Young Swiss string orchestra at Siam Bayshore

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On Monday 15th December a talented young string ensemble from Switzerland will appear at Siam Bayshore Hotel for an exciting concert of music by Vivaldi, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Elgar and Grieg.  

The orchestra is the internationally-known ZHdK Strings, a chamber ensemble which includes some of the most talented graduates from Zurich University of the Arts.  All the members of the ensemble have completed their studies and trained as soloists by Prof. Rudolf Koelman.  The concert is presented by D & M Music Studio Bangkok, in cooperation with Siam Ratchada Music School.

ZHdK Strings chamber ensemble.ZHdK Strings chamber ensemble.

The members of this dynamic string ensemble all live in Switzerland and represent sixteen different nationalities.  The orchestra is directed by Rudolf Koelman, a concert violinist who studied with masters like Herman Krebbers and Jascha Heifetz.  From 1996 until 1999 he was the concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Amsterdam Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Philharmonic, to name but a few.

Rudolf Koelman.Rudolf Koelman.

Rudolf Koelman is professor of solo and concert violin at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).  This University, also known as ZHdK, has about 2,500 students which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland.  The Department of Music provides training in classical, jazz and popular music and offers courses in conducting and composition.  The department has its own record label, ZHdK Records through which in-house productions are released.

This upcoming Pattaya concert will feature two award-winning students from ZHdK, the young violinists Olivia Momoyo Resch and Sachiko Uchida.  Also featured is Alberto Firrincieli, currently a full-time lecturer of the Department of Music Performance at the Assumption University of Thailand.  He also teaches piano and harpsichord at Yamaha Kolkarn Music School, Bangkok and he has been invited as Guest Lecturer by Thammasart University.

The programme will include Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins, String and Continuo in A Minor Op.3 No.8 and Mozart’s delightful Divertimento for String in D major, KV136, written when the composer was about fifteen.  There will also be a chance to hear Mendelssohn’s rarely performed String Symphony No.9 in C major (also known as the Swiss Symphony).  Like the Mozart Divertimento, this was also an early work, written when Mendelssohn was fourteen years old.

You’ll also hear Edward Elgar’s ever-popular Serenade for Strings in E Minor Op.20 which dates from 1892 and has remained once of his best-loved works.  Norwegian composer Edward Grieg is represented with his well-known Holberg Suite for Strings Op.40, based on eighteenth century dances and written in 1884 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the playwright Ludvig Holberg.

You can buy tickets in advance at Bt. 500 from Siam Bayshore Hotel, which is at the end of Walking Street near Bali Hai Pier.  On the night of the concert, the tickets (if there are any left) will be Bt. 600 at the door.  The concert begins at 7.00pm and is expected to conclude at around 9.00pm.