Opera Siam presents an evening of searingly romantic music to honour the memory of our beloved Queen Mother, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. Titled "A Romantic Evening In Memory Of Her Majesty The Queen Mother Sirikit Piano Concerto", the concert will take place today at 7.30pm at Thailand Cultural Centre. The event also features the world première of the Maha Rajini Song Cycle.
For Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's 72nd Birthday, HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana commissioned a special gift from composer Somtow Sucharitkul -- the creation of a romantic concerto for the instrument Her Majesty herself had loved and played ever since childhood, the piano.
Her Majesty specified to Somtow that she favoured the Russian style of piano concerto above all and Somtow started his Queen Sirikit Concerto very much in that tradition. But as the different movements evolved, different aspects of Her Majesty's life began to play a role -- the second movement is a tender andante that segues into a wild kaleidoscope of the colours and sounds of Paris in the 1950s.
In the final Rondo, the music touches on the arts and sounds of Thailand and blends them all into the texture of the romantic concerto. Thailand's prodigious pianist, composer and conductor Trisdee Na Patalung will be the soloist for this soaring work.
In celebration of Her Late Majesty's life, Opera Siam presents this work in a public performance by the Siam Sinfonietta and Thailand's genius conductor and pianist Trisdee under the baton of the composer.
The concert also features Ekachai Maskulrat (cello), Nadlada Thamtanakom (soprano), Witwisit Hiranyawongkul (voice and lyricist), Punnika Maheumuang (soprano) and the award-winning youth orchestra Siam Sinfonietta.
Other works include a new song cycle, Maha Rajini – Love Songs For A Queen, sung by Thailand's leading opera singer Nadlada Thamtanakom.
The music for the cycle came to the composer in a dream in which he saw a soprano singing in heaven showering gold on the people below.
The songs are set to the words of Baudelaire, Byron and Sunthorn Phu in their original languages, and feature a heart-stopping solo by world-class Thai cellist Ekachai Maskulrat.
Other works will be featured as well as solos from Love Of Siam star Witwisit Hiranyawongkul and 14-year-old singer Punnika Maheumuang.
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