Bangkok, Thailand, August 20, 2024 / TRAVELINDEX / The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation, in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Culture, Department of Cultural Promotion and B. Grimm Group Ltd., will present a concert titled “Sergei Babayan plays Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto” at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 24th, at the Thailand Cultural Centre. This concert will be on the auspicious occasion of Her Majesty the Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother’s Birthday on August 12th, 2024.

The Armenian-American pianist Sergei Babayan was born into a musical family in Armenia, Babayan began his studies there with Georgy Saradjev and continued at the Moscow Conservatory with Mikhail Pletnev, Vera Gornostayeva and Lev Naumov. Following his first trip outside of the USSR in 1989, he won consecutive first prizes in several major international competitions, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Hamamatsu Piano Competition, and the Scottish International Piano Competition. Babayan regularly performs at many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus and Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Maison de la Radio in Paris, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, and the Zurich Tonhalle. Mr. Babayan performs with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

This concert will be conducted by maestro Tomàs Grau, the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Franz Schubert Filharmonia, the RBSO will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

Rachmaninoff was one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. Thus, when he composed his concertos, he wrote them for himself. The third concerto was written for his first visit to America, and its second performance was conducted by no less a legend than Gustav Mahler himself, with the composer at the piano. Today, the voluptuous melodies, the massive chord sonorities and the luscious Romantic dimensions seem old-fashioned for a 20th-century composer. But more and more people recognise that they have an irresistible dramatic force, no matter their generation.

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, first performed in November 1937, was simple and had direct musical language, extended well-shaped melodies, and, above all, a positive fanfare at the end. At the same time, it has a seriousness and complexity that lifts it. The first movement displays great ingenuity in controlling tempo from slow to fast and back. In contrast, the finale gives the brass and percussion a chance to flex their muscles and hammer home the message of triumph in the major key.

Tickets are available at Thaiticketmajor:
https://www.thaiticketmajor.com/concert/rbso-2024-sergei-babayan-plays-rachmaninoffs-piano-concerto.html