In Cambodia, HIM Sophy is the first (and thus far only) classically trained composer who integrates traditional Cambodian music with Western Classical music. This integration resulted in a special melody, harmony, polyphony, and orchestration which he has been using since his stay at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied with very famous professors such as Roman Ledenjov, the very influential musicologist Yuri Kholopov, orchestrator Nikolai Rakov and the non-conformist Edison Denisov. HIM Sophy studied piano with prof. Bogomov Igor Lvovitch and prof. Rima Anatolievna Khananina.
After his studies, HIM Sophy has collaborated with many other well known artists. In 2001 he worked closely together with Banchong Kosal Wat for the file No Home Too Far. HIM Sophy got international recognition as a composer of film music in 2006 with the film Cambodia Dreams by Stanley Harper.
When HIM Sophy was in New York on a prestigious grant from ACC New York in 2001, Dr. Chinary Ung, a famous Cambodian/ American composer living in California, helped him survey and observe American music culture. In the years to follow, Chinary Ung and HIM Sophy regularly exchanged views on the Cambodian music.
From 2002 – 2007 he worked together with Catherine Filloux, an award winning American Playwright who was the librettist of Where Elephants Weep, a Cambodian Rock Opera. This opera was directed by Robert McQueen and produced by John Burt who came up with the original idea of the opera. This innovative opera can still be viewed on Broadway on Demand.
Scot Stafford composer and co-founder of the award winning Music Pollen Group was the music director of Where Elephants Weep. He also collaborated with HIM Sophy in expanding the traditional Cambodian (diatonic) gong into a chromatic gong and creating a chromatic roneat (see pictures at the bottom of the HOME PAGE).
The main singers in Where Elephants Weep were Marc de la Cruz (as Sam) and Marie France Arcilla (as Bhopa, in the performaces in Lowell, California) and Diane de Boer - Phelan (as Bhopa, in all other performaces).
For HIM Sophy’s second big work, Bangsokol, A Requiem for Cambodia (2014), the director was Rithy Phanh, who is well known for his documentory films, (including his most recent Meeting with Pol Pot), while Gidon Obarzanek was the stage director. Trent Walker was the librettist (see also the INFO on the page MUSIC -for -Sale). The complete libretto is available here.. The conductor was grammy-nominated Andrew Cyr, director of the New York Metropolis Ensemble.
For A Bend in the River (2012) and Pka Sla (2016), HIM Sophy collaborated with Sophiline Cheam Shapiro who was among the first generation of dancers educated at Phnom Penh's School of Fine Arts after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Ms. Shapiro is also an educator, who – apart from commissioning these beautiful pieces of music- was also the choreographer. Her husband, John Shapiro, was the producer of these two pieces that were performed by the Sopholine Art Ensemble. The production of A Bend in the River also benefited from collaboration with the famous Cambodian- American sculptor, Sopheap Pich.
In 2019, Diana Wege, a famous American visual artist, invited HIM Sophy (and three other composers), to make a contribution to her project Earth Requiem, in which she combines painting, literature and music. This project is a response to climate change, pollution, resource depletion, and nuclear capabilities. HIM Sophy first composed a symphony combined with choir and traditional Cambodian instruments, which he also rearranged for a small ensemble. Diana Wege's project was delayed due to the Covid 19 pandemic and HIM Sophy's version for small ensemble is now scheduled to be performed in 2025.
More recently, Gwyneth Bravo, professor musicology at NY University of Abu Dhabi, has researched HIM Sophy's music and published about Memory from Darkness and Bangsokol: A requiem for Cambodia. She also published a biographical entry of HIM Sophy's at Oxford Music Online.