Chaiphat Tripipitsiriwat

Chaiphat Tripipitsiriwat, founder of the Thailand International Clarinet Academy, began his musical studies at Assumption College with Jakkrit Ruenvuth and Wichai Yongvanitjit. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance with second-class honors from the College of Music, Mahidol University, where he studied with Cassandra Fox Percival and Grzegorz Grzeszczyk. He later completed a master’s degree at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège in Belgium with Eddy Vanoosthuyse, former Principal Clarinet of the Brussels Philharmonic, supported by scholarships from Classical Music Promotion under the Patronage of HRH Princess Galyani and the Conseil Social Règlement d’Octroi. His honors include the Best Artist Performance Award at the Sixth West Pomeranian Clarinet Festival in Szczecin, Poland; first runner-up at the 2013 Thailand World Music Championship; second runner-up at the Thailand International Wind Ensemble Competition; and a bronze award at the Eighth International Music Competition and Festival for Soloists and Chamber Groups in 2016. Chaiphat has performed at festivals in Thailand, Belgium, China, France, Japan, Peru, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Vietnam, and toured 20 Chinese cities with Australian International Productions in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. He is a performing artist for Royal Global, Vandoren Paris, and Silverstein Works, serves as Thailand Country Chair of the International Clarinet Association, and is Band Director at Satit Panyapiwat Institute of Management Demonstration School. In 2019, he co-founded the SPIM Winds Symphony. Under his direction, the ensemble earned a bronze medal in the 2020 Valaya Alongkorn Music Competition; another bronze medal there in 2021; the 2022 Thailand Symphonic Band Contest championship; a silver medal in the World Association of Marching Show Bands competition; second runner-up in the 2022 Valaya Alongkorn under-15 wind ensemble category; a silver medal in its under-18 concert band category; and a gold medal in the Student Arts and Crafts Competition for the M.1–M.3 wind ensemble category. In 2023, SPIM Winds earned a bronze medal at the Thailand Flute Festival, a silver medal at Music and Marching Arts International Thailand KKU Open, and another Student Arts and Crafts Competition gold medal. In 2024, the ensemble received a gold medal at the North Eastern Winds Festival.

Chaiphat Tripipitsiriwat performs on the Royal Global Firebird Soprano clarinet, paired with a Royal Global Firebird barrel and a Vandoren B40 mouthpiece. He is also an artist for Vandoren Paris and Silverstein Works. He finds the instrument produces an "excellent sound and is easy to control," whether for "intonation, playing high notes, or blending in an ensemble & Solo." He appreciates Royal Global for creating "an excellent, high-quality instrument with reasonable pricing," calling it a "superb choice." For his own work, the instrument has "significantly boosted my confidence to perform and made playing much more enjoyable" — and for his students, it serves as "an excellent example… showing that high-quality instruments can be found at a reasonable price."