For many years, I have followed the music of Bundit Ungrangsee. Of Chinese descent, he is the first Thai to have been invited to participate in many prestigious international conducting competitions.

Bundit began as a 14-year old boy who was so attracted to the songs of the Beatles that he enrolled in a guitar course at Siam Yamaha music school in Thailand. One day, he saw the performance of the great conductor, Zubin Mehta. He discovered that Mehta had left medical school to become a conductor and musician. He also became an inspiration for Bundit.

In 1998, he received the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship and was invited to be one of only three Conducting Fellows at Tanglewood Music Center where he was mentored by Jorma Panula and Seiji Ozawa. Earlier in the same year, he was among nine young conductors from around the world to participate in the Sibelius Academy Conducting Masterclass at Carnegie Hall led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In September 2002 Ungrangsee was named Laureate and Co-Winner in the inaugural Maazel-Vilar International Conductors' Competition, held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The prize, awarded by a distinguished panel of judges including Lorin Maazel, Kyung-Wha Chung, Glenn Dicterow and Krzysztof Penderecki, recognizes him as first among the 362 competitors from 40 countries in the competition. At the conclusion of the competition, Maazel told the audience, "You are seeing the future of classical music."

In April 2004, Arabesque Records released an album of Mozart flute concertos conducted by Mr. Ungrangsee, featuring renowned soloist Paula Robison and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. The lush album, entitled "Mozart in Love," was produced by Grammy-award winning producer Adam Abeshouse. Just recently, in early 2005, Ungrangsee was invited to become a Music Ambassador for Music in ME, an outreach organization that brings music to children in the Middle East. In the summer of 2005 the Thai government awarded Bundit the title of "National Artist" or "Silapathorn" in recognition of his global achievements.

In November 2005, Ungrangsee was invited to actively take part in developing Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra into a world-class musical institution. He has been given the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra.

His previous conducting posts include: Cover Conductor of New York Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of Charleston Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Utah Symphony; Music Director and Conductor of the Young Musicians Foundation (YMF) Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles; Apprentice Conductor of the Oregon Symphony under James DePreist; and Assistant Conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony.

Bundit Ungrangsee is now a highly sought-after international conductor, with a career spanning 5 continents: North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. He has appeared in front of leading orchestras such as Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York, Utah Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and most recently, the prestigious La Fenice Theatre in Venice. Future engagements include concerts with Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo (Italy), Auckland Symphony Orchestra (New Zealand), Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia (including an Asian tour), Malaysian Philharmonic, Victoria Symphony (Canada), Cukurova Symphony (Turkey), Busan Philharmonic (South Korea), Nagoya Philharmonic (Japan) and Copenhagen Philharmonic (Denmark).

Among the world-class artists with whom he has worked are Maxim Vengerov, Mikhail Pletnev, Julia Migenes, Joseph Allessi, the LaBeque Sisters, Paula Robison, Christopher Parkening, Christine Brewer and Elmer Bernstein.

The Los Angeles Times has reviewed Ungrangsee as "commanding calm and poise...exhibiting impressive assurance on the podium...His reading unwound unhurriedly and clearly, the patchwork drama made cogent and all the details noted, including pianissimo dynamics." The Charleston Post and Courier reviewed Ungrangsee as "display[ing] a sure touch…leading a glorious performance-a model of rhythmic drive, dynamic control and pinpoint accuracy….delivering a truly thrilling performance that left the audience breathless…. His reading, from beginning to end, was filled with deft touches that bespoke much attention to detail and phrasing."