A grand return to near normal
A French connection ensures a socially distanced full house
published : 8 Apr 2021 at 04:00 Photos courtesy of RBSO
All tickets were sold out for the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra s concert late last month in the Main Hall of the Thailand Cultural Centre, the first they have performed there since January.
There was a highly sophisticated French theme to the evening s proceedings. Jacques Ibert s popular Divertissement was followed by the Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saëns for violin and orchestra, with RBSO concertmaster Bing Han appearing here as soloist. Han returned to also perform Pablo de Sarasate s challenging Carmen Fantasy. Although Sarasate was Spanish, not French, he spent much of his life in France (particularly Paris), and the musical material of this work does of course come directly from French composer Bizet s opera Carmen. To conclude this most enjoyable concert, conductor Van