Bangkok symphony orchestra

[Olddaddy]

Maybe some of you will know ...but my Filipino bf loves watching the Violin 🎻 shows and orchestra or whatever they call them 

I have no idea if in Pattaya or Bangkok they have these types of concerts 

Point 👉 me in the right direction please !!!!

[durian]

When I was last in Bangkok, April '26 the bangkok symphony orchestra was putting on concerts in Lumphini park on a sunday afternoon. I suspect it doesn't happen year round, but no harm in asking at your hotel reception

[PeterRS2]

Bangkok has two symhony orchestras. Both are good but they are basically part time and so concerts are only arranged occasionally. They are -

1. The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra gives concerts usually in the Thailand Cultural Centre which is quite central and close to the MRT station of that name (meaning a 10 minute walk). This orchestra has a concert on 12 August in honour of the late Queen Mother. Programme includes excertps from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Swan Lake ballets, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. There is also some dance from the Bangkok City Ballet Company. Cannot find ticket details. Park Concerts are only in December/January - too hot for musicians in April.

2. The Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. This is run by Mahidol Unversity and gives concerts in its own excellent Prince Mahidol Concert Hall. But Mahidol is some way out of Bangkok. Best way to get there is BTS to Bang Wa Station (Exit 1 or 2) and then the Salaya Link shuttle bus which leaves 90 minutes prior to a concert start time. This orchestra has a concert on Saturday 15 August at 3:00 pm which features popular music by Mozart, Rimsky Korsakov and the Cello Concerto by Richard Strauss entitled Don Quixote.  I have heard the cellist before and he is excellent.

It also has a second concert on the afternoon of August 22 which seems to be popular music from musicals as it is titled Side by Side. Can find no further details.  On 5 September it is performing Carmina Burana. Thailand Philharmonic tickets are 1,400; 900; and 700 baht.

 

[Olddaddy]

Number 1 may be better , trouble is securing tickets 🎫 

[PeterRS2]

31 minutes ago, Olddaddy said:

Number 1 may be better , trouble is securing tickets 🎫 

I believe their tickets are on sale via thaiticketmajor. Centrally located ones are their counters at Paragon 5th floor, Samyan Mtrtown 3rd floor, Central Childom 2nd floor (near Levis).

There is also a call centre 02-262-3456

Ticketmelon is another outlet but it requires registration and purchase online. I refuse to use it.  

[Olddaddy]

25 minutes ago, PeterRS2 said:

Ticketmelon is another outlet but it requires registration and purchase online. I refuse to use it

May I ask why 🤔 

[PeterRS2]

10 minutes ago, Olddaddy said:

May I ask why 🤔 

Because I have no desire to register on any booking site. I have the time and am happy to go to a ticket outlet where I can look at the seat plan carefully and choose where we want to sit and how much to pay.

[PeterRS2]

22 hours ago, PeterRS2 said:

This orchestra has a concert on Saturday 15 August at 3:00 pm which features popular music by Mozart, Rimsky Korsakov and the Cello Concerto by Richard Strauss entitled Don Quixote.  I have heard the cellist before and he is excellent.

The cellist is Qin Li-wei. When I heard him some years ago he was being compared to the famous Yo-Yo-Ma.

Anyone interested in classical music should keep an eye out for concerts, especially by the Royal Bangkok Symphony. They sometimes have big names in the classical world. I have been to concerts with the pianists Krystian Zimerman (he has appeared twice in recent years, one of which featured a superb Brahms FIrst Concerto), Tchaikovsky Competition winner Dennis Matsuev and Sir Stephen Hough, and violinists Joshua Bell and Maxim Vengerov. 

[bkkmfj2648]

On 7/26/2026 at 8:46 AM, Olddaddy said:

I have no idea if in Pattaya or Bangkok they have these types of concerts 

Point 👉 me in the right direction please !!!!

The PCEC (Pattaya City Expat Club) publishes many cultural events in their calendar section in their weekly newsletter which just arrived this morning.

I checked this morning and I did not notice any upcoming events with violins scheduled for Pattaya.

However, PCEC has a link to these types of events that take place over in Bangkok at:

https://sites.google.com/site/bkkmacaldetails/home/chamber-music?authuser=0

 

 

[PeterRS2]

19 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

The PCEC (Pattaya City Expat Club) publishes many cultural events in their calendar section in their weekly newsletter which just arrived this morning.

With all respect, as you point out the events listed are almost all held in Bangkok. Very occasionally (twice a year?) there will be a classical recital in Pattaya, usually in a hotel ballroom as there is no concert hall. They are usually by local musicians or from overseas and no one has heard of them despite what their PR might say! This often occurs when a musician contacts an Embassy or Consulate begging for it to arrange a concert. The quality of performance can be good, though.

