This week, we interviewed Gabriele Faja, owner and founder of Soundskool and The Piano Shop Cambodia. Gabriele is a lifelong musician with a master’s in piano from the Royal College of Music in London. In Phnom Penh, he’s a renowned pianist who focuses on organizing events and shows, in addition to running his businesses. As part of this effort, he’s an active member of the ICBA Italian Arts Committee, which has been very active as of late in supporting the growth of the arts community in Cambodia.

EuroCham: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up in the music business in Cambodia.

Gabriele: Sure, I was born in Italy into a musical family, and that was all I knew since I was a kid – concerts and competitions from a young age. I had a career in the UK but then after visiting Cambodia, I fell in love with the country and decided to stay. I quickly started getting involved in the music scene. I remember my first recital was at Meta House in 2011! I opened my first little showroom in 2012 just with pianos, basically just ordering for students and friends. This grew quickly and eventually led to forming a music school. It’s been a real ride, and I loved every minute of it.

EuroCham: Soundskool is one of EuroCham’s most recently joined members. Can you tell us the story behind the business?

Gabriele: Soundskool has locations in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and it focuses on music education, and retail of musical instruments. It is a recognized RSL exam center so our students can obtain grading certificates and it’s also the appointed distributor of Fender and Roland brands. We have approximately 1,500 student registrations per year spread over four school locations. Our newest campus in Toul Kork is the busiest, and we will shortly open a new BKK1 branch which will host a school, retail area, a piano showroom, and an Italian Bistrot with an outside event space for concerts and exhibitions.

That’s likely to be the largest branch for us, and that’s been our dream since the beginning, to have a multi-functional space like that. The Piano Shop Cambodia deals exclusively in acoustic pianos. We have a busy in-house technical team that specializes in transportation, tuning, repair, and concert rental. We have a showroom with Yamaha, Kawai, Schimmel, and set up for Steinway & Sons. Our ongoing Classical Concert Series at Raffles has been running for years, and we’re heavily involved in the yearly International Classical Music Festival. We also have our own Piano Competition for Soundskool students, which we plan to open to other schools and International competitors from the ASEAN countries.

EuroCham: The ICBA Arts Committee has been very active of late, hosting exhibitions and cultural nights. What is the main goal of this committee?

Gabriele: I founded the Italian Arts Committee with Carlo Santoro (Metaestetica) and Alessandro Mangano (AEC Architects) recently and together we’ve managed to participate and co-organize a lot of events, including installations, exhibitions, concerts, interviews, design talks, and gatherings. I adore working with them. They are true professionals in their fields – we are lucky to have them living in Phnom Penh. Our inspiration comes from our love for Italian culture, art, and design, which we are keen to help propagate here in Cambodia. That’s why we are members of the ICBA – Eurocham’s Italian business chapter.

EuroCham: What excites you about the local music and arts scene?

Gabriele: I find Phnom Penh to be vibrant and exciting, filled with local and international artists and musicians, and it’s only going to grow. It is reminiscent of the Paris of the 1920s, the European ‘expat’ capital at the time, although today it’s probably more like New York, Berlin, or Tokyo. But that’s how I like to think of it.

The visual arts scene, particularly in the realm of sculpture, installation, and painting, is experiencing a remarkable surge with the emergence of new galleries, alongside Meta House. We now have The Gallerist, Sra’Art, Chan Dina’s gallery, Factory, Bruno Levy, Sa Sa and many more. I’d personally like to highlight Dahlia Phirun, a Khmer surrealist artist who moved back to Cambodia from Philadelphia due to the growing artistic opportunities present in the country. I find her work exceptional, and I purchased two stunning paintings from her. She’s gained notoriety for her installations and sculptures also.

The music scene is booming for sure, and my focus is on classical events. I continue to work with Anton Isselhardt who curates our Classical Series and Festival, my recent fundraising recitals in support of the Kantha Bopha Foundation, classical concerts at the Institut Français and with the Italian Embassy in Bangkok who is supporting the Madama Butterfly Opera on December 10th this year.

EuroCham: Could you tell us about Madama Butterfly, the opera you are organizing in the fall?

Gabriele: I have encountered the occasional raised brow when I mention ‘Opera’ and ‘Cambodia’ in the same sentence. But contrary to belief, opera has a strong history in Cambodia. Let’s not forget that Cambodia has its very own ‘Cambodian Tenor’ Sethisak Khuon and Japanese mezzo-soprano Ai Iwasaki, both cast in Madama Butterfly. They are responsible for countless performances in Cambodia over many years. Neighboring capitals like Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok are big on Western classical arts. I don’t see why Phnom Penh would be different. Madama Butterfly is inevitable.

It’s true, we don’t have a resident orchestra, although I do want to highlight the incredible work of the Angkor Youth Orchestra (led by Ram Daravong and Tep Kunthearet) which is the closest Cambodia has, and with whom we’ve partnered many times. We will bring most of the orchestral players from abroad, but AYO is a key component. With over 70 performers which includes an orchestra, a choir, a full cast of singers, musical, technical, and stage direction, Madama Butterfly is not easy to put together.

In a way, it is similar to the SEA games. Look at what happened, it’s amazing. It gets done. So if that’s possible, I think we can make this happen. Opera and theater don’t have the same mass appeal and it’s certainly a niche audience, but as I mentioned it’s been done before, just not at this scale. I think someone needs to do it. This project would not be possible without the vision and dedication of an amazing team, which includes Ai Iwasaki, His Royal Highness Ravivaddhana Monipong Sisowath, Jacques Guichandut, Juveris Tenisons, and Director Vincenzo Grisostomi Travaglini.