By Graham K. Rogers

Classical music, particularly opera, is not performed enough in Thailand. To have, therefore, a work with traditional values, written by a Thai and performed by an ensemble that is mainly from Thailand, is an event of great value to the development of a home-based culture that can cross the divide to the more western demands of modern audiences, while also pushing accessible Thai output further onto the international stage.

This afternoon, Tuesday 14 May, 2013, I went to the press conference for the upcoming production of the Somtow Sucharitkul Opera, The Silent Prince. With the majority of attendees being from Thai media, the proceedings were almost entirely in Thai, so I did my best to sift out some useful information.

As I had expected the slight language problem, I had done some homework before the event and watched a video of the Thai debut that was held in December 2012. With scenes from the opera and useful interviews, this gave me some useful background.

The world debut of The Silent Prince was not in Thailand but in Houston, TX, some time earlier where it was well received. There are few such works by Asians in the Western repertoire, so the fusion of styles creates some interest. The work is based on a tale written by Somtow's mother, Thaithow Sucharitkul.

The story revolves round a previous incarnation of the Lord Buddha, Prince Temiya, who was told by his father to kill a man. Unwilling to do this and in conflict with the disobedience to his father, he retreated into silence. In the opera this silence continues until the last 5 minutes, but the impact of breaking silence is made all the more by Somtow's use of a male soprano. There is a clip of this in the video, but this gives nothing of the force of hearing the voice of Jak Cholvijarn in a live rendition.

Musically the opera seems to me a fusion of traditional Thai motifs and dance, with the Western tradition of classical opera. As I listened to parts, I sensed sections like Britten (War Requiem) and Mahler, with which Somtow has good connections, having conducted several Mahler symphonies already.

As he pointed out - as part of the panel introducing the event - 100 years ago, Opera was the equivalent of cinema today (or Shakespeare in the 16th century) with none of the elitism that has made it an exclusive medium these days.

Opera is not about acting so much as about the music. Nonetheless in the video the cast do convey the true sense of the performance with their movements and facial expressions. Nor is it even (to some extent) about the words. Many who have listened to or seen performances of Mozart, Verdi or Wagner have enjoyed them with hardly any understanding of the German or Italian being sung.

To overcome some of the resistance that local audiences may have to the English words (not that even native speakers will hear them all) the performances have Thai subtitles, although I was not able to grasp if these are to be above the stage, which would seem to be more practical.

The panel outlined the background to the Silent Prince and the performances and also introduced representatives from two companies sponsoring the shows - along with the Department of Cultural Promotion - Betagro and AIS.

One of the members of the panel was Trisdee na Patalung who is conductor of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. Near the end of the press conference, Somtow Sucharitkul introduced Jak Cholvijarn who spoke to the gathering, then (accompanied by Trisdee na Patalung on keyboard) performed a song. The shock of the transition from a normal speaking voice to the strong soprano was eerie, especially as he had had no voice warm up (he had been sitting behind me the whole time).

With a strong local and international cast, this is an event that people should make the effort to attend. It is not often that a performance of such cultural significance can be put together here in Bangkok.

For those interested in this, as well as the links on this page, Somtow also has an iOS app, iSomtow which I reviewed back in January last year.

The Silent Prince is to be performed at the Thailand Cultural Center, Main Hall, on Saturday 8 June (7:30 pm) and Sunday 9 June 2013 (3 pm). Tickets are on sale now from Thai Ticket Major, with prices ranging from 500 - 2,000 baht. The opera is sung in English, but with Thai subtitles.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.