[Londoner]

Korea, China, Hong Kong and Singapore all have world-class symphony orchestras as well as  concert halls that put London's second-rate ones to shame.  Music education in their schools is, as far as I can discern, better resourced than here. Top -class Asian conductors and instrumentalists are always touring Europe and the US, and produce acclaimed recordings.

Is it merely an issue of money that has prevents Thailand from achieving similar success? Or are there cultural and political factors at play?

[ichigo]

5 hours ago, PeterRS2 said:

With all respect, as you point out the events listed are almost all held in Bangkok. Very occasionally (twice a year?) there will be a classical recital in Pattaya, usually in a hotel ballroom as there is no concert hall. They are usually by local musicians or from overseas and no one has heard of them despite what their PR might say! This often occurs when a musician contacts an Embassy or Consulate begging for it to arrange a concert. The quality of performance can be good, though.

Classical concerts happen in Pattaya a little more regularly than you would think - http://eelswamp.blogspot.com is an intimate venue which hosts Thai and international artists (some big names occasionally), and also https://www.benstheaterjomtien.com is another small performance space which hosts recitals and such. I'm sure there are likely more from time to time.

[bkkmfj2648]

Please add this additional site to the repertoire of potential places to see/hear classical concerts in Pattaya:

https://www.facebook.com/pattayaclassicalmusic/

 

[PeterRS2]

5 hours ago, Londoner said:

Is it merely an issue of money that has prevents Thailand from achieving similar success? Or are there cultural and political factors at play?

Interesting comment. You are correct in saying that Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan have and are producing world class instrumentalists, and their concert halls - to which you should add those in Singapore and the wonderful one in Kuala Lumpur - also range from extremely good to stunning. It's interesting I think, that whereas Japan has produced wonderful soloists, there are less now than one would expect. It is South Korea where western classical music is exploding in terms of the superb quality of its musicians. Young classical instrumentalists who increasingly win the top competitions are treated almost like pop stars. I am sure you heard of Yunchan Lim when he won the Van Cliburn Competition four years ago then aged just 18. Marin Alsop who conducted his performance of the Rachmaninov Third Concerto was in tears at the end. But a pianist I know who was on the jury said Lim's rendition of the fearsome Liszt Transcendental Etudes in the Semi Finals was as good as any he has ever heard in 40 years of hearing other great pianists perform the work.

In all these countries western classical music is taught in schools. The classical music tradition in Japan goes back to the Meiji period when it was the norm to copy as much from the west as possible. That's no doubt why Tokyo alone has eight symphony orchestras and a plethora of new concert halls. In Asia, it has been the norm for concert halls to be built from the inside out placing the primary emphasis on the acoustics. Minoru Nagata founded his acoustics firm in 1971 and many of the world's new halls engage his company. The conductor Herbert von Karajan regarded Symphony Hall in Osaka as the finest his Berlin Philharmonic ever played in. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma considers Tokyo's Takemitsu Hall the finest.

China is starting to produce world class soloists and its more than two dozen new concert halls and opera houses are amazing for both their interior acousitc and external architecture. The new Opera House in Harbin is one example, and that city partly explains why western classical music is becoming so popular in the country. At the time of the Russian Revolution, hundreds of thousands of white Russians fled to Harbin which had a spur line to the Trans Siberian Railway. Many were major musicians who then set up China's first music conservatory. Eventually they spread through the country, especially Shanghai, and taught Chinese about music. The one child policy resulted in parents wanting the best for their kids and music was regarded as  a step up the ladder. It's no surprise that the world's largest piano factory is in Guangzhou and produces 125,000 instruments annually.

So why not Thailand? I think it's an easy answer. Thailand was never colonised and so there was never any demand for western music. It is not taught in more than a handful of international schools and some private schools. Really good instrumentalists have to go overseas to study and work. For example, the principal trumpet in the Hong Kong Philharmonic is Thai and played in their recorded Ring cycle on Naxos.

Part of the Harbin Opera House exterior

The new Shanghai Opera House complex will open in mid-October

Yunchan Lim playing the Liszt Transcendental Etude #5 in 2022

[Kiwi306]

6 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

The PCEC (Pattaya City Expat Club) publishes many cultural events in their calendar section in their weekly newsletter which just arrived this morning.

I checked this morning and I did not notice any upcoming events with violins scheduled for Pattaya.

However, PCEC has a link to these types of events that take place over in Bangkok at:

https://sites.google.com/site/bkkmacaldetails/home/chamber-music?authuser=0

 

 

Thank you for the link.

I actually went to the pipe organ concert on Saturday.  

When I was in Bangkok in February I attended free outdoor concerts in Lumpini Park on Sunday afternoons.

