10-Year Sponsorship Supporting Myanmar’s First Multi-Ethnic Orchestra and Children’s Choir
Committed to promoting unity, peace and harmony
Founded in 2014 by renowned British Chinese-German concert violinist and conductor, Sebastian See-Schierenberg with the aim to provide international level training to talented young Myanmar musicians,
‘Orchestra for Myanmar’ is comprised of musicians from diverse backgrounds and different ethnic groups in the country. We hope the orchestra will become a cultural Ambassador for Myanmar and become a symbol of unity and success for the country.
The new children choir, launched in March 2016, is composed of talented young children from monastic schools and orphanages in the Yangon region as well as international students from International School of Yangon. The choir has been coached and led by Choir Director Ms Rebekka Jensen. We hope that, like the Orchestra, the Choir will bring children from different backgrounds together to create a mutually enriching experience, and will offer a chance to build friendships and inspirational exchanges across different cultures.
Inspired by the founder’s vision for the orchestra to become a symbol of a peaceful, united and successful future for the country, Marga Youth Foundation has pledged a 10-year commitment to support the ‘Orchestra for Myanmar and the Children’s Choir.’
To date, ‘Orchestra for Myanmar’ had made a number of public and private concerts, and performed at special events since Marga’s pledge of long-term sponsorship.
On March 11, 2016, Orchestra for Myanmar had their special concert marking its second year of the orchestra and the debut performance of the new Children’s Choir at the Strand Hotel. The Orchestra had overwhelming response from the public since the announcement of the concert. The Children’s Choir unveiled the concert with the famous Myanmar song “A Mae Poke Ket Lwal”. The room was packed with around 1000 audience composed of dignitaries from different embassies, international bodies and local communities.
On September 29, 2016, Orchestra for Myanmar had another public concert in two sessions due to overwhelming response from the local and international communities at the Yangon Gallery. The concert included special performances by guest musicians from the Taipei University of Education (Taiwan) and guest appearance by American accordionist Rodger French.
On November 17, 2016, the year-end public concert by Orchestra for Myanmar and the new Children’s Choir was held at the ballroom of Sule Shangri-La Hotel.
The concert was a truly international fest of music with the Orchestra of Myanmar, plus the Strand singers and international guest musicians from Malaysia, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States.
The New Children’s Choir delivered another inspirational performance which was their second public appearance. The 800-seat-ballroom was fully packed with additional over 200 standing audience.
Together with Orchestra for Myanmar, Marga Group aims to build a professionally skilled orchestra and children’s choir, but most importantly we will build capacity, self-confidence, and nurture inclusiveness and harmony.
“We are thrilled to be able to participate in such a meaningful cause to nurture the young musical talents in this country. We want to fuel up their creativity and standards towards an internationally recognized professional orchestra. We hope the ‘Orchestra for Myanmar’ would instill a new spirit and energy into Myanmar-born compositions for a wider audience from around the world in the near future.”
Eliott Suen
Executive Director, Marga Group