Thai-American author and composer Somtow Sucharitkul's opera The Silent Prince (Temiya Jataka) premiered in Houston five years ago to rave reviews. Last year, his restructured Mahajanaka Symphony, built on the success of his ballet-opera Suriyothai, was met with equal success. So with two down and another eight tales from the epic cycle of the Dasjati Jatakas (Ten Lives Of The Buddha) to go, Somtow's ballet-opera Bhuridat (The Dragon Lord), opening tomorrow at Thailand Cultural Centre, marks the third and the beginning of a five-year project to create and stage all episodes.
"One or two segments will be introduced every year," said the 62-year-old Somtow in a recent interview with Life. "In 2020 we'll do the entire piece in one 'Ten Lives Of The Buddha Festival'. The eventual show will be a displayed as a massive panorama and the festival will probably be repeated in three-year cycles, and eventually become a focus of Buddhist, operatic, balletic and 'classical music' travel plans for a large variety of interest groups around the world."
How did the idea for the Dasjati Jatakas project come about?
The Silent Prince, an opera commissioned by Opera Vista in Houston, is based on the first 10 Dasjati tales; the stories of the last 10 lives of Buddha, which are a central part of Buddhist culture and which illustrate the walls of thousands of temples in Thailand. This production was a major turning point for me, my first opera to be launched outside Thailand, and the reviews and sold-out attendance were amazing to me. A few years later, I adapted Mahajanaka, the second of the Dasjati tales, into a ballet opera — and again the production seemed to hit many favourable notes with the public. I found myself being inspired by Bhuridat, the sixth of the 10 tales, and as I was working on creating a ballet-opera based on this story, it occurred to me that I should do all 10 of them as a linked cycle of music dramas.
Such a cycle would, by definition, be the largest "classical music" work in history — because in the 400 years since the invention of opera, its biggest work is the iconic Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner — a cycle of four works performed over four days. Since any one of the 10 tales has a story as complex as the entire Ring Cycle, we're talking about the musical equivalent of those massive fantasy multi-volume works like Game Of Thrones or Lord Of The Rings.
Can you discuss the variety of theatrical forms to be incorporated into this, especially the ballet-opera? What's your plan for each episode?
A scene from The Silent Prince.
Ballet has always been an important element in grand opera. Usually, the ballet comes at a moment of lowered tension, giving the main singers a rest while a big dance number comes on. So yes, there have always been opera-ballets, and opera companies around the world have daughter ballet companies, from London to Hanoi.
Ballet-opera, which is a new hybrid I created for Suriyothai two years ago, is a different kettle of fish. Rather than ballet providing an element of relaxation, it is the means that propel the story, with opera breaking through in moments of heightened emotion. I'm experimenting with various percentages and in Bhuridat the first act has many balletic set pieces, whereas in the second act there are operatic ensembles and the ballet is mostly solo pieces.
Can you talk about your music writing process a little bit?
The music is ultimately what it is about. Ring Cycle is built of leitmotifs — little fragments of music that represent characters, emotions and feelings that are developed symphonically over long stretches of time. In a sense Dasjati's music is more episodic, but there is also an underlying leitmotivic structure. You will be able to track musical themes as they develop through 10 episodes — because it really is conceived as one big piece.
Can you talk about the cast members a little bit?
For Bhuridat, some characters are reprising their roles in the Thai production of The Silent Prince. The extraordinary Thai countertenor Jak Cholvijarn plays the incarnation of Buddha, and award winning soprano Zion Daoratanahong plays the messenger of the gods. The international cast includes many operatic celebrities as well, like Lyric Opera of Chicago's Stacey Tappan and Zurich Opera's Damian Whiteley. The dance roles are performed by some of Bangkok's leading young dancers. I found a brilliant young choreographer, Puwarate Wongatichat, who is able to translate my vision and imbue it with many innovative and fresh touches. Rehearsing is always a mad rush because unlike other opera companies we don't have our own theatre.
Do you have any qualms about doing a project on such a grand scale?
Qualms? I do worry about surviving. The next five years will be very labour-intensive. Over the last 20 years, however, the idea and musical themes have been slowly gelling in my mind, since I wrote the Mahajanaka Symphony in 1996, which is sort of the pilot of the series, composed for the King's birthday celebrations two decades ago. Now, the pot is bubbling and I have to quickly gather the kaeng [curry] and serve it in 10 bowls.
As always, it's the gestation period that is long; the production period is very quick, making people think that I write music and books at a miraculous speed, but this is just sleight of hand. When you add it up, this will have been a 25-year task. As far as the work itself, this is a great leap into the unknown. No one in history has ever tried this. It's best not to think about it, in my opinion. If I thought about it too much, I'd run away.
The project's going to cost 150 million baht. Can you discuss the funding?
150 million baht in five years is, in real world terms, peanuts. It is less than 25% of the cost of New York's recent production of Ring Cycle and, even in Thailand, a single film often costs a lot more. However, I think we can no longer rely on our twin pillars of support — government funding and corporate sponsorship — which do provide 'big cheques' from time to time, but the funding is sporadic. So I am opening up a third pillar: social networking. I'm asking people all over the world to pledge an annual gift to the Ten Lives Of The Buddha project for five years — until the project is finished. The gift can be as little as 1,000 baht a year up to any amount they like. I want to have small gifts from thousands of people because together this builds a strong and unshakeable foundation of support.
- Bhuridat (The Dragon Lord) will be staged at Thailand Cultural Centre from tomorrow until Sunday at 8pm (with a 2pm matinee on Sunday).
- Tickets start from 500 baht.
- For reservations, go to www.thaiticketmajor.com.
Somtow Sucharitkul.