[PeterRS2]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Please add this additional site to the repertoire of potential places to see/hear classical concerts in Pattaya:

https://www.facebook.com/pattayaclassicalmusic/

With all respect, Pattaya may have several classical recitals but because they take place in hotel ballrooms you are often stuck with acoustics which are too dry (too much carpeting and soft furnishings), door attendants who let late comers in because they've had no training and pianos which are either slightly out of tune or have not been properly voiced. These are not criticism of the artists; only of the venues they have to play in.

I note on the Facebook vdo there is a pianist (Russian?) playing Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos.  These absolutely need an orchestra but he is playing to some kind of pre-recorded music which is very different. I canot imagine anywhere else these would be performed without the live orchestra of 70-80 musicians.

Mind you, this sort of concert was not so uncommon 40 - 50 years ago in places even like Hong Kong whose orchestra now is world class. In 1980 I recall going to see one of the world's great ballerinas, Natalia Makarova, who had defected from the Soviet Union. Still in her prime as a dancer, she danced to a tape that her promoter had made during a 'live' performance in Manila. The problem was that he had recorded the whole evening on the cassette tape, including the applause! It was so sad for Mme Makarova.

1 hour ago, ichigo said:

Classical concerts happen in Pattaya a little more regularly than you would think - http://eelswamp.blogspot.com is an intimate venue which hosts Thai and international artists (some big names occasionally), and also https://www.benstheaterjomtien.com is another small performance space which hosts recitals and such. I'm sure there are likely more from time to time.

I admire anyone who attempts to mount classical recitals in any reasonable venue. It take a great deal of work. Of the recitals in these venues in the link, the artists are almost exclusively Thai. I am sure they are very good but when you have small venues, no matter how good the acoustics you have the problem of fees. A recognised international soloist is not going to stop over in Thailand for less than around $2,000 plus air fare contribution, hotel and local tax. Promoters in a small hall just cannot handle these expenses. Besides, the international soloists listed do not perform in any major concert halls anywhere, from what i can check. The international music business is pretty cutthroat and all promoters and orchestras want names that can fill upwards of 1,000 seats at reasonably high prices. In Bangkok the Thailand Cultural Centre has 1,800 seats and the Prince Mahidol Hall 2,000 seats.

[PeterRS2]

26 minutes ago, Kiwi306 said:

When I was in Bangkok in February I attended free outdoor concerts in Lumpini Park on Sunday afternoons.

These park concerts are paid for by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and take place before the hot weather starts. They can be very good. I wish there were more of them.

[Londoner]

Thailand is certainly "the land of the free" when comes to western invaders, but if there is one country that I'd expect to reject Western art, it would be China. After all, Mao's government was distinctly anti-foreigner and particularly anti-West. And well before that there was the destruction of the Summer Palace in 1860 by the British Army- an act of wilful barbarism borne out of a sense of racial   superiority- and this was a defining moment in China's history. And ours, come to think of it although apparently written out of popular history in the UK. 

We've been pretty cruel across five continents  for a thousand years but Thailand has remained free of our worst excesses.  Unlike neighbours like Laos, Cambodia  and Burma, all of which have been cruelly colonised in relatively recent times.

I  return to the issue of relative wealth. Culture, particularly music is expensive. And then education; to what extent do Thai children experience culture of any sort in their curricula? 

[PeterRS2]

1 hour ago, Londoner said:

Thailand is certainly "the land of the free" when comes to western invaders, but if there is one country that I'd expect to reject Western art, it would be China. After all, Mao's government was distinctly anti-foreigner and particularly anti-West. And well before that there was the destruction of the Summer Palace in 1860 by the British Army - an act of wilful barbarism borne out of a sense of racial   superiority - and this was a defining moment in China's history. And ours, come to think of it although apparently written out of popular history in the UK . . . to what extent do Thai children experience culture of any sort in their curricula? 

Mao's government was certainly to all intents and purposes anti-foreigner. Back in history, the destruction of the Summer Palace is unquestionably the foreign action most hated by all present Chinese however conservative or liberal their views. Not even the Opium Wars come close. As the chaplain to the British forces stated the Palace and its Gardens were -

"arguably the greatest concentration of historic treasures in the world, dating and representing a full 5,000 years of an ancient civilization" 

Let's recall, though, that is was the French who started the destruction. And one of the first to condemn that destruction was French novellist Victor Hugo who wrote -

There was, in a corner of the world, a wonder of the world; this wonder was called the Summer Palace. Build a dream with marble, jade, bronze and porcelain, frame it with cedar wood, cover it with precious stones, drape it with silk, make it here a sanctuary, there a harem, elsewhere a citadel, put gods there, and monsters, varnish it, enamel it, gild it, paint it, have architects who are poets build the thousand and one dreams of the thousand and one nights, add gardens, basins, gushing water and foam, swans, ibis, peacocks, suppose in a word a sort of dazzling cavern of human fantasy with the face of a temple and palace, such was this building . . . Artists, poets and philosophers knew the Summer Palace; Voltaire talks of it . . . If people did not see it they imagined it . . . like a silhouette of the civilization of Asia on the horizon of the civilization of Europe.

