Siam Society is holding a talk on "The Relevance Of Opera In Contemporary Thailand" conducted by Tarin Prinyaknit and Voraprach Wongsathapornpat via Zoom and Facebook Live on Saturday at 4pm.
As a stage director specialising in opera and theatre, Tarin teamed up with conductor Voraprach to stage a critically acclaimed production of Donizetti's famous comic opera L'elisir D'Amore in Bangkok last year, with a goal to popularise and further the cause of opera as a performing art in Thailand.
The production reimagines the social context and transports opera from its original 18th century setting to a bustling modern-day shopping mall in the middle of Bangkok -- a recontextualisation that not only brings out the hilariously familiar and universal plot structure for Thai audiences but also serves as a commentary on modern-day Bangkok's conspicuous consumption, its rising capitalism, and social inequality.
With the team's extensive experience in Italian opera, they shed new interpretive lights on the beloved classic Bel Canto piece.
The talk will incorporate music and video clips and present the team's thesis on the incredible relevance of opera in present-day Thailand as a poignant, relatable and engaging art form, where social commentary and the human condition are related to the audience more deeply than any other kind of performing art.
The talk will also include introductions and sneak previews into the team's upcoming planned production of Puccini's comedic masterpiece Gianni Schicchi.
Tarin has previously been the assistant director in Franco Zeffirelli's production of Turandot in the Arena di Verona Festival in 2018, and in new productions of Madama Butterfly (directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi) and Rigoletto (directed by John Turturro) at the Teatro Regio di Torino, Italy. In 2019, he was a semi-finalist of the 11th European Opera-directing Prize (EOP) in Germany.
Currently, an assistant conductor at the Bangkok Opera and the Siam Sinfonietta, Voraprach specialises in conducting an orchestral and operatic repertoire. He's also a composer and orchestrator whose chamber and orchestral compositions have been performed all over Europe and Asia.
There is no admission fee. Visit facebook.com/TheSiamSociety UnderRoyalPatronage.
