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Chiang Mai Symphony Orchestra’s first full performance at Kad Theatre
Nopniwat Krailerg
The New Life Foundation, under the patronage of HRH the
Princess Mother, will organize a Chiang Mai Symphony Orchestra concert on
October 2 at Kad Theatre, Kad Suan Kaew Shopping Complex, to celebrate its
40th anniversary as a fund-raising event.
 From
left, Somboon Sooprasert, secretary and Cory Croymans-Plaghki, of the New
Life Foundation.
The foundation takes care of 1,065 physically or mentally
handicapped Thais located in many villages in Chiang Dao and Hang Dong in
Chiang Mai and Li in Lamphun. It also includes two homes for the elderly and
two kindergartens in Li and Chiang Dao. The foundation also gives
scholarships to orphaned children.
The performing artists at the concert will be the
well-known “A Cappella 7” group from Bangkok and the newly established
Chiang Mai Symphony Orchestra (CMSO) with 80 musicians from 18 schools in
Chiang Mai. They will play western and Thai classical music on western
instruments.
The ambitious concert program will include Mozart’s
Concerto for Harp and Flute as well as Haydn’s beautiful Toy Symphony.
Ticket prices are 1,000 baht, 500 baht and 100 baht (for
students). Tickets will be available at the foundation’s office as well as
at the Red Cross Healthcare station (close to the American
Consulate-General), Suriwongse Bookstore, Payap University’s Music
Department, Kad Suan Kaew’s Information Desk (4th floor), “Welcome to
Chiangmai” Magazine on Nah Wat Gate Road, Chiangmai Mail and Amari Rincome
Hotel.
Sponsors of the event are Chiangmai Mail, Kad Theater,
GD-1 Spirulina, Ricoh Thailand, Galliana Creations, Amari Rincome Hotel, and
Rimping Supermarket.
A tax-deductible receipt can be issued for donations at the
foundation’s office on the evening of the concert. For more information,
please visit the website www.
asianhealingartscenter.com/new-life-foundation.htm
Audience spellbound with music from Antoine Garth and David Wilson
Classics paired with musicals and jazz
Michael and Marion Vogt
It was one of those evenings at Gong Dee Studio where one
wonders if this is just a gallery in Chiang Mai or if it might be a stage in
one of the world’s capitals.
Antoine Garth, who likes the grandeur of classical music,
but also the soulfulness of jazz, has appeared with the San Francisco
Symphony, Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra, and the San Francisco Opera, and
has sung professionally throughout the United States for the past 10 years.
He chose a dramatic repertoire for this night.
 Antoine
Garth and pianist David Wilson were superlative partners.
He started off with Latin Church music, composed by Georg
Friedrich Handel, followed by dramatic German church songs from Heinrich
Schuetz and followed this up with a song by Claude Debussy. His voice and
gestures were sometimes operatic, but always exerting force, warmth, drama,
or irony, depending on his interpretation of the lyrics.
After the short intermission he warned the listeners that
the songs by Stephen Sondheim might be sometimes offensive and rated PG-13,
but they also include the ‘dos’ and ‘don’t’ requests of any
musician during a concert. These brought out the comic talents and his
effortless acting proved crisp, effective, to the point. His repertoire of
vocal coloring seemed without limits and Antoine had the audience smiling,
clapping and almost in tears when he changed from the quicksilver
‘Buddy’s Blues’ to ‘Not a day goes by’, in remembrance of the
victims of 9/11. He created contrasts between the satirical ‘Story of Lucy
and Jessie’, followed up with a strong ‘Being alive’ which was tender
and expressed the subtle range of tenor Antoine Garth.
Garth and pianist David Wilson were superlative partners, blending with
harmonic confidence and style, casting a spell on the audience and had them
totally under control.
“Arty” wines for Chiang Mai
“fin” - fabulous is needed
Marion Vogt
Take an international marketing expert, a creative and
experienced event organizer, mix well with quality wines from boutique
wineries that are not known to the masses and create the image of
exclusivity. That is the raison d’etre behind “fin” - fabulous is
needed.
 Jan
Ganser, ‘fin’ MD with Rooj Changtrakul, owner of Rachamankha Hotel and
art lover.
As Chiang Mai becomes a meeting place for artists,
alternative lifestyles and sophisticated individuals, a city where more than
one five star hotel will open in the very near future, it is not surprising
that there is a niche for exceptionally well selected wines. Wines that are
not judged solely on price but on having that subjective ingredient called
“class”, their own unique character and reflect the lifestyle we all
aspire to embrace.
MD Jan Ganser and director Benjawan Wisootsat are
“fin”. Together they combine art with wine, representing wineries that
do not see winemaking as their toil but as their life, who do not sell mass
market products but have the philosophy that art and wine go together and
cannot be separated.
 Chateau
Bel Air Bordeaux Rose with an art label, created by Leon Dolle, the artist
for the first ‘fin’ art and wine edition 2003.
The wines which were available to taste at the
Rachamankha Hotel Chiang Mai exhibited that singular characteristic. Jan
Ganser and Benjawan Wisootsat brought a selection from Austria, Germany,
France, Italy, Portugal, Chile and Australia. They were wines which Jan
Ganser knew the history, where the bottles were decorated with art labels,
designed by artists who created the label according to the taste, designed
to both contradict and to attract. He told the stories of these wines
created with a soul, yet still affordable, despite superior quality.
It will soon be seen if the up-market Chiang Mai hotels
and restaurants will offer these products as does the Oriental’s ‘La
Normandie’ or the Four Seasons in Bangkok.
You can find out more and view the range (or even order on-line) at
www.take-fin.com.
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