Music

SAVITRI and DEATH AND THE MAIDEN (Cancel the show)

By Opera Siam International/Bangkok Opera Foundation in conjunction with Office of Contemporary Art and Culture and the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

The story of Savitri, the Indian Queen who defied the God of Death to save her husband's life, is known to every Thai. There's a beautiful adaptation of the story by HM King Rama VI, and Thai students learn the story in school as part of the received traditional of Thai culture. The story has its origins in the Mahabharata.
Gustav Holst, the British composer familiar to everyone for "The Planets", wrote a one-act opera based on this story. His version is an austere, beautiful piece which pares the tale down to its classical essentials, accompanied by a small ensemble.
As part of its ongoing series of chamber operas Opera Siam/Bangkok Opera presents the Thai premiere of this work with a local cast.
In the first half of the double bill, Thailand's youthful Shounen-Thai Quartet performs Schubert's famous Death and the Maiden quartet, another work that plays with the contrast between a beautiful woman and death. One of the most famous of all string quartets, it is a work of high drama and lyricism.

For reservation, please call Bangkok Opera, at 02 2315273; Ratana 089 1369981
or email at [email protected]. or [email protected]