Bangkok Music Society (BMS) Choir in collaboration with Immanuel Orchestra are presenting two concerts of carols and songs to set the scene for the start of the festive season today and Saturday.
At Aksra Theatre King Power on Rang Nam Road, the choir and the orchestra will join forces with over 200 children from eight international schools in Bangkok to render the "Christmas Big Sing" this evening starting at 7pm.
Participating schools will be Shrewsbury (City campus), Regent's, King's College, Denla (DBS), Concordian, International Community (ICS), St Andrews and St Andrews Dusit.
Only the choir and the orchestra will then perform A Christmas Celebration at the Evangelical Lutheran Church on Soi Roemcharoen (off Sukhumvit 50), on Saturday starting at 3pm.
Both concerts will contain similar music but in quite different environments. Both Christian and secular pieces will be performed, representing both the familiar and not so well-known traditional and contemporary themes, many with adaptations, harmonies and rhythms, all by world-renowned composers.
BMS and the Immanuel Orchestra, the latter containing young student musicians from the Klong Toey slum community, have collaborated for many years. In the process of making music, collaborating and performing together with many different people, huge class differences are forgotten.
This co-operation proves that music can build bridges in an otherwise divided Thai society, helping to create understanding and also develop confidence in the children, of both the orchestra and the international schools.
Tickets cost 1,600 baht (900 baht for students) for today's show and 800 baht (400 baht for students) for the Saturday show. They are available from ticketmelon.com/bms and at the door.
Visit bangkokmusicsociety.com.
