The first opening of Wagner's Ring in Asia

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Bangkok Opera presents, DAS RHEINGOLD by Richard Wagner

Fourteen award-winning soloists from eight countries... an orchestra of a hundred pieces including seven harps and eighteen anvils?tickets for Bangkok Opera's DAS RHEINGOLD are now available for public sale from www.thaiticketmaster.com (http://www.thaiticketmaster.com)

DAS RHEINGOLD is the first production in Bangkok Opera's five-year plan to produce the first Wagner "Ring Cycle" in Southeast Asia, with a uniquely Southeast Asian look and viewpoint masterminded by conductor Somtow Sucharitkul. The "Ring Cycle" is the epic mythological four-part opera which revolutionised all music more than a hundred years ago, and which has influenced every aspect of popular Western culture today from 'The Lord of the Rings" to Bugs Bunny's "What's Opera, Doc?" The recent film "Batman Returns" opens with a scene from Wagner's "Ring". The complete Ring Cycle in Bayreuth, Germany, has a ten-year waiting list to obtain tickets. Soon, Southeast Asia will have its own Ring Cycle and advance sales to international tour groups have already started to take off, with visitors from Hong Kong, Australia, the United States and Europe already purchasing some ticket blocks.

The cast for this production includes such well-known Wagner specialists as Julia Oesch, Colin Morris, Barbara Smith-Jones, and Marc Deaton, as well as popular Bangkok Opera favorites like Grace Echauri, Ronit Widmann-Levy, and Ralph McDonald and recently Bangkok International Opera Competition winners Grace Lin and Saran Suebsantiwongse. The Wagner tubas, special instruments invented by Wagner specifically for the "Ring Cycle", have been obtained by a special arrangement from the Munich Opera and one of the world's most famous horn players, Hans Pizka, is coming to Thailand to specially train the brass players in their use.

Official Website : http://www.bangkokopera.com


TICKET INFORMATION
Venue Main Hall, Thailand Cultural Center, Location Ratchadapisek Road.
2 Performances : 07.30 - 10.00 PM 1. Sunday 5th February 2006 *2. Monday 6th February 2006 Door open before performances in 30 minute

Public Sale
on website : www.thaiticketmaster.com (http://www.thaiticketmaster.com) From Friday 23nd December 2005 to Monday 6th February 2006
at Thaiticketmaster.com outlets From Friday 23nd December 2005 to Monday 6th February 2006
thru TTM Call Center +66 (0) 2262 3456 From Friday 23nd December 2005 to Monday 6th February 2006
thru wap : wap.thaiticketmaster.com From Friday 23nd December 2005 to Monday 6th February 2006
Prices 4,000 Baht: 2,000 Baht 1,000 Baht: 500 Baht
THAITICKETMASTER.COM CALL CENTER : Tel. +66 (0) 2262 3456 Fax. +66 (0) 2262 3898 e-mail contact_us@thaiticketmaster.com

A LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE BANGKOK OPERA

Although the official ads for our February ?Rheingold? have not yet gone out, we?re receiving a lot of enquiries from members of Wagner Societies around the world, and so I?m writing up this quick note all of you to tell you something about the production.

Doing The Ring has been a special vision of mine since childhood and I?ve been thinking of it, detail by detail, for almost forty years. So, when I founded the Bangkok Opera in 2001 and became its intendant, an eventual mounting of the Ring was always in my mind. The Bangkok Opera is a bit of a maverick company, long on vision and perennially grappling with issues of funding and ?the establishment? in Thailand, but as Opera magazine points out, we have gone from scratch to creating productions that ?could reasonably be seen in Europe?. I?m attaching a recent review of this year?s ?Aida?.

As this will be the very first Wagner opera in the entire local region, I wanted to create a Wagnerian interpretation moulded to the Southeast Asian sensibility, and therefore, taking a leaf from Wagner?s own ?gesamtkunstwerk? aesthetic, it?s a production in which the conducting and stage direction are integrated. It?s also full of Hindu-Buddhist symbology. ?Desire? is the motivating factor that perpetuates the ?cycle? of creation and destruction and this concept is so crucial to Buddhism that it makes it possible to see Wagner entirely in terms of Eastern philosophy. I have asked controversial Thai ?national artists? to collaborate on the overall design of the opera. We have been getting help and advice from all over the world for what is an extremely new venture ? for example, Hanz Pizka, the leading horn player whose ?Siegfried Horn Call? has been heard in many recordings, has volunteered to train the brass section personally. In 2003, the Wagner family themselves came to Bangkok for the inauguration of our Wagner Society and gave their blessing and input to the project.

