The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra will perform a very special concert to celebrate the birthday of HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, patron of the RBSO, at Thailand Cultural Centre's Main Hall, Ratchadaphisek Road, tomorrow at 7.30pm.
Titled "Royal Concert – Alice Sara Ott Plays Ravel", the annual command concert will be conducted by music director Michel Tilkin, with German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott as soloist in a performance of Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto For The Left Hand.
The all-French programme will open with Claude Debussy's exquisite tone poem Prélude A L'Après-Midi D'Un Faune (Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun), setting the luxuriant emotional tone and superior sense for orchestration that this country's music is known and much admired for.
Ott, acclaimed worldwide for her vigorous and committed performances, will then interpret Ravel's unique concerto, which never ceases to amaze in terms of the composer's ingenuity and flair, given the obvious limiting restraint of writing for just one hand.
The second half of the concert will feature La Mer, Debussy's glorious musical paean to the sea that is hailed as a giant cornerstone of the orchestral repertoire. The variety of acoustic colours and timbres he managed to conjure from a symphony orchestra is always breathtaking, no matter how many times an audience has heard it.
Quite in keeping with the joyous nature of this royal event, the programme will conclude with Ravel's ultimate evergreen study in orchestration, the incomparably uplifting Bolero.
Tickets cost 800, 1000, 2,000 and 4,000 baht (half price for students and seniors aged 60 and above) and can be purchased from Thai Ticket Major booths (thaiticketmajor.com).
Call RBSO office at 02-255-6617/8 or 02-255-9191/2.
