Of Art

Deaf Development Program

École D’hôtellerie Et De Tourisme Paul Dubrule (Siem Reap)

Phare Ponleu Selpak (Battambang)

Sacred Dancers Of Angkor ( Siem Reap)

Light Of Marcy

Krousar Music School

Happy Chandra Vocational Training Center

Phum Phum Pleng Music School

Music Art School (Siem Reap)

Daughters Of Charity

Tola Say Music School

Banteay Prieb

Mercy Village Church

Miwako Fujiwara

Miwako is a Japanese national, married with two children, who has lived in Phnom Penh since 2010. She is a classically trained pianist holding a Master of Arts from the Soai University in Osaka (Japan) and a Docerend Musicus Diploma from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (Netherlands) – both of which majored on the harpsichord (the forerunner of the pianoforte and piano) that she had studied since the age of 16. During her 20 years in The Hague, Miwako was active in the field of music joining various groups and founding “Il Quadrifolgio” – leading to recordings on CD, television and radio. In addition to these activities, she is also a conductor, producer, choreographer, music arranger and composer. She has toured in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, England , Switzerland, Italy, the United States of America and Japan.

In 2002-2003, Miwako became a member of the Music Sacrum Leiden where she performed ‘Royal Entertainment’ with the Netherlands Historisch Dans en Theater Ensemble. She also plays Jazz pieces and performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, 1997.

Today, she is a dedicated piano teacher and organiser of charity performances. She formed Bella Voce which ran for seven years and has also contributed to a local amateur theatre company, the Phnom Penh Players. Miwako also finds time to perform at various hotels, is a freelance musician and also works as a corroborate artist.