Bangkok, 17 July 2020 — The Siam Sinfonietta kicks off the worldwide Beethoven Year with Symphonies 2 and 8, with Mickey Wongsathapornpat conducting No. 8 and Somtow Sucharitkul conducting No. 2 in its long awaited first post shelter-in-place concert. The event will be livestreamed on OperaSiam Facebook’s page (https://www.facebook.com/OperaSiam), on July 21, at 5 pm (free) and will be broadcast online within a few days on OperaSiamTV.com.
Before the current COVID-19 outbreak, the Sinfonietta and other youth orchestras in Thailand got together with a plan to perform all nine of the symphonies this year. Now as these plans and schedules are in flux, this concert at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center will set the process in motion.
Both Beethoven Symphonies 2 and 8 share a common thread — they are symphonies of pure joy and exuberance composed during the darkest moments of Beethoven’s life. They are tributes to the enduring human spirit in its struggles with fear and adversity. Most of all they celebrate life, at a time when Beethoven felt most like giving up his own. Ironically, No. 2 looks forward, strains to burst through the formal structures of classicism, while No. 8 turns an ironic and playful eye backward, embracing the past yet reinventing it in radical ways. These are two of the most inventive works in the oeuvre of one of the most inventive of composers.
Because of social distancing regulations, the live audience is limited to only around 50 special guests who donate 2,000 baht or more to help the Sinfonietta’s COVID-19 projects which include educational netcasting, online programming, new content and the creation of new livestream events. Please contact LINE @operasiam if you would like a special in-person invitation, or email info@bangkokopera.com
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