TPO Classic Power

Russian violinist Boris Broytsyn signs autographs following his performance at Nakhonpathom, Thailand

Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. Nakhonpathom, Thailand. May 21, 2011. The TPO is adept at presenting programs that are both adventuresome and traditional. This week’s program of Shostakovich, Dvorak and Wagner, was a good example. After a short Thai traditional song arranged for orchestra, the TPO launched into Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with Russian violinist Boris Brovtsyn. Now based in London, 34-year old Brovtsyn is embarked on an international career, and it’s easy to predict that we’ll be hearing a lot of him. While Shostakovich is home territory for Russian artists, only the very best can negotiate Shostakovich’s first violin concerto, an intricate, long, varied and powerful tour-de-force of powerful composing, requiring virtuosic technique and musicality to perform. Both soloist Brovtsyn and the TPO under its Chief Conductor Gudni Emilsson, were more than equal to the challenges and produced a mesmerizing performance, which was suitably rewarded by the prolonged applause and cheering of the large audience.

Following the intermission, the TPO performed Dvorak’s Symphonic Variations, not one of Dvorak’s greatest works, and Wagner’s Overture “Tannhauser.” In neither piece was the TPO quite up to its usual performance standards. The Dvorak work suffered from undisciplined string playing, while Wagner labored under rough brass entrances. My guess is that so much time was spent rehearsing the Shostakovich, that it left little time for Emilsson to take the TPO through its paces with the much easier Dvorak and Wagner. Still, it was good to hear both works played by an orchestra that can’t play anything really badly.

Tiger Trackdown: The US at its Best

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand. May 20, 2011. After the many programs I attend about our environment, I leave with two contradictory feelings: a profound sense of sadness about what we have done to the environment and how large the problems are, and a sense of hope because of the many people who are dedicating their lives to the improvement of our planet. To these opposite feelings, on May 20, following a special screening of the National Geographic film “Tiger Trackdown,” I was able to add pride in the United States for the role we are playing to help. Here’s why.

The trafficking in illegal wildlife is a huge international activity involving billions of dollars. The markets for both live wildlife and dead body parts keeps growing. The street value of an ounce of ground tiger bones is the same as the value of an ounce of cocaine. Unfortunately, because it is a commercial hub, because it is near the end markets for much of this trade in China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and because corrupt police benefit, Thailand is a center of this dastardly trade.

The decimation of tigers is particularly profound. A century ago, there were 100,000 tigers living in the wild; now there are, perhaps, 3,500 remaining. Thailand has, at most, 350 wild tigers left and the appetite for tigers for slaughter is rising. Basically, tigers in the wild are an extinct species. Result: their market value keeps going up. A wild tiger is sold into the illegal trade for $20,000, and then resold by the traffickers for $100,000. With the number of wild tigers so diminished, illegal domestic tiger farms are appearing in Thailand to keep feeding the trade.

Now, enter USAID and the FREELAND, both dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking. Both work closely with dedicated police and park personnel in Thailand to try to arrest those involved in the trade. Just how dangerous this work is, is dramatically depicted in the National Geographic’s first wildlife crime reality TV film “Tiger Trackdown,” which follows a unit of undercover

Thai police as they go into the field on a tiger bust, which was ultimately successful. A member of the team is American Steve Galster, a former law-enforcement officer, who now heads Freeland, an NGO based in Thailand which is dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking. Freeland is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, which, thank goodness, has just renewed a five-year commitment to this worthy organization. (Above: Freeland's president Steve Galster answers questions at the FCCT)

“Tiger Trackdown” showed just one aspect of USAID’s and Freeland’s extensive efforts to support corrupt-free national law enforcement in Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, and to support America’s commitment to the rule of law. In my opinion, efforts like these produce better results for the American people than many high-profile programs, the opposition to which is a matter of daily fodder in the international press. The next time, I see blanket condemnation of America by our detractors, I can proudly point to USAID and Steve Galster, as an antidote. By the way, Galster, who looks like a movie star, during the Q&A following the film, was hesitant to claim any particular credit /w:lsdexception>

An Evening with Former PM Anand Panyarachun

Former Thai Prime Minister Anand addresses the FCCT and answers questions

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand. May 18, 2011. Kh. Anand was Prime Minister of Thailand twice in the early 1990s, and is now a distinguished elder statesman. In 2005 and again in 2010, he was appointed to head two important national commissions, the most recent one being the National Reform Committee, which was formed last year following the Red Shirt protests. The Committee has completed important parts of its reform proposals on land reform and taxation, and, as happens in the US as well, the Committee’s recommendations have been ignored---DOA. No political party is adopting them.

