Somtow wins international Wagner award
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Thai conductor and composer Somtow Sucharitkul is the first Asian to win the "Golden W" award celebrating Richard Wagner's 200th birthday.
Thousands of Wagner enthusiasts gathered at the composer’s birthplace, Leipzig, last month for a festival that included the Leipzig Opera’s productions of Wagner’s complete works as well as a conference of the International Wagner Society, which has over 100 chapters all over the world.
At the conference, Eva Martson, the president of the society, presented the award to Somtow for bringing Wagner’s oeuvre to Southeast Asia.
Ten years ago, Somtow inaugurated the Richard Wagner Circle Bangkok in the presence of Wolfgang Wagner, grandson of the composer, his wife Gudrun and late HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana. The visit of the Wagner family to Thailand had almost the air of a state visit, with the concert opening with the Bavarian national anthem in the Wagners’ honour.
The Nation
