Kalaya Phongsathorn

Phongsathorn released her first album in 2022 under the title "Thai Contemporary Music for the Flutes". The project consists of a number of commissioned pieces that she has collected over the years of collaboration with contemporary Thai composers. The album is currently streaming on various major online platforms and was featured in Flute View Online Magazine in June 2023. Kalaya has been a flute and piccolo player with the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Bangkok since 2011. Throughout her orchestral career, she has had the opportunity to perform with renowned soloists such as Jian Wang, Alice Sarah Ott, Christian Zimmermann and Stéphane Doll under the direction of masters including Pierre Soudan, Hikotaro Yazaki, Charles Olivier - Monroe, Adrien Prababa and Michel Tilkin. Kalaya also performs regularly with the Sawaddee Woodwind Quintet, which she co-founded, in Thailand and abroad. The quintet has participated in international competitions, including the Telem Crossover Competition in Russia in 2010 (semi-finalist) and the Woodwind Festival in Singapore in 2014 (Special Prize). She has also been invited as a guest artist and to workshop at many festivals, including the Macau Band Festival in 2015, the China-ASEAN Music Festival in Nanning, China in 2017, and the Thailand International Composition Festival from 2015 to 2019. Most recently, she presented her innovative research and performance at the International Double Reed International Symposium (IDRS) in Boulder, Colorado, USA, in 2022. Kalaya has also performed with the Million Wind Philharmonic Orchestra and has given solo and chamber recitals. In 2008, Kalaya appeared as a soloist in the Brandenburg Concerto concert of the Promusica Chamber Orchestra. In 2014, she also had the opportunity to be a soloist in H.M. Bumihor's composition concerts with the Promusica Chamber Orchestra in Bangkok and Cambodia. In 2013, Kalaya was selected as the principal flutist of The Phantom of the Opera (International Cast) in Bangkok. In 2019, she performed with the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Bangkok conducted by Maestro Shindoshu as a soloist in Vivaldi's Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra RV443. In 2023, she premiered "Sao Noi Pra Pang" composed by Dr. Jos Vanessohn at the Thai Flute Festival and performed as a soloist with the Million Wind Philharmonic Orchestra in the Asian premiere of Salvador Broton's Piccolo Concerto "Dialogue with Axels". She holds a bachelor's degree in fine and applied arts from Chulalongkorn University, graduating at the top of her class. She was selected as a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra and in 2006 received a full scholarship from the Austrian government to study at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She holds a master's degree from the Princess Galyani Vadhana Conservatory in Thailand. Notable instructors include Associate Professor Charni Honchar, Associate Professor Warapong Kanweerayothin, Suncheep Vidhayanakorn, and Professor Robert Wolff (former principal flutist). Robert Wolf (former principal flutist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra) and Roberto Alvarez (principal piccolo player of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra). She also took the Julius Baker International Flute Masterclass in 2002 with Susan Hoepner, in 2003 with Sir Jaime Galway, in 2004 with Claudio Montafia and in 2011 with Robert Aiken at the Forum Flute and Piano in Luxembourg. Since 2012, she has been contributing to the development of the flute community in Thailand by inviting world-renowned artists such as Robert Aiken, Trevor Wai, Jasmine Choi, Viviana Guzman and Julian Beaudiment to host flute masterclasses and festivals. Her achievements are not limited to music, as she is also a certified yoga instructor. Since 2015, she has been invited to perform at music festivals in Thailand and abroad, and frequently conducts yoga workshops for musicians. Today, Kalaya is an adjunct flute instructor at Princess Galyani Vadhana Conservatory and Rugby School Thailand, as well as running a private music and yoga studio, Baanflute.