Showing 1 - 4 of 4
Wagner, Thai-style
Life, Michael Proudfoot, Published on 25/08/2016
» It was bold of Somtow Sucharitkul to take Opera Siam to Bayreuth in Germany, the spiritual home of Wagnerians, to perform the first opera of a cycle of operas that challenges Richard Wagner's monumental Ring cycle, performed every year in Bayreuth, as the world's longest opera cycle. Sucharitkul's The Silent Prince is the first of the 10 operas of his Dasjati cycle telling the "Ten Lives Of The Buddha", familiar stories in Buddhist culture. Somtow has already composed five of the operas, and hopes to have all 10 finished by 2020, ready for a complete cycle in a sort of Bangkok Bayreuth Festival.
Thai musicians charm Bavarian audiences
Life, Michael Proudfoot, Published on 16/08/2016
» Opera Siam and the Siam Sinfonietta are in Bayreuth, Germany, home each year to the famous Wagner Festival, for the European premiere of Somtow Sucharitkul's opera The Silent Prince, which forms part of the Bayreuth Annual Young Artists Festival. Before the opera opens members of the ensemble have performed concerts in Bayreuth and some small Bavarian towns nearby.
The Snow Dragon opera a deeply moving triumph
Life, Michael Proudfoot, Published on 26/03/2015
» Somtow Sucharitkul's latest opera, The Snow Dragon, received its world premiere in the US earlier this month to unanimous critical acclaim.
Somtow's new opera a resounding triumph
Life, Michael Proudfoot, Published on 19/08/2014
» The world premiere of Somtow Sucharitkul's Dan No Ura staged at the Thailand Cultural Centre on Aug 11 was the Thai composer's greatest operatic triumph to date. The opera deals with the Japanese sea battle of 1185, the final conflict in a war which effectively ended the power of the Taira samurai clan, close relatives of the imperial family of the time. They were defeated by the Genji, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, whose half-brother became the first Shogun, and power was effectively transferred to the Shoguns.