On August 16, a concert titled ZeneSiam: Choir Music of Hungary and Thailand was held by the Bangkok Consort Singers at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in Bangkok.
Choral culture appeared in Southeast Asia 200 years ago, and its popularity has grown significantly over the past two decades. Pathorn Swasdisuk, who studied at the Kodály Institute in Hungary through the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program, now leads the Bangkok Consort Singers, a choir dedicated to promoting choral music in Thailand. The concert in August served as an excellent opportunity to commemorate several important anniversaries: the 52nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hungary and Thailand, the 155th anniversary (celebrated last year) of the first official contact between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Thailand, the 80th anniversary of the death of Béla Bartók, and Hungary’s national holiday on August 20. The program featured works by both classical and contemporary Hungarian composers, including Zoltán Kodály, Béla Bartók, Levente Gyöngyösi, György Ligeti, and Gergely Kocsák.
At the event, Dr. Anothai Nitibhon, acting director of the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music and Kamilla Balla, acting head of mission of the Hungarian Embassy in Bangkok, delivered opening remarks. They expressed their gratitude to the young members of the Bangkok Consort Singers for their dedicated efforts to promote Hungarian composers and choral music in Thailand. Although our countries are geographically distant and culturally distinct, the language of music allows us to understand one another perfectly — as this evening clearly demonstrated.
