A night at the Chinese opera

Fans of the Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music, Thailand’s largest annual showcase of international performing arts, who have been checking the festival’s website and Facebook wall, have expressed surprise that the opening performance, taking place on September 11, is a Chinese opera. “The Butterfly Lovers”, which many Thais know very well, is being performed by the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe.

International Cultural Promotions’ Egasith Chotpakditrakul explains. “This 17th edition of the festival celebrates Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s 5th cycle birthday, and [since the festival has been under her royal patronage for many years] we asked which kind of performance she’d like to watch.

“After hearing her preference for Chinese opera, we’ve worked closely with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and they highly recommend this Yue opera company with an all- female cast. Considered cultural ambassadors, they have performed all around the world and were recently at the 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival. Their production here will be even grander.”

Also marking the 40th anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Thailand, this is fittingly the grandest Chinese opera to have ever been staged here.

And despite the fact that the festival has been presenting more works from Europe and the Americas in the past 16 years, Egasith confirms that International Cultural Promotions aims to bring world class performances from all over the world. 

“We’re always interested in Asia and in recent years, we’ve presented Chinese, Indian, Japanese and South Korean performances,” he says. 

Festival fans are also wondering why there are three so-called “tribute shows” in the 18-show line-up, namely “The Fame Monster: World’s Best Lady Gaga Tribute in Concert”, “The Approved Tribute to the Blues Brothers” and Steve Michaels’ “Return to Grace: The Concert of a Lifetime”. To that Egasith’s assistant Sittikun Boon-itt responds, “I’ve seen the DVD recordings of all these works and I can guarantee they’re of the highest quality.”

Returning to the festival are the Imperial Ice Stars and the Novosibirsk Ballet Theatre. 

“This is the third time here for the Imperial Ice Stars and they’ll perform ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. Our audiences loved both their ‘Nutcracker’ and ‘Swan Lake’. I think our audience is split when it comes to preferring either the original ballet or the ‘on-ice’ adaptation. Even in my family, my children prefer the latter while I go for the former,” Egasith says. 

“When we programme the festival, we carefully consider each company’s strength and that’s why we’ll have two Russian companies back-to-back in 12 days [instead of one company performing both ballets and operas]. Novosibirsk’s strength is classical ballet so they’ll delight our audiences with ‘Swan Lake’, ‘La Bayadere’ and a gala classical concert. Samara Opera Theatre, a multi-award winning company on their first trip here, is best known for its operas and will perform ‘Prince Igor’ and ‘Tosca’. Their orchestra will also give a concert, and the second part will be Beethoven’s Symphony No 9.”

“It’s become a must for the festival to present classical ballets and operas. Our audience highly anticipates these and we’ve never let them down.”

Bangkok’s 17th International Festival of Dance and Music is supported by Bangkok Bank, Crown Property Bureau, BMW, B Grimm Group, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, Nation Group, Beiersdorf, PTT Group, Singha Corporation, Thai Airways International, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Ministry of Culture.

 

GET YOUR TICKETS

Bangkok’s 17th International Festival of Dance and Music runs from September 11 to October 18 at the Thailand Cultural Centre.

Tickets go on sale this Wednesday at ThaiTicketMajor. 

Visit www.BangkokFestivals.com.

 

Pawit’s picks

Here’s what I am looking forward to watching and why, in the order of their performance dates. I am still not convinced about the “tributes” so those are, at least for the time being, out of this list.

 

“THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS”, ZHEJIANG XIAOBAIHUA YUE OPERA, SEPTEMBER 11-13

When it comes to Chinese opera, Thai people are more familiar with Teochew and Beijing operas. This is Yue opera, and Zhejiang Xiaobaihua is the forerunner. The troupe has been highly acclaimed for their poetic and graceful singing as well as innovative and experimental approaches.

 

“IMAGES: 20 YEARS”, BALLET FLAMENCO DE ANDALUCIA, SEPTEMBER 21

The company has received praise from audiences and critics worldwide, and this 20-year retrospective last year received the Giraldillo award for best performance at the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla.

 

SAMARA STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,OCTOBER 5

With Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” fantasy overture and Festival Overture 1812 (Opus 49) in the first part and Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 in the second, Golden-Mask winning conductor Alexander Anissimov will make this a sublime evening of classical music.

- Malandain Ballet Biarritz’s “Cinderella” (October 13)

If you enjoyed last year’s “Blanche Neige”, you will be similarly amazed by this wildly inventive and highly personal reinterpretation of another classic. And if that sounds very French, that’s because it is.

 

PRAGUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, OCTOBER 14

A Czech music ambassador for more than eight decades now, one of Europe’s most highly renowned orchestras will perform a programme that includes compositions by Bellini, Bruch and Dvorak, and features violinist Vadim Repin.

 

 “MIX”, DEBORAH COLKER DANCE COMPANY, OCTOBER 18

This is a rare visit by not only one of the best dance companies in South America, but the world. This work premiered at the Biennale de la danse a Lyon and was later, in the UK, given the Lawrence Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance. It will close the festival on a high note.

PAWIT MAHASARINAND

SPECIAL TO THE NATION