Conducting & Artistic Leadership
Conducting & Artistic Leadership
For Dr. Chaipruck Mekara, conducting is the meeting point of artistry, education, and human connection. Whether leading professional orchestras, university ensembles, youth musicians, or international festivals, he believes every rehearsal and performance should inspire musical excellence, artistic curiosity, and meaningful collaboration.
Artistic Leadership
For more than two decades, Dr. Mekara has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Chiangmai Philharmonic Orchestra and Chiangmai Philharmonic Band, developing orchestral and wind ensemble projects that contribute to the musical life of Northern Thailand. Under his direction, these ensembles have presented programmes spanning major symphonic and wind repertoire, choral-orchestral works, contemporary music, and new compositions, alongside educational and community-oriented performances.
His work as a conductor extends beyond the podium. Dr. Mekara has led educational and community performances designed to bring ensemble music to wider audiences, directed festival concerts combining contemporary and established repertoire, and appeared as a guest conductor in international festival and educational contexts in Asia. Each engagement reflects his conviction that the conductor's responsibility extends beyond the score to the musicians, the audience, and the broader community that music serves.
Whether working with orchestras, university ensembles, wind bands, or young musicians, Dr. Mekara brings to every rehearsal attentive listening, clarity of intention, and respect for the collaborative nature of music-making. His conducting is closely connected to his work as a composer and educator, with each role informing and enriching the others.
Featured Conducting Gallery
Conducting Orchestra
Conducting Wind Symphony
Festival Concert
Rehearsal
Guest Conducting
Youth Ensemble
Selected Conducting Activities
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Chiangmai Philharmonic Orchestra
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Chiangmai Philharmonic Band
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Chiangmai Ginastera International Music Festival
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Thailand Youth Symphony Orchestra
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Chiangmai Winds
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Payap University Choir
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Rising Star International Arts Festival
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China ASEAN Festival Youth Orchestra
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Chiangmai Symphony Orchestra & Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra
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Chiangmai Philharmonic Orchestra & Shanghai Chinese Orchestra
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Chiang Mai Concert Band Festival — Guest Conductor, October 2026
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International guest conducting, adjudication, and educational residencies
Guest Conducting & Collaborations
Dr. Mekara welcomes invitations from orchestras, wind ensembles, universities, festivals, competitions, workshops, and educational institutions internationally. He values collaborative music-making that combines musical preparation, attentive listening, and meaningful engagement with performers and audiences. Whether working with established ensembles or guiding young musicians through ensemble performance, he brings the same attentiveness, generosity, and artistic rigour to each engagement. He is particularly drawn to projects that foster mentorship, cross-cultural exchange, and the discovery of new music, and welcomes opportunities to contribute his experience and perspective to institutions and communities that share these values.
Selected Conducting Repertoire
Over the course of more than two decades, Dr. Chaipruck Mekara has conducted a broad repertoire encompassing orchestral masterworks, concertos, choral-orchestral repertoire, musical theatre, and wind symphony works. His performances range from Classical and Romantic repertoire to twentieth-century and contemporary compositions, reflecting his work across professional, educational, festival, and community settings.
The following selection represents major and representative works from his conducting career.
Symphonic Masterworks
- Ludwig van Beethoven — Egmont Overture
- Ludwig van Beethoven — Symphony No. 5
- Ludwig van Beethoven — Symphony No. 9
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — 1812 Festival Overture
- Antonín Dvořák — Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
- Franz Schubert — Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished”
- Gustav Holst — Mars from The Planets
- Georges Bizet — Carmen Suite No. 1
String Orchestra
- Benjamin Britten — Simple Symphony, Op. 4
- Ottorino Respighi — Ancient Airs & Dances Suite No. 3
- Peter Warlock — Capriol Suite
Concertos
- Sergei Rachmaninoff — Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
- Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15
- Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
- Edvard Grieg — Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
- Frédéric Chopin — Piano Concerto No. 1
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Piano Concerto No. 20
- Felix Mendelssohn — Violin Concerto in E minor
- Joaquín Rodrigo — Concierto de Aranjuez
- Johann Nepomuk Hummel — Trumpet Concerto in E-flat
- Launy Grøndahl — Trombone Concerto
Choral & Vocal Works
- George Frideric Handel — Messiah
- Carl Orff — Carmina Burana
- Johann Sebastian Bach — Magnificat in D major
Wind Symphony Repertoire
- George Gershwin — Rhapsody in Blue
- Gustav Holst — First Suite in E-flat
- Gustav Holst — Second Suite in F
- Modest Mussorgsky — Pictures at an Exhibition
- Maurice Ravel — Boléro
- Leonard Bernstein — Overture to Candide
- Alfred Reed — A Festive Overture
- Alfred Reed — El Camino Real
- James Barnes — Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Niccolò Paganini
- Eric Whitacre — October
- Eric Whitacre — Sleep