Presented in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and B.Grimm, the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra continued their wonderfully varied 2023 concert season at the Thailand Cultural Centre earlier this month with a programme devoted entirely to the incomparable genius of German composer Felix Mendelssohn.
The irresistibly genial Ruy Blas overture opened the concert in rousing fashion, setting the stage for an enchanting duo soloist appearance from brothers Niklas and Nils Liepe from Hamburg, Germany. Whilst Niklas is absolutely no stranger to the RBSO or the TCC, this was his younger brother's debut here. They performed a true, relatively unknown gem from Mendelssohn's youth, the Concerto For Violin, Piano And Orchestra In D Minor, which, incredibly, the composer wrote at the tender age of 14. Completing the all-Germanic theme of the evening, conductor Christian Kunert (born in Esslingen) made his own first and long-awaited appearance with the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, interpreting after the interval a substantial offering of the incidental music to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
