THE CREATOR
Composer, producer and choral conductor. Silpathorn Artist (Music, 2020).
For more than three decades, Kaiwan has brought Thai musical imagination into dialogue with contemporary composition, film, theatre and choral performance. Manohra carries that lifelong exploration onto the international stage.
Discuss a presentation or collaborationKaiwan began studying voice at the College of Dramatic Arts at the age of ten, with Motoko Funakoshi. He sang with the Thailand Youth Choir and later studied voice at Chulalongkorn University. He won the Best Song Award at the Thailand Popular Song Festival in 1985 and 1986.
Meeting Bruce Gaston led Kaiwan to the Fong Naam Contemporary Music Ensemble and to composition studies that crossed classical, Thai traditional, jazz, electronic and contemporary music. He performed with Fong Naam at Expo ’86 in Vancouver and subsequently in the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and the United States.
From 2005 to 2012, Kaiwan was conductor, composer and arranger for the Suanplu Chorus at the invitation of Dusadee Phanomyong. Works including “Ngu Kin Hang” and “Phama Thung Le” helped shape its distinctive Thai choral repertoire during a period of international competition recognition. He is a co-founder, composer and conductor of Siang Thai Dynamics.
In Manohra, Kaiwan brings together his work as a composer, lyricist, producer and music director. The legend becomes a meeting place for Thai musical thought, orchestral and choral writing, and contemporary theatre. International presentations and artistic collaborations form the next chapter of the work.
Biography adapted from the artist’s supplied 2026 CV.