Kh. Anand’s mostly anodyne presentation was a paean to the good sense and pragmatism of the Thai people and their nearly 800-year history as a unitary state, which qualities, he believes, will bring about peace and stability, both sorely lacking in present-day Thailand. On the other hand, Kh. Anand acknowledged that the social divisions of the past five years are unique in Thai history. The root causes of the present unrest, said Kh. Anand, are the non-access of the people to political resources, and the power structure as it now exists. As for the future of the Reform Committee’s recommendations, Kh. Anand remains hopeful, but was unable to point to any basis for his optimism. From my stand point, it is encouraging that at least some people are studying and talking about needed reform.

New UN Film: Revealed: The Himalayan Meltdown

The glaciers on the top of Mt. Everest are not yet melting, but the glaciers on his lower slopes are.

FCCT. Bangkok, Thailand. May 10, 2011. If anyone thinks that the deleterious effects of global warming are in the future, or that there's little current evidence of this tragic phenomenon, I suggest that they may want to watch a new 45-minute documentary film produced by the United Nations Development Programme titled "Revealed: The Himalayan Meltdown." Even if one has no interest in the subject, this film is a gorgeous travelogue of areas of Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, all countries within the Himalayan Mountain Range.

The purpose of the film, as explained after its showing by two UNDP officials, was to put a human face on the effects of global warming on the lives of Asians who depend upon the Himalayan’s to sustain human live. It is not a film to make a case about the causes of global warming, because the only people left in the world who doubt that greenhouse gases are causing global warming, are American politicians and their so-called "bases." Nonetheless, rather than talking about "global warming," the film talks about "climate change," perhaps a more diplomatic phrase.

For me, the most telling and dramatic parts of the documentary were comparisons of photos from as far back as 80 and 50 years ago, with photos of those same areas today (this technique used by scientists is known as point-to-point comparisons), and you don’t need to be a scientist to see how the glaciers have disappeared. At the same time, the formation of 30,000 brand new lakes, some of those massive, created from the runoff from the melting glaciers, is yet more dramatic evidence of what is happening.

As for me, I've long-ago abandoned at hope that global warming will be stopped by joint political action of the nations of the world; in fact, because greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for decades, even if all new pollutants were ceased today, it would take several generations for mankind to benefit, an indication of how much damage we've already done. So, my belief is that our main efforts have to turn to adaptation, and this film shows several pilot projects that are demonstrating how affected people in Asia are mitigating the effects of climate change, such as constructing artificial glaciers (if you can believe it) and collecting drinking water from fog.

The film is now airing throughout Asia on the Discovery Channel. It will most likely be shown on cable TV in the US, also. It is worth watching. Look for the title: “Revealed: The Himalayan Meltdown”

(Picture Above)) Gernot Laganda (left) from the UNDA Asia-Pacific Reginal Centre in Bangkok; Martin Krause (right) UNDA Regional Climate, Environment and Energy team leader

Opera with Dental Floss

Acknowledging enthusiastic applause: pianist Trisdee na Patalong (left), mezzo soprano Laura Woods (middle), and baritone Jonathan Pugsley (right).

Asvanant Dental Clinic. Bangkok, Thailand. May 13, 2011. With the Bangkok audience for classical music being as small as it is, you never know where you’re going to end up attending a classical music event. Large halls or auditoriums are seldom required. So, it was perfectly natural and unsurprising for Opera Siam to schedule a voice recital at a downtown Bangkok dental clinic. Asvanant Dental Clinic has a very pleasant and amble meeting room on its fifth floor, which was easily converted into a recital arena by the addition of a small stage and a Kawai baby grand piano. After passing through a lobby filled with patients awaiting root canal jobs, the 20 of us or so who attended, were first offered food and drink, and were then shown into the meeting room where we were greeted by famed writer, conductor and composer, Somtow Sucharitkul, Opera Siam’s Musical Director.

Two excellent opera singers, baritone Jonathan Pugsley, and mezzo soprano Laura Woods, both of whom have international opera careers, sang a collection of bel canto arias from operas of Handel, Bellini and Donizetti, and romantic blockbusters of Verdi and Leoncavallo. Their strong and polished voices were accompanied on the piano by the Siam Philharmonic Orchestra’s resident conductor, Trisdee na Patalung, who is a superb pianist in his own right. By way of introduction, Kh. Somtow provided commentary about the operas, and with his vast storehouse of knowledge, his insights added to the enjoyment of the music. My hat is off to these two marvelous singers, who, despite the embarrassingly small audience, successfully performed with no less energy and involvement in the music, than they would have done had they had a full house at the Met. That's what's known as professionalism.

(Above) Somtow Sucharitkul, Opera Siam’s Musical Director, provided informal commentary about the operas.