A cornucopia of culture

FOR THE past 17 years, Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music has brought to the Thai capital the ultimate in the performing arts. This year will be no exception, as the annual festival will present six ballets, two operas, two orchestras, contemporary dance, Indian classical dance, jazz, flamenco, a Chinese acrobatic troupe and an evening devoted to Hollywood music. 

The ballets are being brought to town by four established companies, namely Stanislavsky Ballet from Moscow, Switzerland’s Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, Karlsruhe Ballet from Germany and Ballet Preljocaj from France.

The Ballet Company of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre will be presenting “Swan Lake” and “Giselle”. Ninety dancers, 11 of them gold medallists at international ballet competitions, will stage Vladimir Burmeister’s version of “Swan Lake” on September 8 and 9. Its second offering on September 11 is Adolphe Adams’s Giselle, a passionate and magnificent work.

The 22 dancers of Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve bring to the table Richard Wagner’s dramatic “Tristan and Isolde” on September 24. Joelle Bouvier’s choreography details a tale inspired by a Celtic legend of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Isolde. The company follows this dramatic staging with Carl Off’s “Carmina Burana” on September 26 with choreographer Claude Brumachon offering his vision of Carmina Burana as “a multidimensional act of artistic faith and the desire to show how the body is the vector of virtuosity, of sensations and emotions”.

On October 8 and 9, Germany’s Karlsruhe Ballet will stage “The Nutcracker – Christmas Carol” set to Tchaikovsky’s music. This magnificent work brings together 31 dancers under the artistic direction of the world-famous, former prima ballerina of the Stuttgart Ballet Birgit Keil, and Professor Vladimir Klos, former principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet.

The last of the ballet offerings is “Romeo and Juliet” by Ballet Preljocaj on October 12. A romantic and contemporary retelling by French choreographer, Angelin Preljocaj set in the totalitarian regime of an East European country, it portrays a confrontation between the militia responsible for keeping social order and the “family” of homeless on the fringe of society. 

Helikon Opera Theatre (Moscow) brings both the operas to the Bangkok stage this year. With a reputation for its innovative presentations, the company has won several awards including Golden Masks and Gvozd Sezona Awards. Its chorus is recognised as one of the best in the world today and its soloists are truly magnificent. It will stage “Un ballo in Maschera” on September 18 and “Carmen” on September 20. A three-act opera, Giuseppe Verdi’s “Un ballo in Maschera” is about power and love – a secret political plot in which the governor’s undeclared love for his friend’s wife is used as a bargaining chip to steal power. Georges Bizet’s two-act “Carmen” is one of the company’s most popular productions. Both operas will have subtitles in English and Thai.

In another classical performance, the festival brings to the Bangkok stage kathak, a classical Indian dance form presented by India’s Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company on September 14. Choreographer Aditi Mangaldas looks at tradition to create a new modern, classical idiom using the emotive power of kathak in this choreography titled “Unchartered Seas”. 

Flamenco is also a festival favourite and this year Spain’s most famous flamenco dancer Sara Baras and her company will be on stage on October 16 with their newest production “Voces, suite flamenca”. This entertaining and colourful production features 15 performers with all the emotion, drama and passion of flamenco. The last dance performance is by the Paul Taylor Dance Company from New York, which is considered one of the most exciting and innovative modern dance companies in the world. These accomplished dancers are all set to stun Bangkok with two separate programmes on October 18 and 19.

Straddling the space between dance and the acrobatic is the China National Acrobatic Troupe from Beijing, scheduled for three performances on September 30 and October 1 and 2. One of China’s most acclaimed troupes, its artists hold 58 gold medals at famous international festivals and competitions both at home and abroad, and have visited 124 countries. The company will stage an elegant, acrobatic gala choreographed in celebration of the troupe’s 55th anniversary. 

The musical element of the festival is just as strong. Two orchestras will enthral audiences: The Israel Camarata Orchestra plays on September 22 under the baton of conductor Avner Biron and with soloist, cellist Zvi Plesser while the Presidential Symphony Orchestra from Turkey performs on October 14 with conductor Rengim Gokmen setting the pace. 

One of Israel’s leading orchestras, the Israel Camerata will play Bela Bartok’s “Divertimento for String Orchestra”, Joseph Haydn’s “Cello Concerto No 1”, Mark Kopytma’s “Kaddish” and Franz Schubert’s “Symphony No 5”.

The Presidential Symphony Orchestra, one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world, will tackle Ulvi Cemal Erkin’s “Kocekce” (“Dance Rhapsody”), Bedrich Smetana’s “The Moldau”, Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody” and Sergei Rachmaninoff”s “Symphony No 2”.

Lovers of jazz should mark their calendars for October 3 for a double bill of the Shuffle Demons Jazz from Canada and the Belgian Saxophone Ensemble. The Shuffle Demons first broke onto the Canadian music scene with an electrifying jazz musical fusion. Genre bending and visually entertaining, they have eight CDs, two hit videos, several music awards and numerous television and radio appearances under their belt. The Belgian Saxophone Ensemble, featuring 13 saxophones, creates a unique unrepeatable world of sound under the baton of Cezariusz Gadzina, the founder and the first conductor of the European Saxophone Ensemble.

Rounding off the musical offering is “Hollywood Sound of Cinema” on September 27. Eight international singers with musicians and dancers, all from Europe, promise to take you on a magnificent journey through the Hollywood’s famous film music. 

Once again, the festival is being made possible thanks to the support and sponsorship of Crown Property Bureau, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, BMW Thailand, B Grimm Group, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, the Ministry of Culture, Nation Group, PTT, Singha Corporation, Thai Airways International and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

 

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

 

- Bangkok’s 18th International Festival of Dance and Music runs from September 8 to October 19 at the Thailand Cultural Centre. 

- Tickets are on sale at Thai Ticket Major counters and at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com. 

- For more information, visit www.BangkokFestivals.com.