This wonder has disappeared.

One day two bandits entered the Summer Palace . . . The devastation of the Summer Palace was accomplished by the two victors acting jointly. We Europeans are the civilized ones, and for us the Chinese are the barbarians. This is what civilization has done to barbarism.

A joint Anglo-French force had crossed the Qing lines in Beijing with a view to negotiating a truce in the hostilities that had been taking place. A Qing general arrested the peace envoys and had them badly tortured, as a result of which most died. The French Commander ordered an advance on the Summer Palace where the Emperor and his entourage had earlier been located. He assured the British Commander Lord Elgin that nothing had been touched in the Palace which was an outright lie. The French looting was massive.

Two days later Lord Elgin decided the Chinese had to be taught a lesson. He ordered the total destruction of one of the greatest works of art and architecture in all of history. For that action the Chinese will never forgive the British and French.

Let's also recall that China itself was in turmoil with the Qing Dynasty collapsing from within and from the action of the colonists who had forced open Chinese ports for trade. There were a few years of relative peace with the end of the Imperial system and the Presidency of Sun Yat Sen. But Sun had not long to live. The murdering corrupt Chiang Kai-shek forced his way to the country's leadership. No sooner was he on the way to winning his war with the warlords than the Japanese invaded Manchuria before the war when the invaders started moving south in 1937. 

Once Mao had won the civil war, his entire attention was on maintaining his power and turning his desperately poor China into a self sufficient nation. No one in power had any interest in stopping the orchestras and concerts. His Great Leap Forward and Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom campaigns were major disasters which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of his countrymen. Then came the Cultural Revolution when one would have expected western classical music to be banned as bourgeois. And it was, with the exception of about four works which Madame Mao permitted to be performed.

Before then, though, western classical music was well established in Beijing and Shanghai. The orchestras and many musicians suffered very badly during the Cultural Revolution - most sent to work in the countryside, or I knew one violinist who had to work for four years in a brick factory. But these musicians were a hardy lot and quickly reassembled once Deng Xiao-ping came to power. I am sure you must have seen the documentary made by the violinist Isaac Stern From Mao to Mozart which won an Oscar. I also recommend the book by Sheila Melvin and her husband Cai Jin-dong Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese.

I am sorry I do not know about the music history curricula of Thai children. I assume they must be versed in Thai classical music and dance. Certainly the late Queen ordered a month of Khon Dance performances at the Thailand Cultural Centre during every November. 

[floridarob]

10 hours ago, Kiwi306 said:

I actually went to the pipe organ concert on Saturday. 

Sansuk sauna?

[Kiwi306]

Well, funnily enough, you're not far wrong. I did go to a sauna after the concert, but it was Krubb, not Sansuk. And I saw organs galore and also had the privilege of playing with some of them.

[Olddaddy]

5 hours ago, floridarob said:

Sansuk sauna?

It's quite unfortunate you have ruined a perfectly intellectual interesting  intelligent discussion on music academia and the Qing dynasty 😕

[PeterRS2]

17 hours ago, Kiwi306 said:

I actually went to the pipe organ concert on Saturday. 

I am curious. Where is there a decent pipe organ (the musical variety) in Bangkok? I have been to a couple of churches whose pipe organs were relatively poor.

I think there is almost no musical experience that equates to a pipe organ being played full belt. And so few classical works include an organ, unless you think of the last movement of the Saint Saens Organ Symphony or the much smaller scale ones by composers like Handel. The one work which knocks me out if ever I get a chance to hear it live is the Berlioz Te Deum. The organ plays a massive part in all its six movements. Unfortunately it requires a huge orchestra, two large choirs of around 100 singers in each, and a boys chorus plus that mighty pipe organ. So when the orchestra and singers are all playing/singing fortissimo it is sometimes difficult to make out the organ. But what an experience!

This is the second movement composed of three verses where the organ is more prominent - Tibi Omnes

 

[mauRICE]

2 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

It's quite unfortunate you have ruined a perfectly intellectual interesting  intelligent discussion on music academia and the Qing dynasty 😕

Yes, shame on you, floridarob for interrupting a keen student like Olddaddy. Headmistress PeterRS will soon come along to give you a good whipping. 😠

[Olddaddy]

1 hour ago, mauRICE said:

Yes, shame on you, floridarob for interrupting a keen student like Olddaddy. Headmistress PeterRS will soon come along to give you a good whipping. 😠

Lol ..love your sense of humour Maurice 😄