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(Sound of violin)

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(Applause)

3
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Thank you.

4
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I was born in a musical family.

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Many of my forefathers had dreamt
of becoming musicians.

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Most of them got caught up

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in a mainstream profession
or academic career.

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And actually, they did very well.

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But I myself, I was determined, however,


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to become the musician.

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And now I'm a full-time 
professional musician.

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My grandfather was an educator

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and became the headmaster of many 
leading high-schools in Bangkok.

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He was also the manager of a well-known

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Thai traditional music ensemble.

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I think -- I mean he cannot really play --

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I think he enjoyed being close to the music 
and to the musicians.

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When my aunt returned home 
from her study in the West,

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she brought back lots of Western 
music recordings to my house,

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which had a great effect 
on my father and my uncle,

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who grew up with 
this LP vinyl collection,

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which included Rimsky Korsakov’s 
symphonic poem Scheherazade

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which I have just played for you.

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I, myself, also grew up with my father's
huge LP collection,

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mainly Western classical music.

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When I was about 5 years old,

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I was able to memorize

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many many symphonies of Beethoven

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and conducted along with them --

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I mean conducting is
not as difficult as this.

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And the sound of this kind of music,

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Western classical music 
and the orchestra,

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made a really deep impression on me.

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I started music lessons 
for the first time on Saw Duang,

35
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which is a Thai traditional instrument 
with two strings.

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And I began to realise that 
I had some talent in music.

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A year later I took up 
lessons on the violin.

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And with the basic for the Thai fiddle,

39
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I could somehow transfer the skills,

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and adapt to the violin,

41
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and add to my long experience

42
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of listening to 
classical music since birth.

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I think I had a good start.

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The turning point for me was 
when the great violinist, Alberto Lysy,

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visited Thailand in 1988.

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I just played for him and 
that brief moment changed my life.

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Alberto Lysy suddenly 
gave me an opportunity

48
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to go and study in Switzerland

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at one of the most prestigious 
music institutions in Europe,

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the International 
Menuhin Music Academy.

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This is a very rare chance 
to get into such a famous place.

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I went on to study music
in Austria and America.

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I spent almost 11 years

54
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studying and playing abroad 
before returning home to Thailand.

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Many of my friends asked me,

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Why do I want to come back to Thailand?

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Do I have any job or 
any opportunity to play a concert?

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And my answer is always the same.

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I wanted to come back. 
I wanted to create something special.

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I think I was convinced 
that I could be useful

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to the music scene in Thailand

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especially to young Thai musicians.

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When I came back in 2000 --
the year 2000 I came back,

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I started teaching right away.

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Because in those days,

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it's quite impossible to make a living 
just playing concerts.

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And despite my additional workload

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as concert master of 
the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra

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for 10 years,

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and I got a full-time teaching position

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at Silpakorn University

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in their brand-new Faculty of Music.

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I really enjoy teaching as much as playing.

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To see new faces 
entering our school every year

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and work closely with them for 4 years,

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is quite a challenge.

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In 2005, we began to expand

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the musical training 
beyond the confines of our university.

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We started the Silpakorn 
Summer Music School,

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which I'll refer to as the SSMS.

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SSMS had around 20 students playing 
chamber music in small groups

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in the first few years,

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with more and more students 
joining and participating.

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Today it has become a big --

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a real symphony orchestra 
counted with over 120 students.

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We provide a unique opportunity
for students,

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all eager to learn, 
to come together and make music.

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These students are --

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most of them are inexperienced.

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They vary from the very well-trained

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to those who are not at all well-trained.

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But during this special week,

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we try our best to create

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the most ideal environment

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for them to learn
and to work together.

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During the week, we work really hard

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and also have a great time together.

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Last year, these students, Thai students,

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really played the symphonic poem by 
Rimsky Korsakov, Scheherazade, quite well.

100
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And I will show you the example
of the previous year on Ravel's Boléro.

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(Music)

102
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(Applause)

103
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16 years ago, no one 
could never ever have dreamt

104
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of something like this
happening in Thailand.

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It's one of our most successful projects

106
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and has a great impact 
on Thai musical society.

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The other story, our university --

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another project of our university
is the so-called

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"music talent program".

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At that time in 2007,

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we had a kind of a political connection 
with a small province

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near Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai
called Payao.

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This is a very beautiful province, 
with lakes. It's really nice.

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At that time, the governor of Payao

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had the idea of turning the town into

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a Vienna of the East,

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as the music centre.

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This became a big project

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and we even brought the orchestra
from Bangkok to perform there.

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I still remember driving
into the little town of Payao

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and seeing a big billboard 
of myself holding a violin.

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We also started 
the "music talent program"

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in cooperation with a boarding school,

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located in the mountains nearby;

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a very, very nice boarding school.

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And we were hoping that the whole thing

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would turn Payao into 
the mountain musical paradise,

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like Aspen, Colorado,

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or Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland.

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And from the beginning,

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this music talent program was a big hit.

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It was wide-reported in the press.

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It was taking the full page 
in the Bangkok Biz News.

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It was very well-known at that time.

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In those days, I flew up north 
once a month to Chiang Rai,

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rented a car, drove 
a hundred kilometers to teach,

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stayed overnight,
drove back to Chiang Rai,

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and flew back to Bangkok to work.

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And actually it was fun for me.

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It was like a dream.

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It was a dream of 
making a dream come true.

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You may have guessed 
the final outcome.

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Vienna of the East
didn't last for very long.

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It didn't work at all.

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When the governor 
was transferred somewhere else,

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the political wind changed,

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the whole project was gone.

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Just like that. Just gone.

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At that time we had around 
20 high school students


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in our music talent program.

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They were sadly abandoned.

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Everything was over.

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So, what did we do?

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We tried our best to take care 
of their future education,

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cause we felt responsible 
for these students' lives.

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In the end, half of the students 
went on to another music program

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in a boarding school in Bangkok

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and half of them came to Chiang Mai.

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We founded Montfort School here,

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which was already active 
with their own string orchestra.

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And our students 
from the music talent program

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have made new friendships 
in their new home in Chiang Mai.

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So at least we have 
a happy ending with the story.

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And here they are!

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(Applause)

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This is the combined orchestra of students
from Silpakorn summer music school,

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the former music talent program students

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and the Montfort string orchestra.

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The students come from many, many 
provinces in Thailand:

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from Nan, Chiang Mai, Mae Sot, Bangkok.

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So we'll play Canon in D 
by Johann Pachelbel.

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(Music)

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(Applause and cheering)

174
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Thank you very much.

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I have never regretted coming home 
and following my musical career.

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Here I have a chance 
to create something very special.

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And the most enjoyable time for me is to 
make music with these young musicians.

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Thank you. Thank you very much.
(Applause)