SMPAA

Ted Farraday

Vice President of Embassy Education Group
Direct Leadership of SMPAA

Ted Farraday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He holds a BA degree from Princeton University and an MA degree from New York University. Most recently, he was the Vice President for Education Programs at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan where oversaw both an arts high school for 500 artistically gifted arts students and a summer Arts Camp program for 2500 students ages 8-18. He is a member of the Board of the Arts Schools Network in the USA. He has over 40 years experience in education that include many years of teaching as well as administrative work. A former pianist and violist, Ted is a lover of classical music, especially opera. He has traveled and studied in Europe and South America and has always been committed to the importance of arts education for all students worldwide.

Joseph Duong

Director of Music Born in Vietnam, Joseph started his piano studies at a young age at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory. He continued his education at North Central University (MN, USA) and received his Master of Music in Piano Performance at the University of Central Arkansas (AR, USA), where he studied with award-winning Steinway artist Dr. Neil Rutman. Recently, Joseph was on the faculty at the University of Central Arkansas where he taught jazz and improvisation. Joseph has more than a decade of experience with music teaching and in management at the director level. As a performer, he has shared the stage with renowned artists such as John Elefante, Tom Varner, Angela Primm, BJ Putnam, and People & Songs, to name a few.

ALEXANDER TU

Director of Performing Arts

Alexander Tú is a choreographer, artist dancer and educator with over 20 years of experience beginning with hip-hop dance and evolving to commercial street dance at industry standards. From 2004 to 2010, he was the executive director of Kaba Modern (University of California, Irvine) and of KM LEGACY (Los Angeles, California), and has been invited to perform at many prestigious venues throughout the US such as the ESPY’s awards, World of Dance and Hip-Hop International. Having completed his doctorate at Loma Linda University (California) under the Allied Health Professions, for occupational therapy, he taught hip-hop dance at Academy of Dance Studios (Tustin, California) and enjoyed working with children seeing their growth, development and understanding of movement in correlation to sound. In Vietnam, Alexander has been a judge on VTV6’s reality TV show ‘Star Academy/Học Viện Ngôi Sao’ Season 1; and together with Thanh Bui, he co-founded Dance Faculty, as part of Soul Music and Performing Arts Academy. He is also -Founder & Managing Director of The LYRICIST Dance Company with group LYRICÍST which was the first Vietnamese dance group to win Super 24 in Singapore in its history.

JENNY LUU

Director of Dance

From a very young age, Ms. Jenny Luu, SMPAA’s Director of Dance had a passion for Dance and working with children.

After graduating from the Ho Chi Minh Vocational Ballet School, Jenny was awarded a full 5-year scholarship to study at GITIS - RATI, the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Moscow, Russia, where she majored in Professional Teaching Classical Ballet. After obtaining her Master’s Degree in 2008, Jenny returned to Vietnam to contribute to the development of the ballet and dance industry in the country. She has taught and trained many students to become professional dance artists. Some of whom have become soloists in the HBSO and dancers in professional dance companies.

In 2016, she started to learn the teacher training program of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (ISTD) and became the first teacher in Vietnam to obtain ISTD Teaching qualifications for both Imperial Classical Ballet and Modern Jazz.

NGUYEN DO ANH TUAN

Director of Performance Arts – Department of Music

Nguyen Do Anh Tuan is the Director of Performing Arts of the Music Faculty at the Soul Music and Performing Arts Academy (SMPAA) in Ho Chi Minh City. A summa cum laude graduate of the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Mr. Tuan is an accomplished arranger and composer. His major area of concentration while at Berklee was Composition and Contemporary Writing and Production with a minor in Conducting. Since his return to Vietnam, he has received the “Outstanding Conductor Award” at the Chorus Festival “Vietnam - Heroic Country”. He has participated in numerous productions of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera. His compositions for the orchestra and other chamber ensembles have been featured and premiered in numerous concerts in Ho Chi Minh City. He has been the Musical Director of various notable events including the ASEAN “Be Our Rock and Pop Soul” Music Competition 2015, RED NIGHT - FIRE, LOVE, MUSIC, Gala “Xin Chao Vietnam”, “Art for Hearts” Gala event, “Bong Hinh” Ao Dai Fashion show and numerous productions of Soul Live Project, including the Trinh Cong Son music show “Toi Di Tim Toi”. He is the mind behind the success of the “Music in the Dark” series, where the audience experience live music in complete and total darkness along with the performers.

BUI TRIEU YEN

Senior Curriculum Advisor – Head of Voice 

Bui Trieu Yen holds a Master of Arts (Vocal Performance) degree from the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory. She was senior vocal teacher at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory, Culture and Arts College, National College of Education – Ho Chi Minh City. She was a vocal trainer for quite a few television reality shows such as Vietnam Idol, Vietnam’s Got Talent, The Winner Is (Vietnamese version), etc and other popular Vietnemese singers. Currently, she is the Senior Curriculum Advisor at Embassy Education Group and Head of Voice at Soul Music & Performing Arts Academy. She is also a trained Master Educator with Kindermusik Vietnam.

