Celebrating Beethoven
Good news for all Beethoven fans! The Goethe Institute Bangkok is holding the first “Beethoven Festival Thailand” featuring a variety of activities that will bring you closer to the legendary German pianist/composer from Sept 1-4.
The festival will open with “Beethoven in Motion” on Sept 1 at 7pm. The show combines a piano performance of Beethoven’s renowned classic piece Piano Sonata No. 23 “Appassionata” by German-Korean pianist Caroline Fischer with contemporary dance choreographed by Thanapol Virulhakul from the Democrazy Theatre Studio.
Three Beethoven fans will then recount Beethoven’s life and hardships and interpret some of his masterpieces during the “Why Beethoven?” talk on the same evening at 8pm. They are music journalist Bavornpong Suppasopon; Prof Dumrih Banawitayakit, conductor and dean of Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Music and Dr Wen-Hui Lily Lin, chairman of the Piano Department at Mahidol University’s College of Music.
The following day, on Sept 2 there will be a feature of the “Masterclass for Pianists” conducted by Prof Rolf-Dieter Arens, former rector of the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, Germany, from 3pm to 6pm. It’s designed for four of the young pianists who will participate in the “Piano-Battle” on the next day, but observers are welcome.
Scheduled for Sept 3 at 7pm is the “Piano-Battle”, a musical match in which six participants aged from 10 to 23 years of age will compete against each other in a musical arena before an audience.
The festival will wrap up with the “Reunion Concert” featuring four winners of the Beethoven Competition Thailand from 2009-2013 on Sept 4 at 7.30pm. They include Gun Chaikittiwatana (piano), Visanee Vongvirulh (violin), Jirajet Jesadachet (violin) and Chindanai Nukulvutthiopas (piano).
All events will be held in the auditorium of the Goethe Institute Bangkok on Sathon Raod, Soi 1. There is no admission fee.
Visit www.goethe.de/beethoven competition, email programm@bangkok. goethe.org or call 02-108-8231/2.