Opera Siam presents an evening of searingly romantic music to honour the memory of our beloved Queen Mother, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. Titled "A Romantic Evening In Memory Of Her Majesty The Queen Mother Sirikit Piano Concerto", the concert will take place today at 7.30pm at Thailand Cultural Centre. The event also features the world première of the Maha Rajini Song Cycle.
For Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's 72nd Birthday, HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana commissioned a special gift from composer Somtow Sucharitkul -- the creation of a romantic concerto for the instrument Her Majesty herself had loved and played ever since childhood, the piano.
Her Majesty specified to Somtow that she favoured the Russian style of piano concerto above all and Somtow started his Queen Sirikit Concerto very much in that tradition. But as the different movements evolved, different aspects of Her Majesty's life began to play a role -- the second movement is a tender andante that segues into a wild kaleidoscope of the colours and sounds of Paris in the 1950s.
