• 
• 

Published on December 10, 2007

His success has surprised his parents, teachers, friends and even himself because he started off as a piano student and had never dreamed of becoming a composer at all. It was not until he turned 25 that he began to take writing music seriously.

Now 34, Narong is going strong, receiving commissions to compose various orchestral music up until the end of 2008.

He is the only Thai composer who has ever won international awards, including the Alexander Zemlinsky International Composition Competition Prize, the 18th ACL Yoshiro IRINO Memorial Composition Award, the Pacific Symphony's American Composers Competition Prize and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.

Moreover, his compositions have been performed by internationally renowned orchestras such as the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Pacific Symphony, the Grant Park, the Nagoya Philharmonic, the Melbourne Symphony, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Thailand, the Ensemble TIMF, the New York New Music Ensemble and the Imani Winds.

"My compositions mostly represent a blending of Thai and international music for the international audience," said Narong, who talked to The Nation in a telephone interview from his US home last week.

"It is similar to cooking Thai food for foreigners' tastes. In a way, the old Thai composers also took music from Laos, China, Cambodia and other neighbouring countries to blend it with Thai music. We were the only country in this region which did this. The Japanese or the Chinese did not do it."

His best-known orchestral work, "Phenomenon", has been selected and performed at Grant Park Music Festival at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago. Narong was the first Thai composer to receive this privilege.

"Phenomenon" received its second performance in Asia at the 21st Century Orchestra Project in August when it was played by the Nagoya Philharmonic.

Tomorrow, at the Thai Cultural Centre, the audience will have a chance to listen to "Phenomenon" in an evening concert with Mikhail Pletnev, a globally renowned pianist and conductor who will be conducting the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra.

Narong's work was inspired by the mysterious Naga Fireballs, which take place at the end of the Buddhist Lent on the Mekong River. Narong sought to describe this phenomenon through his music, which also reflects the religious beliefs, traditions and ways of life of the Thai and Loatian people on both sides of the Mekong River.

Moreover, "Phenomenon" also honours the return of the Lord Buddha to this Earth. The length of the piece, which has already been performed 10 times, is about eight minutes. Narong is now in Bangkok to attend the premier of his music in Bangkok.

Narong could never have imagined he would become a composer. Although he studied piano at Bangkok's Srinakharinwirot University, his parents doubted he would ever be able to make a career in music.

While his friends were having a good time and he was confined to gruelling sessions of piano practice six hours a day, he decided to try writing music and took composition lessons with Dr Narongrit Dharmabutra.

Before long, he got a full scholarship to study composition in the Illinois State University, where he studied with Dr Stephen Taylor and Dr David Feurzeig.

He is currently receiving a full scholarship to continue his doctoral study in composition at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. His teachers include Dr Zhou Long, Dr James Mobberley and Dr Paul Rudy.

Narong was an instructional assistant professor of music and composition at Illinois State University and also taught at the Western Music Department of Srinakharinwirot University.

Besides working as a freelance composer, he is currently teaching at the Community Music and Dance Academy at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri.

He is presently completing a recording project of his orchestra and wind symphony works, which will be released by Albany Records next year.

Narong has also received commissions from orchestras including the Pacific Symphony, the CCM Concert, the Annapolis Symphony, the National Symphony of Thailand and the TIMF Ensemble.

His piece "Sattha", featuring string instruments, piano and percussion and written

in memory of victims of the December 2004 tsunami,

was premiered by the Pacific Symphony with maestro Carl St Clair in Orange County, California, two years ago.

His chamber pieces have been presented at the Museum of Modern Arts Music Festival in New York City, Maverick Concerts' "Music in the Wood" (America's oldest continuous summer chamber music series), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre in New York City and the Library of Congress in Washington DC.

Narong is now one of the four finalists of the Annapolis Charter 300 Young Composers Competition 2007, receiving a commission to compose an orchestral piece for Annapolis Symphony which will be performed in February.

He is the founder of the Thailand Composition Festival in Bangkok, now in its third year. He was recently honoured in the prestigious Silapathorn Awards as Thailand Contemporary National Artist 2007.

Narong's dream is to further establish his international reputation so that he can return home to Thailand one day to work in the local scene. He wants to develop young Thai musicians in writing music as well as their careers.

Thanong Khanthong

The Nation