The Lunch Box is a chamber opera

Chamber opera

Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...

 by 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 Thanapoom Sirichang

Thanapoom Sirichang

Thanapoom Sirichang was born in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. He began his music study at the age of eight by joining the Prince Royals College Ensemble. He studied music with Gain Tepparat and Yutthapol Sakthamjareon until he finished college in 1998...

 and Thai librettist

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 Bringkop Vora-Urai. Composed entirely in Tasmania under the guidance of IHOS Artistic Director Constantine Koukias

Constantine Koukias

Constantine Koukias is a Greek-Australian composer and flautist.He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of IHOS Music Theatre and Opera, based in Hobart, Tasmania. He is well known for his innovative work in contemporary opera and other forms...

, The Lunch Box may be the first opera sung in Thai to blend traditional Thai music

Music of Thailand

The music of Thailand reflects its geographic position at the intersection of China and India, and reflects trade routes that have historically included Persia, Africa, Greece and Rome...

 and contemporary Western opera.

A Buddhist tale

The Lunch Box tells the story of a mother's devotion to her only son, a fundamentally good farmer whose rage at the untimely death of his father has tragic consequences. This much-loved Thai Buddhist folk tale is believed by the librettist to be based on an actual incident that occurred in Thailand 300 years ago.

Composing western opera for Thai voices

Composition challenges included using the Western staff and notation for Thai music, which is usually notated quite differently, and writing for a tonal language

Tone (linguistics)

Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...

 such as Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

, in which changing the pitch of the word can change its meaning.

Premiere

The opera, for two singers and ensemble, was commissioned by IHOS Music Theatre and Opera

IHOS Music Theatre and Opera

IHOS Music Theatre and Opera is a Tasmanian opera company was established in Hobart in 1990, by composer and artistic director Constantine Koukias, and production director Werner Ihlenfeld to create original music-theatre and opera works.-Major repertoire:...

, and premiered in Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

, Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, Australia, on 26 March 2009 as part of the 2009 10 Days on the Island

10 Days on the Island

Ten Days on the Island is Tasmania’s state-wide biennial multi art-form festival. A unique event in Australia, Ten Days is a celebration of culture in Tasmania. With almost 250 events in 99 venues in over 50 locations, 195,000 Tasmanians and visitors took part in the 2009 event.Ten Days was the...

 Festival. The Hobart production featured soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 Monique Klongtruadroke and baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

 Saran Suebsantiwongse, both of whom have been trained in the Western tradition and have sung with the Bangkok Opera

Bangkok Opera

The Bangkok Opera is an opera company founded in 2001 as a production company to mount Madana, the first full-length grand opera by a Thai composer...

. The "minimalist and bold" portable set evoking a Thai rice field was created by the production's Sydney-based Dutch Director and Designer Joey Ruigrok van der Werven. The Western-style ensemble, which is incorporated into the stage design, comprises violin, clarinet, cello, flute, keyboards and percussion, but a gong and water percussion recall Thai rural scenes. The premiere season was conducted by Tasmanian conductor Michael Lampard

Michael Lampard

Michael Robert Garth Lampard is a Tasmanian opera singer, conductor and composer born in Hobart.-Education and Early Acclaim:...

.

External links

• Stateline, ABC Television, 27 March 2009
• Mark Cutler: "The Lunchbox | IHOS Theatre", 29 March 2009, review at Australian Stage Online