NGUYEN DUC ANH

Head of Piano Duc-Anh Nguyen was born into a musical family in Hanoi, Vietnam. He started learning piano at the age of seven at the Vietnam National Academy of music. Since 2013, he has continued his study at Freiburg Music University Germany. Between 2015 – 2017 he completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree with distinction for piano performance under the instruction of Professor Tibor Szász and Professor Éric Le Sage. In recent years, Duc Anh won a prize from the “Hanoi Chopin Association” at the 2nd International Piano Competition in Hanoi in 2012. From then to 2014 he won the second prize (1st prize not awarded) in the “Alkan-Zimmerman International Piano Competition” in Athens, Greece. During this time, he worked in Masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Robert Hill, Denis Pascal, and Bernhard Wulff. Duc Anh was also a guest artist at the Autumn International Festival in Ho Chi Minh City in 2015; the Gina Bachauer Music Festival in Corfu, Greece; and the Long Lake Festival in Lugano, Switzerland. He was invited to perform with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Hanoi Chamber Orchestra, and Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra. At the end of 2017, he was one of the four founders of the first Vietnamese Classical Music Startup named “Maestoso”. Duc-Anh Nguyen is known as one of the leading pianists in his country. As an enthusiastic and passionate musician, Duc-Anh has always desired to perform uncommon but high-quality works by forgotten composers. He was the first person who introduced Charles-Valentin Alkan’s piano works to Vietnamese audiences. He is also honored to be the first Vietnamese Blüthner Artist. Since 2020, he has been working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as the Head of Piano at Soul Music and Performing Arts Academy.

NGUYEN LE MAI ANH

Head of Violin

Ms. Nguyen Le Mai Anh began learning
Piano and Violin at the age of 4. Ms. Mai
Anh was accepted to Vietnam National
Academy of Music and had officially pursued
Violin studies when she was 6. After 16 

years of majoring in Western Musical
Instrumental Performance - Violin, Ms. Mai Anh has successfully completed the
Undergraduate Study program with a High
Distinction degree. Throughout her musical journey, she has had many opportunities to study with top violinists from all over the world. Since the age of 15, she has performed with many orchestras in Vietnam and overseas, including leading Vietnamese orchestras such as Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Vietnam National Academy of Music orchestra, Vietnam National Opera and Ballet orchestra, Ho Chi Minh City Ballet and Symphony Orchestra, etc. Furthermore, she has also performed
with many other orchestras at musical
festivals and events in Vietnam and other
countries including Thailand, Japan,
Germany, to name a few.
Ms. Mai Anh has had over 10 years of
experience in teaching violin for students
with various ages.

DANA DIFILIPPANTONIO

Head of Percussion Dana Difilippantonio is a widely experienced percussion performer, composer, educator, and contest judge. He has been teaching percussion and marching arts for nearly 20 years. Dana holds two separate bachelor’s Degrees, in both Music Education and Percussion Performance, as well as a master’s degree in Percussion Performance. As a performer, Dana has toured the US multiple times, with both the Glassmen and Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps, and was later an instructor for Carolina Crown. During his time in university Dana won multiple musical competitions, including the Johnstown Symphony Concerto Competition, where he performed Paul Creston’s “Concertino for Marimba” with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. Dana also spent six years performing with the U.S. Army National Guard Band and Lone Star Wind Orchestra in Texas. As an educator, Dana has taught hundreds of middle school, high school, and college students through drumlines, percussion groups, and private lessons. Before coming to Vietnam, Dana spent six years in Dallas, Texas, where he was the Director of the St. Philip’s Academy Percussion Ensemble, Adjunct Professor of Percussion for Collin College, and private percussion teacher for hundreds of students throughout the Dallas area. Dana is also a versatile composer, and has written music for percussion, film, and video games. He wrote his first publication, a marimba etude book titled “Marimba Synthesis” while earning his Master of Music. His Vibraphone solo “scenes for summertime” was awarded 2nd prize in the 2011 Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest. Since 2016, Dana has been creating music and sound effects for games, under the artist name of “Pixel Noise”. He has worked on multiple released games, most notably “Yaga” (2019), which has earned very positive reviews for its music and sound. Dana is currently the Head Trainer for the Vietnam National Marching Band program, and the Head of Percussion at Soul Music and Performing Arts Academy in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

HUYNH NGOC PHUONG NHI

Ms. Phuong Nhi, a choreographer and choreographer with 11 years of experience, stated, "The happiness that music and dance provide has helped me develop and better myself a lot." With a degree in early childhood education from Saigon University and 6 years of experience as a dance instructor at SMPAA, she knows how to effortlessly encourage, lead, and comprehend each of her pupils. Her major objective has always been to get teaching experience; she is now a member of the Lyricist dance group and has competed in dance contests both at home and abroad. This allows Ms. Phuong Nhi to get more experience, understand global dance trends, and develop her own brand.

LÊ NGỌC NIỂN

Mr. Lê Ngọc Niển is a talented guitarist with numerous impressive achievements in performance and teaching.

He began his career by winning the Encouragement Award at the “First Hanoi Open Guitar Competition" in 2012, and quickly established his name through a series of prestigious awards both domestically and internationally. In 2016, Mr. Niển was recognized as one of the two most outstanding young artists at “Vietnam Young Guitarist” program. In 2017, he won First Prize and the Gold Medal at the “National Competition for Young Talents in Art Training Institutions” organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Continuing his success, he secured Four Prize at “Saigon International Guitar Festival – South East Asia Competition” in 2018, and Third Prize at “Pattaya Competition” in 2019 in Thailand. Notably, he won First Prize in Guitar Ensemble category at the “Saigon International Guitar Festival - South East Asia Competition" in 2019.

Beyond competitions, Mr. Nien actively contributes as a Member of the Organizing Committee and Judges at “Saigon International Guitar Festival”. With a Master’s scholarship in Guitar Performance at Mahidol University, Thailand, he continues to expand his international performance career with concerts in Thailand, Philippines, Campuchia and other regions. Mr. Lê Ngọc Niển is also a regular guest on the “Gõ Cửa Âm Nhạc” program on HTV9 – Ho Chi Minh City Television.