The Bangkok Opera is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 company founded in 2001 as a production company to mount Madana, the first full-length grand opera by a Thai

Thai people

The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. This production featured in the title role the American soprano Stacey Tappan

Stacey Tappan

Stacey Tappan is an American coloratura soprano.Tappan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up inPasadena, California. Both her parents are instrumental musicians....

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In 2002, under artistic director Somtow Sucharitkul, the Bangkok Opera began a series of productions with Purcell's

Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...

 Dido and Aeneas

Dido and Aeneas

Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid...

, moving onto larger-scale works such as Mae Naak

Mae Naak

Mae Nak Phra Khanong , or simply Mae Nak or Nang Nak , is a well known and popular Thai ghost. Local folklore claims that this story is based on actual events that took place during the 19th century.-The story:...

, The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....

, and Turandot

Turandot

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...

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At the end of 2005 the Bangkok Opera declared its first "complete" season and also started a five-year project to perform the complete Wagner's

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 Ring Cycle

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...

in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

. Its resident orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 is the Siam Philharmonic Orchestra

Siam Philharmonic Orchestra

thumb|right|580px|Siam Philharmonic Orchestra during its 2004 Singapore tourThe Siam Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand, under the name "Mifa Sinfonietta". At that time it was a small chamber ensemble devoted to bringing the discipline of the classical style to...

 and its resident chorus is the Orpheus Choir of Bangkok. The opera company performs regularly at the Thailand Cultural Centre

Thailand Cultural Centre

Thailand Cultural Centre is a performing-arts venue in Bangkok, Thailand.-History:Built with a grant from Japan, the Thailand Cultural Centre opened on October 9, 1987 as part of celebrations for King Bhumibol's 60th birthday.-Facilities:The venue consists of two auditoriums and one...

.

See also

External links

• http://www.bangkokopera.com
• http://www.somtow.com
• http://www.orpheuschoir.com
• http://www.siamphilharmonic.com
• Michael Chance sings Ganesha's aria from "Ayodhya": audio