Cello Concert by Dr Beat Richner

Cambodia Attractions

This cello concert, as the name implies, is a unique show presented by Dr. Beat Richner – a Swiss national who is fondly referred to as Beatocello by Cambodians. Born in 1947 in Zurich, he received his medical degree in 1973 and worked as a pediatric specialist at the Zurich Children’s Hospital before he came to Cambodia in 1975 as per the request of the Red Cross to work at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital. Though he was forced to return to Switzerland because of Khmer Rouge invasion, he came back to Cambodia in 1991 and founded the Kantha Bopha Foundation in 1992. Started with 68 local staff and 16 foreign staff, the foundation currently employs more than 2,000 Cambodian staff and has only one expatriate staff member other than the doctor.

The foundation now operates five hospitals that render free medications and healthcare services to children in the country. They include the Jayavarman VII Hospital in Siem Reap, where Beat Richner conducts solo cello performances that are more than just a source of entertainment, primarily focused to raise funds as well as awareness of child health care in the country. Donations received, along with funding from the Cambodian government, Swiss government and large private Swiss donors, are solely utilized to run these hospitals that admit more than 200 children on daily basis, in addition to performing 50 surgical procedures and providing about 2,000 vaccinations.

On recognizing his services for poor children, Dr Beat Richner was awarded the title of ‘Swiss of the Year’ in 2003.