In terms of casting, I?m convinced that the Gods of Rheingold have to be young and still relatively untouched by the corruption that they themselves will generate. I wanted to cast creatively as well, using a number of singers unfamiliar to Wagner as well as old Wagner hands. I?ve therefore assembled a largely youthful cast from many countries, including many rather inventive choices: Malaysian Yeoh Hoay Aw, who is currently performing in Detmold, as Wotan, Israeli soprano Ronit Widmann-Levy, Scottish baritone Ralph McDonald, as well as award-winning Wagnerians Barbara Smith Jones as Fricka, Marc Deaton as Loge, and Julia Oesch as Erda, Jan-Ate Stobbe from the Netherlands as Mime, and Scotland?s Colin Morris as Alberich. The group will convene at the end of this year for an intense month to deconstruct and reassemble the work in a Southeast Asian context.

I see the Wagner community around the world as an important resource. We would like people to come to Bangkok for this production and we have all sorts of package deals and travel arrangements that will make it easy and fun. There is an optional side trip to Angkor Wat led by Dr Titus Leber, who is making a film of Parsifal set in the Cambodian ruins and who will personally lead the Wagnerians on a walking musical tour of his concept.

We also hope that Wagner Societies can help us in many ways, including moral and financial support ? the cost of mounting a huge production in Thailand is tiny compared with western nations, but there is little government support for opera and we?re happy to receive contributions of any size for this production which will be duly acknowledged and enshrined in our publications. We also would like our friends from around the world to come. I want to prove to the powers that be here, including potential sponsors, that a Ring cycle in Thailand, produced in an unusual way that cannot be found elsewhere in the world, can be a magnet for travelers and can actually bring in tourist dollars to this country ? and tourism at a high level of cultural sophistication.

The top price tickets for Rheingold are a very reasonable US $100. For about $250, we are offering a gala reception-dinner in addition attended by the opera singers and our Royal Patron, the Princess. We can arrange very reasonable hotel packages, and we are also setting up some representatives in Europe, Australia, and North America to handle bookings. (Booking with us is always also possible).

For more information, please email info@bangkokopera.com If you are interested in the Titus Leber Angkor Wat visit, please send us an email at the same address as this will be a very limited event.

PRE-BOOK YOUR TICKET Again, though tickets are not yet publicly on sale, we have already received so many inquiries that we have decided to allow world-wide pre-booking by credit card via paypal. At the moment we're doing this only for the premium ticket ($100). The reception-dinner will come as an add-on item as soon as the details are clear. Simply click on the appropriate box below and we will hold the best available ticket for you in the category you select on the evening that you select. Tickets may be collected at the box office, or mailed to you when they are printed (if you wish them to be mailed, there is a space in the order to send a note to us). Please note that you do not have to be a member of Paypal to pay by credit card and that these transactions are secure and protected.
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any comments on the top left hand corner of this poster? Balad kik?

Wonder of Wagner

Fourteen award-winning soloists from eight countries backed by a 100-piece orchestra are all set to thrill on Sunday and Monday as the Bangkok Opera brings WagnerтАЩs тАЬDas RheingoldтАЭ to the Thailand Cultural Centre.

тАЬDas RheingoldтАЭ is the first production in Bangkok OperaтАЩs five-year plan to produce the first Wagner тАЬRing CycleтАЭ in Southeast Asia, with a uniquely Southeast Asian look and viewpoint masterminded by conductor Somtow Sucharitkul.

This will be a different тАЬRingтАЭ in look and feel from Western productions, says Somtow.

The cast for this production includes such well-known Wagner specialists as Julia Oesch, Colin Morris, Barbara Smith Jones, and Marc Deaton, as well as such Bangkok Opera favourites as Grace Echauri, Ronit Widmann Levy, and Ralph McDonald and recent Bangkok International Opera Competition winners Grace Lin and Saran Suebsantiwongse.

Wagnerian tubas, modified French horns invented specifically for the тАЬRing CycleтАЭ, have been obtained by a special arrangement from the Munich Opera. One of the worldтАЩs top horn players, Hans Pizka, has trained the brass players in their use.

The curtain rises at 7.30pm. Tickets cost Bt4,000, Bt2,000, Bt1,000 and Bt500 and are available at Thaiticketmaster. There is a 50 per cent discount for school groups make reservations directly with the Bangkok Opera. This rate does not apply to the Bt500 seats.

For details, call Ratana at (02) 661 4688-9 from 10.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

The Nation

There's a lot you can do with that title

Germanic Kitsch'n'Sink goes East for a Silky Sulk. Thank goodness there won't be any anti-semiotic undertones - unless the Teocheow are the lost tribe of Israel. Well they do love their bling, don't they.

