“The Great Adventures of Being Me”: Music, Theatre and Solidarity for Europe Day in Phnom Penh

Editorial team
36 minutes ago
5 min read

The 16th charity concert of Musica Felice, Phnom Penh’s international choir, brings together music, theatre and solidarity for Europe Day.

There are evenings that transcend the simple spectacle. On Sunday 10 May 2026, the Sofitel Phnom Penh will host, for the sixteenth time, the annual charity concert of Musica Felice, Phnom Penh’s international choir. Entitled The Great Adventures of Being Me, this evening of emotion celebrates individuality, imagination and the courage to be oneself—values that resonate far beyond the concert hall.

Miwako Fujiwara: A lifetime devoted to music

At the heart of this extraordinary human and artistic adventure stands one woman: Miwako Fujiwara, Japanese pianist and choir conductor, a key figure in Phnom Penh’s cultural life. According to Cambodge Mag, which devoted an in‑depth portrait to her in January 2025, Miwako studied piano and harpsichord at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 1989 to 1995 under the guidance of two renowned masters, Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot. She prepared the Docente Muzicus diploma there, the institution’s highest performance degree.

Her career has taken her to concert stages in about ten countries—Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, United States and Japan. In 1995 she founded the ensemble Il Quadrifoglio, active in concerts, recordings and television and radio productions. In 1997 she performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, demonstrating an artistic versatility that goes well beyond the classical repertoire. In 2002–2003 she joined Music Sacrum Leiden, where she performed Royal Entertainment with the Netherlands Historisch Dans en Theater Ensemble.

Settled in Phnom Penh since 2010, Miwako began by teaching piano while becoming involved in the local cultural scene. She joined Bella Voce, an ensemble that remained active for seven years, and contributed to the amateur theatre company Phnom Penh Players. But in 2016 she reached a decisive milestone by founding Musica Felice.

“For each new show I try to propose a slightly different programme in order to attract the audience, both regulars and newcomers.”

This constant artistic demand, combined with the humility that Cambodge Mag highlights on several occasions, largely explains the loyalty of Phnom Penh audiences.

Musica Felice: When diversity becomes harmony

Established in 2016, Musica Felice now brings together 37 volunteer singers from 20 different nationalities, all residents of Phnom Penh and united by the same passion for classical music. The choir is accompanied by Miwako on the piano and by a Khmer orchestra, sometimes joined by traditional Cambodian dancers, creating a unique alchemy between the East and the West.

Its repertoire spans several centuries of musical history—from Renaissance and Baroque to Romantic classics, including contemporary works for traditional Khmer instruments, a particularity underscored by Cambodge Mag. Over the years the choir has tackled ambitious scores such as Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo by Flanders and Horovitz, Les Misérables by Schönberg and Boublil, and the cycles Adiemus and Peace Maker by Karl Jenkins.

The French‑language magazine also notes the growing theatrical dimension of Musica Felice’s productions. At the 15th concert in October 2025, the hall was filled to the last seat and every section of the programme ended with a standing ovation. The repertoire of that evening illustrated the choir’s polyvalence perfectly: Asian classics including Cambodian folk songs, themes from Studio Ghibli films, Latin‑American rhythms and a retrospective of musicals.

Programme: Europe, cinema and Notre‑Dame de Paris

For this 16th edition, entitled The Great Adventures of Being Me, the audience will be invited on a musical journey between European classics and film soundtracks, culminating in a staged presentation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. On stage the orchestral colours, choral energy and theatrical narration will alternate in a production that celebrates individuality and imagination.

This concert is held within the framework of the celebrations of Europe Day and benefits from the support of the Delegation of the European Union to Cambodia, further underlining the resolutely international dimension of a project deeply rooted in Cambodia’s reality.

Ptea Clara: A home for children without families

Among the beneficiaries of this 16th concert is the association Ptea Clara—whose name means “Clara’s house” in Khmer. This structure, run by the French association D’une famille à l’autre, cares for around fifty children who have been entrusted, abandoned or placed in danger within families facing severe social hardship and who cannot be supported by local institutions. These children receive housing, food, education and medical care.

Ptea Clara also operates a day‑care centre hosting about ten very young children each day, allowing their mothers to pursue paid work in peace. Attentive nurses provide play‑based stimulation, balanced meals and a safe environment for the infants. It is a small‑scale structure, but its impact on the most vulnerable families in Phnom Penh is considerable.

Taramana: Twenty years in the heart of Boeng Salang

Taramana is a Franco‑Cambodian NGO founded in 2005, whose story began in a very personal way: support for the education of two Cambodian orphans, Tara and Mana—whose names gave rise to the association’s name. Officially recognised as an NGO in Cambodia in 2007 and registered in France under the 1901 law, Taramana now welcomes more than 200 children from the underprivileged neighbourhood of Boeng Salang in northern Phnom Penh.

Each day these children attend the Taramana Magdalena medical and educational centre, located near the slum. They alternate between their half‑day at public school and a half‑day at the centre, where they receive tutoring in Khmer, English and French, balanced meals, regular medical follow‑up and a wide range of sports and cultural activities—rugby, football, dance, guitar and Francophone theatre workshops with the troupe Les Petits chenapans.

Taramana operates in a context where poverty forces many families to sacrifice their children’s schooling. As the association explains on its website, sending a child to school actually represents a double financial burden for the poorest households: uniforms, supplies, transport and additional private tuition are unaffordable for many, not to mention the loss of the child’s contribution to the family income. It is precisely in these situations that Taramana steps in—on the condition that the child is regularly enrolled in the neighbouring public school.

Since 2019, Taramana has developed partnerships with the Institut Français du Cambodge (IFC) and the Bophana Centre, further broadening the cultural horizons available to the children. The association also prioritises beneficiaries’ health through vaccination programmes, the distribution of balanced meals and individual medical follow‑up. Its mission rests on three core values: local action, transparency and respect.