Hikotaro Yazaki returns for a series of Bangkok concerts
Japanese conductor Hikotaro Yazaki will make a comeback to conduct the Pro Musica Orchestra during the “Transfigured Night” concert at Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, Ratchadamri Road, on March 29 at 7.30pm.
Maestro Yazaki is no stranger to classical music lovers in the Kingdom. He served as music director for the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra for a decade and has conducted major symphony orchestras around the world.
Next week, he will lead the orchestra in a performance of Mozart’s Serenade No.6, K239 (Serenata Notturna), Faure’s Nocturne From Shylock Suite Op 57 and Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night Op 4) by Arnold Schoenberg.
As a highlight of the show, the last piece is a string sextet in one movement composed in just three weeks and is considered Schoenberg’s earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem of the same title, which describes a man and woman walking through a dark forest on a moonlit night. The woman shares a dark secret with her new lover — she bears the child of another man.
The stages of Dehmel’s poem are reflected throughout the composition, beginning with the sadness of the woman’s confession, a neutral interlude wherein the man reflects upon the confession, and a finale reflecting the man’s bright acceptance, and forgiveness, of the woman.
Ten days after that, Yazaki will once again take to the podium to conduct the SSMS Orchestra during the “Let’s Dance” concert on April 8 at 5pm at Mahisorn Hall, SCB Park Plaza on Ratchadaphisek Road.
The programme includes Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring, ML Usni Pramoj’s Symphonic Poem from the ballet Sir Praj and Debussy’s Danse Sacrée Et Danse Profane featuring harp soloist Ema Mitarai.
In 1913, Russian composer Stravinsky debuted The Rite Of Spring before a packed theatre in Paris, with a ballet performance that would go down as one of the most important — and violent — in modern history.
Today, the piece is widely regarded as a seminal work of modernism — a frenetic, jagged orchestral ballet that boldly rejected the ordered harmonies and comfort of traditional compositions.
Tickets cost 600 baht for the March 29 show and 500 baht for the April 8 show (100 baht for students) and are available at the door. For reservations, email promusica. bkk@gmail.com and ssms.camp@gmail. com.