Her poignant singing offered to transport each listener to a place beyond reach. Somtow Sucharitkul and the former Czech ambassador to the Philippines Jaroslav Olša Jr at the Day In Mallworld book launch with the famous Prague castle in the background. Perhaps the most striking moment of the evening was Sassaya Chavalit's inspired rendition of Helena Citrónová's soprano aria. The new Thai ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ureerat Chareontoh, supported the concert and hosted a reception for the musicians. The book launch before the concert was co-organised by the Czech-Thai Society in Prague. It is the first literary work by a Thai author to be translated and published in the famously challenging Czech language. Titled A Day In Mallworld, it contains four stories, of which three have been translated by the Czech diplomat and friend of Somtow of 30 years, Jaroslav Olša Jr, who organised the publication with Zdenek Rampas, a noted Czech science-fiction publisher. On the same occasion, a book of Somtow's short stories translated into Czech was launched. The annual festival takes place in Pattaya and is slated for its 13th incarnation in July 2020. He is known for organising the international choir festival Grand Prix Thailand. Klimeš has worked extensively on Siam Sinfonietta's 2019 tour. According to Marek Klimeš, director of the Czech music festival Festa Musicale, productions of Citrónová in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are in talks. Somtow will present the world premiere of the complete Citrónová in January 2020 in Bangkok to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. For the Thailand production of Brundibár, Thai children created their own costumes with Jewish stars in a moving gesture of respect. During the war, Brundibár was performed more than 50 times inside the Theresienstadt concentration camp by children imprisoned there. The composer has dealt with the Holocaust in music before, when he staged - with the help of the Czech embassy in Bangkok - Hans Krása's children's opera Brundibár, the first Czech opera to have been performed in Thailand. Siam Sinfonietta's premiere of the Citrónová suite had a glowing reception in Slovakia, where the orchestra appeared on television news. Somtow treated the delicate subject sensitively.
What is love, in the end? And can love possibly exist in a situation as extreme as Auschwitz?" It asks questions that make us question all that makes us human. He explains what drew him to Citrónová: "The story has so many things to tell us today. Somtow saw a BBC documentary and could not get the subject out of his mind.
The opera sets to music the true story of a "beautiful and terrifying relationship" between a Slovak Jewish woman, a captive in a World War II concentration camp, and an SS prison guard named Franz Wunsch. The centrepiece of the programme was an orchestral suite of four scenes from Somtow's new opera Helena Citrónová. The excited audience at Prague's Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU) bestowed a long standing ovation on Somtow and Sinfonietta for their mature musicality. For many of the young musicians, the tour occasioned their first performance in Europe and "their first time encountering the particular warmth of the Czechs and the intensity of their love for music". It marked the premiere on the Old Continent of Voraprach Wongsathapornpat's piece Temples Of Kyoto, Trisdee Na Patalung's Restoration, and Somtow's Helena Citrónová suite. The event was significant for several reasons. Somtow Sucharitkul and Siam Sinfonietta earlier this month gave a wonderful concert in the Czech Republic's capital, Prague, as part of their European tour. Siam Sinfonietta at Prague's Academy of Performing Arts with the new Thai ambassador Ureerat Chareontoh and the former Czech ambassador to Thailand Vítezslav Grepl in attendance.
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