khmer sources

Cambodia’s number one, Cambodia’s solo uno—that’s the only tenor—drives up in a basic maroon Toyota Camry with pamphlets of his latest national concert strewn over the back seat and beams a dentist’s bankruptcy through the window. And it sounds crassly un-operatic to say, but I will, that if you went to a show for just Sethisak Khuon’s face, and not the Rachmaninoff or the Schubert, you’d be excused.

Two weeks prior, Sethisak had slowly raised arms in the tenor’s pose, in a slightly too big dinner jacket, and impressed at the 2005 Phnom Penh International Arts Festival at Chaktomuk Theatre. The Bangkok Post said he "... graced the festival with powerful vocals gained from years of overseas training." He graced the festival with talent too.

But why does Sethisak sing? And in Russian, Italian, French and German, at that? Why does he admire Franco Corelli, or the opera of Puccini and Verdi? In the land of Bassac music, high-octave love songs and karaoke videos, doesn’t it seem somewhat peculiar to be pursuing a very much Western-derived art form, when there are tenors galore in Europe?
"I sing Western music ... a respected art form ... because I am interested in learning and understanding the world. I also appreciate the language of this music and through it, I will understand other cultures. To understand one culture is not enough," Sethisak explains.

"The Arts are not especially appreciated in Cambodia ... but as this nation grows up perhaps the people will pay the Arts more respect, as they understand it more. Intelligent Cambodians—educated Cambodians—and foreigners support the Arts; the rest of the country is still learning.
"I don’t think it is difficult to compete against other international singers, because throughout the world there are a lot of different voices and a lot of different personalities. Besides, whatever you love to do is good. This is my passion," he says.

Sethisak’s passion has taken him to places far removed from his home and his family in Phnom Penh. In 1988, at 18, he left high school with a distinction in music. The Cambodian Government flew him into the cold to study piano, composition and music theory at the Tchaikovsky Professional Music College in Moscow.
It was rather dark.

"You could see the sun only a little during the year and everything you wore was very heavy. I missed Cambodia a lot at first ... if there had been any chance to come home ..." You would have taken it? "Yes. But once I was in school and I was busy with my studies, I wasn’t thinking about home as much." He was too busy discovering his voice and winning awards. "In my music classes, my voice was naturally louder than the others. My teacher said, ‘Sethisak! You have such a wonderful voice!’ This teacher told me I should try voice classes because they needed a voice like mine."

As it happens, the voice Sethisak revealed proved a winner. In 1996, he came third in the national La Bella Voce competition and then won Best Russian Vocal Performance; a first for anyone from South, East or Southeast Asia.
"You know, when my classmates and I had parties, and I used to sing in Russian, they’d cry." Out of sorrow? Or envy? "Well, it was very competitive ..."
Sethisak lived in Russia, through the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, through some bitterly cold winters, for eight years, graduating in 1996 with a Bachelor Degree in Music Theory and Composition, a Certificate in Voice and a fluency in Russian. With assistance from sponsor/producer Fred Frumberg and "UNESCO and friends", Sethisak then traveled through Western Europe in pursuit of further backing in order to continue his vocal training. "I went to Austria, and then Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris ... I had contacts, but I didn’t find sponsorship until I returned to Cambodia."

An American freelance journalist was sitting in one of Sethisak’s concerts, a "tremendous fan" of opera, the journalist asked Sethisak if he would like to go to the United States. "Well, you know, I was looking for a sponsor! He hadn’t realized there were any opera singers in Cambodia!"
Across the Bay Bridge in Berkeley, San Francisco, Sethisak studied from 1998-2001 with Dickson Titus—teacher of the critically acclaimed American soprano Ruth Ann Swenson. But again, with sponsorship drained, Sethisak flew back to Cambodia to begin the process of fund-raising anew.

And it is about now he chokes on the pineapple juice I’d ordered. "It’s not good for my voice," Sethisak splutters. I have a terrible sinking feeling; I’ve ruined Cambodia’s only tenor’s vocal chords, and with fruit. Water is called for; the throat is calmed, the guilt is quashed and we’re all of a sudden in Italy—he’d found some financial assistance.
Sethisak remembers 2004 and his time in "the city of Verdi" as if he were right that moment sipping a caffe con leite in the local piazza. With perrrrfectly rolled r’s he says, "I lived next to Torino in Torre Pelice. I studied in Busseto ... with the legendary tenor Carlo Bergonzi at the Accademia Verdiana."

This is no mean feat: the cost for three months, or one term, with "The Tenor’s Tenor" is $US30,000, with no more than 15 pupils accepted for each term.
"Singers from all around the world study at the Accademia. I made a lot of friends there ... and a lot of progress. It was good, it was really good. I learned Italian you know, but the old Italian language, the real Italian sung in opera."
And Bergonzi? There is a peal of laughter: a peal forte. "He is very, very generous and very nice, but also very tough," Sethisak admits. "I was one of the best tenors in his academy during my term. He liked me very much because I was from Cambodia, and that was unheard of. He’d never had a student from Cambodia."

"But he said I not only had a voice, I had a head. He said to the other [students] that that was a big compliment. It was a very big compliment for me. He said to the others, ‘You all have a voice, but you don’t have a head like Sethisak. You should study like Sethisak!’"
If he sounds at all conceited, think about what Sethisak has achieved and you’ll realize it’s perfectly deserved pride, not vanity. He’s not making money from this either: "I don’t have another job, I live by singing … and I hardly make ends meet. I am constantly seeking sponsorship."

If he did have the loi, say $60,000, he’d love to return to Busseto for two further terms training with Bergonzi. And if he can swing a fellowship, there could be the opportunity to study in Germany this year. "There is still a lot to learn you know, but you need money," he says. "You can’t catch a shark with a shrimp."
"I know that in Cambodia I will be poor with this knowledge, but at least I try. I do what I love to do."