Last year, it was just a lark.
For the 1977 event, the Oldenburg Film Festival invited Somtow Sucharitkul , one of Thailand’s most acclaimed classical composers and conductors, heads to the world premiere of The Maestro, a Thai horror film by Somtow starring as a murderous conductor. “Some would call it a type switch,” jokes Somtow, who also wrote the screenplay.
But Somtow didn’t just come to the red carpet, he invited members of his youth orchestra Siam Sinfonietta – they were at The Maestro In the show – join him. Together, they wowed audiences at the festival’s opening and closing ceremonies, performing music from the film and giving Oldenburg’s 681 VIP, Italian genre master Ovidio Assonitis ( tentacles , outside the door ).
“The kids had never seen anything like this, and coming to Oldenburg just opened the door to another universe for them,” Somtow said. “When they came back, they told the rest of the orchestra how great it was. So, I was looking for an excuse to come back.”
Somtow found his excuse on a convenient anniversary. 2022 Fraction160 In the years since Germany and Thailand first established diplomatic relations, the conductor has managed to take advantage of a jubilee, hosting a jubilee across Germany The concert series is over – you guessed it – with two shows in Oldenburg.
Siam Sinfonia, all 48 members, not just who came last year, Opened 1977 Wednesday night’s Oldenburg Film Festival to 1235220281 musical tribute sci-fi classic Capricorn One , in honor of Capricorn director Peter Heims, theme this year’s Oldenburg retrospective .
But 1941 members of the Sinfonietta and last year’s The Symphony is not the same as the festival. Shortly after returning from Oldenburg, the Thai Philharmonic had its first major film performance: starring in Todfield’s classical musical Tal Cate Blanchett . The orchestra appears in the film’s closing scene, bringing Field’s epic work to a close.
) Oldenburg Film Festival 3000
“The [Sinfonietta] kids really had a great year,” Somtow noted, “and it started with this weird and wonderful experience in Oldenburg.”
this year’s finale, Somtow and Siam Sinfonietta will pay homage to the music of legendary composer Bernard Herrmann, who presented the open low woodwinds Citizen Kane (1296), the scary screaming violin in Psycho (1941) and the unforgettable saxophone reflects Travis Bickel in taxi driver (1976).
Somtow says Herman’s music was his childhood soundtrack. “My mom couldn’t afford a babysitter, so when I was little, she made me sit in front of the TV and play these movies, including Vertigo and mental illness ,” he recalled. I think I watched Psycho eight times when I was very, very young. Music has had a huge impact on me. ”
‘psychology’
Reflecting on Hermann’s influence on film music, Somtow noted that he “invented a lot of things that we now take for granted in film music. [All] film composers used the theme of light for different characters, but he was the first to do so in a symphonic way, so you could actually close your eyes and listen to the whole movie and know exactly what it was , learn about their emotional movies.
Somtow was particularly eager to decipher Herrmann’s 730 Score Anna and King of Siam . “Bernard actually draws inspiration from Indonesian and Balinese music, not Thai music, so the It’s as foreign to a Thai as it is to a Western audience,” he said. “It’s wild. And it’s very, very interesting.
The members of Siam Sinfonietta were not babysitting in Bernard Herrmann’s film, so Somtow said he had to find a way to leave them with the influence of Herrmann’s music, and their accompanying film, which had an audience at the time
“I’ll tell them: this music you’re playing right now, it’s the first time you’ve seen a woman in a black bra in a movie. Or it’s accompanied by the first-ever shot of flushing the toilet on screen,” he said. “Their eyes were wide open: it was like magic.
Somtow and Siam Sinfonietta are reclaiming the magic of Oldenburg for their grand encore.
“Oldenburg is really different,” Somtow Said. “I feel very comfortable here, like at home. I’ll find an excuse to come back as soon as I leave. “
