The Siam Sinfonietta, a Bangkok orchestra of young musicians aged 11 to 25 years old, returned from an enormously successful German tour last weekend. In each of their concerts in Berlin, Munich and Dresden, they received repeated standing ovations and never-ending applause.
The group won an international youth music festival in Vienna last year, and another in Los Angeles this year.
Their opening German concert, broadcast by Deutsche Welle radio, in the historic Berlin Konzerthaus to an audience of 1,600 people accustomed to performances of the highest standard, was a triumph.
The performance began with three love songs composed by His Majesty the King, written in the 1940s and 1950s and influenced by American popular and film music of the time.
Next came six pieces from the ballet/opera Suriyothai, which are fusions of Eastern and Western influences. The story is Thai, of course, but Ayuthaya in the 16th century was a cosmopolitan city, and European influences can be heard in the music. The young Thai conductor Trisdee na Patalung flawlessly led the orchestra during this first part of the performance.
After the interval, the orchestra’s founder and director Somtow Sucharitkul brilliantly conducted the final and longest part of the program, Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony.
Enthusiastic applause, standing ovations, and endless curtain calls followed all of Siam Sinfonietta’s performances in Germany. As cultural representatives of Thailand, their achievements have been outstanding. Image/Bangkok Post