Last week there was an evening of firsts at Ben’s Theater in Jomtien. It was the first concert of the season and it marked the first appearance of two remarkably talented pianists from Mahidol University’s College of Music. It was the first appearance at Ben’s of an American Stieff grand piano and it was probably the first time that three superb sopranos appeared on Ben’s stage simultaneously.
The well-planned programme featured a selection of songs and opera arias and it was refreshing that the performers tended to avoid the tired old music from the shows but instead included some lesser-known music in their programme.
The opening number was the delightful aria Fair Robin I Love from the 1980 opera Tartuffe by the American composer Kirke Mechem sung by Pariyachart Sitthidamrongkorn who has a compelling and powerful voice, a splendid stage presence and spot-on intonation. Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein comes from Robert Stolz’s operetta Der Favorit and was beautifully sung by Duangamorn Fu who has a soft lyrical voice ideally suited to this kind of aria. For her opening number, Pijarin Wiriyasakdakul chose the so-called Laughing Song from Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. She gave a technically assured and confident performance with accurate intonation.
Pariyachart and Duangamorn gave a lovely performance of the Letter Duet from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Pariyachart was excellent in her expressive performance of Ouvre tes yeux bleus, a charming song by the French composer Jules Massenet. Pariyachart performed it with a fine sense of phrasing and her intonation was spot-on throughout. For me at least, this was one of the highlights of the concert. Pijarin gave a performance of the popular aria O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi and the first half of the concert concluded with the well-known song The Prayer.
All three singers are from the College of Music at Mahidol University where they are pupils of Prof Nancy Tsui-Ping Wei, whose students have won many international awards at prestigious competitions. Pijarin for example won a prize in the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition in New York and a prize at the Osaka International Music Competition in Japan. She was the soprano soloist in the acclaimed performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.
Pariyachart has won prizes in opera performance at the Osaka International Music Competition in Japan and Duangamorn was a finalist in the Osaka International Music Competition. She was also one of the Silver Prize recipients in the 18th Settrade Youth Music Competition.
The second half of the concert opened with Johann Strauss’s ever-popular song Frühlingsstimmen. Pijarin gave a technically brilliant performance of the song and it was followed by a magical performance by Pijarin and Duangamorn of Der Engel, a charming two-part song by Anton Rubinstein composed in 1873. Their voices blended perfectly and they were helped with a lovely accompaniment from pianist Siri Sranoi who studied at the College of Music, Mahidol University where he has already graduated with Bachelor and Master degrees. The duet was one of the many highlights of the evening.
Another highlight was Pariyachart’s singing of the well-known song Il Bacio by Luigi Arditi. It was a tremendously competent performance with splendid piano support from Siri too.
Duangamorn’s comparatively soft vocal tone was ideal for the aria Ah, non credea mirarti from Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula although I thought she was at her best in the aria Je veux vivre from Gounod’s opera Roméo et Juliette. In this aria she was given excellent support from the piano by Anant Changwaiwit, currently studying for his Master’s Degree at the College of Music, Mahidol University. Anant is a concert pianist in his own right and has performed the Saint-Saëns Second Piano Concerto, Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Mahidol Symphony Orchestra.
Pariyachart gave a lovely performance of the strangely melancholy song Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume by Rudolf Sieczyñski which showed excellent musical team-work between singer and accompanist. The last item on the programme was the famous Drinking Song from Verdi’s opera La Traviata, performed with tremendous panache by all three sopranos. The entire audience gave the singers and pianists a standing ovation.
I almost forgot to mention another star of the show – the eighty-year-old grand piano. Steiff pianos were built in Baltimore and this particular instrument was on loan from Kyle Greenlee, an American piano technician and Pattaya resident. The piano has a rich mellow tone and it certainly enhanced the performance occasion.
