UCLA Wind Ensemble brings a touch of Thai music to its performance on March 2
By Leah Christianson
March 1, 2011 7:38 p.m.
UCLA Wind Ensemble
March 2, 8 p.m.
Schoenberg Hall, $5 for students with ID
The UCLA Wind Ensemble is going global. More specifically, it is attempting to transport its listeners to the heart of Bangkok by performing songs composed by three Thai composers, including the King of Thailand himself.
The Wind Ensemble will be performing on March 2 at 8 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall with Nipatdh Kanchanahuta, conductor of the wind symphony at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand, serving as the principal guest conductor.
“We thought it would be fun to do something different,” said Gordon Henderson, associate director of bands at UCLA.
According to Henderson, the big band movement is growing in Thailand, as the current king was originally a jazz composer in Switzerland. King Bhumibol Adulyadej has written 48 songs that have allowed the popularity of jazz to spread in Thailand.
“Their music is very different, concert-wise,” Henderson said. “But the Thai band scene was originally modeled after American bands.”
A world traveler himself, Henderson said his recent work with bands based in Japan and Thailand inspired him to bring in Thai music for UCLA students to perform. After meeting Kanchanahuta at a wind ensemble competition in the Netherlands, Henderson remained in close contact with the conductor.
Kanchanahuta has been conducting for more than 10 years, as well as serving as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Western Music at Kasetsart University. He said that he has been rehearsing tirelessly with the wind ensemble since he arrived in Los Angeles last week.
“I really am loving Los Angeles. It’s been a good week,” Kanchanahuta said.
