RBSO to host 'immersive' Mendelssohn concerto

Niklas and Nils Liepe. photo: Kaupo Kikkas

The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra will perform a total immersion Mendelssohn concert with German duo brothers Niklas Liepe (violin) and Nils Liepe (piano) in the Main Hall of Thailand Cultural Centre, Ratchadaphisek Road, on Friday at 7.30pm.

Presented by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation under the patronage of HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, the "All Mendelssohn" concert will see the rendering of a wonderfully attractive rarity in the repertoire -- Double Concerto For Violin, Piano And Strings In D Minor.

The Liepe duo started making quality chamber music together as children and, to this day, when they perform together they merge into a near-perfect harmony. They share a musical intuition on stage that can only develop through long years of performing together.

With the Liepe & Co Festival, founded by the brothers at a steel warehouse near Hannover's South Train Station, they aspire to present classical music in entirely new contexts, determined to attract younger audiences whilst challenging more experienced concert-goers with fresh horizons and expectations in terms of interpretation and performance space.

Christian Kunert. photo courtesy of RBSO Foundation

German conductor Christian Kunert will make his long-awaited debut in this show. As a young conductor of exceptional promise, he will direct the orchestra for the overture to Victor Hugo's great romantic-tragedy play Ruy Blas, and the incidental music to Shakespeare's immortal comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Kunert initially studied piano and bassoon and later shared his time between bassoon and podium. Since 2017, he has been conducting the Harvestehuder Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, from 2021 the Nordic European Orchestra Concerts, and from September 2022 he has been chief conductor and artistic director of the HeFai Symphony Orchestra in China, thus developing his reputation in Asia.

Tickets cost 600, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500 baht (half prices for students and seniors aged 60 and above) and can be purchased from Thai Ticket Major outlets (visit thaiticketmajor.com).

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