Oh god yes mate i will be there.Just like the ballet ,mate you gotta be there just t show everyne that ya there.I love seein those poofs dancing around on stage at the Sydney Opera House every Friday night.I especially love going wearing my t shirt,me short pants and sandals and lining up at the entry door with all those rich c...ts .You see them turnin up in their chauffeur driven limos with their 3 piece tuxedos and a snobbish sheila on their arm.Im standing in line and i hear them all talking away in their upper class Aussie accents."oh penelope did you see the opera the other night"? Oh Harold dear we really must see the ballet tommorrow night" No fuck em,this is when i get start scratching my balls and asking the upper class prats if they always go to see these poofs dancing around in their tight trousers.I love to see the shock on their faces.No im me and i dress the way i like.I once had a rich looking poof,(spoke like a sheila),and he was eyeing my clothes off like i was some bloody hobo and i seen him whispering to another bloke in the line so i thought i would let the old prick have it so i shouted out"Whose f.......... who"? It can be a good conversation starter . Sometimes i like to wait at the entry door to the ballet place and watch the rich people come in ,in their limos and a bloke opens the door for them.This is when i like to scratch my balls whilst holding a tinnie in one hand and shouting to the driver,"good on ya Jamesy ,were they rootin in the back" Once I pretended i was one of those concierge blokes and quickly rushed over in me pie stained t shirt and shorts .and opened the limo door and 2 well dressed poofs hopped out,no thanks from them at all.One had reddish hair,so i told him" Ginger Meggsy mate wheres the F.... n thankyou you upper class prick".I got nothing against people who go to the opera or ballet but some of these people are only there to keep up with the Joneses.
Personally its just not me,i would rather go to a AC/DC concert where i can sing "Im on the highway to hell" ,but its like a done thing now that you have to be seen at these places.I have a friend who is a poof who lives in the City of Sydney and he s telling me about how he s going to see that fat bloke opera singer.I would prefer to go see Kenny Rogers .
But look if you want to be a pretender by all means go to these places and bullshit afterwards telling people it was fantastic to see some poof who should be spanked dancing around in his tight underwear.Thats up to you,im not knockin yu im just saying dont do it just to keep up with the upper class social scene.Even Australias richest man Kery Packer didnt like ballet and opera.
dont forget to look at my blogs,why dont you get a life?

[Smiles]

OhmiGod ... actually starting to "enjoy" (a word with multi-levels) MrSydney's posts.

Within a Wagnerian thread, our MrSydney employs a Joycean stream of consciousness technique exhibiting a modicum of social commentary on the pretentions of the gay upper classes, mixed nicely in with an acute and pithy sensitivity to the proletariat and their intuitve (and angry) awareness of their place-in-the-world (Marxian Self-consciousness) . . . i.e. not being able to afford tickets to The Ring at Sydney Opera House and hobnob-for-a-night with the Aussie hoity-toit.
I ask you ... is that not just like poor Vladimir Illich Ulyanov in his early days at St Petersburg!

Go get 'em, Mr Sydney!!! I'm with you ... all the way?!

Cheers ...

I'd think if anyone would enjoy it, it would be you. It has screaming, fighting, dying, fire, destruction, depraved dwarfs and fat ladies sounding like someone's pulling their pubic hair out with pliers.
And Rheingold was--May still be--a beer. I should know, I was Miss Rheingold of 19..? Oh, dear, I can't remember the exact year...but my picture was in all the subway trains! I was a goddess of the underground! So...Wagnerian.

And I was once in the chorus of that lesbian opera; I eat `er. :faroah:

fat ladies sounding like someone's pulling their pubic hair out with pliers.


This just in from a recent Ring production.



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Nothing really new for Bangkok. I gather they rehearse in one of the darker corners of Babylon.

555

[Smiles]

" . . . It has screaming, fighting, dying, fire, destruction, depraved dwarfs and fat ladies sounding like someone's pulling their pubic hair out with pliers . . . "
Obviously a classic version of The Ring is playing right now over at The Ghastly Blog . . . it has all the above dramatics, and much more.
And ~ best of all ~ it's free!!

Cheers ...

In terms of casting, I?m convinced that the Gods of Rheingold have to be young and still relatively untouched by the corruption that they themselves will generate.

hmmm...I wonder if they are available to off - do you give 300B to the conductor?

===

I truly wish that I could see this production, never having seen any of the Ring Cycle live, and unlikely to make the Beyreuth festival anytime soon. I have to wonder what kind of subsidy the Bangkok Opera has if they can invest in a production of this size. Mad King Ludwig destroyed the treasury of his country due to Wagner's opus. I suppose that the Thai producers don't have to deal with labor unions, however.

I loved looking at the Ticketmaster site - to be able to see 50 Cent, Uriah Heep *and* Andy Williams in the same month...wow, what could be left to live for?

....to be able to see 50 Cent, Uriah Heep and Andy Williams in the same month...Wow, what could be left to live for?

To be able to see them all--And the good sense &/or taste not to. :notworthy: