Our love is here to stay
An Opera & Piano Duo Concert
17th February 2024 | 17.00 hrs
Steinway Thailand introduces 'Our Love is Here to Stay' featuring the opera and piano duo of Jenny Onyu Park and Vorarat Wattanasombat. Jenny brings her distinctive warm and lyrical voice to the stage. Accompanied by Vorarat Wattanasombat (Loon), a skilled piano repetiteur and orchestral pianist, the evening promises a unique and enchanting musical experience.
program
See the entire program notes and text translations.
Printemps Qui Commence
*Dalila’s Aria from the opera 'Samson et Dalila'
C. Saint-Saëns
George
Toothbrush Time
Amor
From 'Cabaret Songs'
W. Bolcom
Ich Liebe Dich
E. Grieg
Zueignung
Morgen
R. Strauss
Al Amor
Del Cabello Más Sutil
F. Obradors
La Rosa y el Sauce
C. Guastavino
Canción de Cuna para Dormir un Negrito
Canto Negro
X. Montsalvatge
Habanera
*Carmen’s Aria from the opera 'Carmen'
G. Bizet
Mon Coeur s’Ouvre à Ta Voix
*Dalila’s Aria from the opera 'Samson et Dalila'
C. Saint-Saëns
Our Love is Here To Stay
G. Gershwin
Je Te Veux
E. Satie
performers
Jenny Onyu Park, Mezzo-Soprano
Jenny possesses a unique, warm, and lyrical voice, characterized by a deep mezzo-soprano color and a tessitura typical of a dramatic soprano. She has an active international singing career, having appeared as a soloist in numerous recitals, oratorios, concerts, and operas in Germany, Italy, China, Japan, the U.S., and South Korea. She studied with the late Christa Ludwig at the Academie de Villecroze in France and has worked with Graham Johnson and Martin Katz at Songfest in Malibu, California. In Italy, her teachers were the late Claudia Pinza and Enza Ferrari. In Germany, she has appeared as a soloist in benefit concerts for the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in hospitals and centers for underprivileged children. She holds a Performing Arts Diploma in Opera from the Frankfurter Musik Hochschule in Germany and has performed as Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Mimi/Musetta (La Boheme), Countess/Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Manon (Manon), Fiordiligi/Despina (Così fan tutte), Adina (Elixir of Love), Agathe (Der Freischütz), and First Lady (The Magic Flute). In Washington D.C, Ms. Park starred in John Musto's world premiere of Later the Same Evening as Ruth. Of her performance as Atalanta (Xerxes), the Washington Post called her “An enormously talented soprano and actress whose eye-rolls upstaged everyone in the cast.”.
A Fulbright Scholar and a Valedictorian from Seoul National University, Ms. Park holds a Doctor Degree of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has graduated from the prestigious Maryland Opera Studio while studying with distinguished director Leon Major and internationally renowned teacher Gran Wilson. Ms. Park is the recipient of the Jakob Goldhaber Research Award, The University of Maryland’s Arts and Humanities Research Award, the Korean Honors Scholarship from the Korean Ambassador to the U.S., and Seoul National University U.S. Alumni Scholarship. She has recorded a world premiere recording of German Lieder by the composer and pianist Walter Gieseking with the Naxos company and has been invited to perform the same repertoire at the American Musicological Society in Philadelphia.
In the U.S., she has taught English, Latin, German, and French Diction at the University of Maryland with her specialty as a lecturer in diction for singers. In Korea, she has taught for nine years at Seoul National University both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has also served as faculty at the College of Culture and Arts, Seoul Cyber University, a world’s pioneer program for online learning in Vocal Arts, since the onset of its program in 2018. Ms. Park has designed and delivered the online curriculum for singers in German diction, Italian diction, English diction, Vocal Arts Literature, and Class Voice. In Bangkok, she has been invited to join the Vocal Arts Department faculty at Mahidol University from this winter semester.
Ms. Park was invited to sing the alto solo for Handel’s Messiah at Thailand Cultural Center in December and the role of Suzuki (Madame Butterfly) in Chiangmai, sharing the stage with Sassaya Chavalit and Nutthaporn Thammathi at Terra. This season, Ms. Park will be singing opera projects in the role of Carmen, Delilah (Samson and Delilah), Princess Eboli (Don Carlos), Ulrica (A Masked Ball), and Elsa (Tannhäuser).
Her next recital, ‘Around the World in Song in 60 Minutes’, will be held on May 25th at Steinway & Sons at Gaysorn Centre, where songs from South America, Korea, Spain, America, France, and Austria will be presented. She can be followed on Instagram @jennyonyupark.
Vorarat Wattanasombat, Piano
Vorarat Wattanasombat (Loon) began his piano studies at the age of 9. He has completed his Master’s Degree in Classical Music at the College of Music, Mahidol University.
Throughout his years at the college, he has worked as a chamber musician, accompanist, and occasional orchestral pianist. He had been collaborating with Somtow Sucharitkul, a prolific composer, and conductor, for many years. Working as both a piano repetiteur and orchestral pianist, he has assisted Somtow in completing numerous projects, including his own operas. As a chamber musician, he has been recruiting string players to perform chamber works for piano and strings, such as quintets/quartets by Beethoven, Dvorak, Dohnanyi, to name a few.
Apart from his work as a performer, he is also pursuing a career as a music educator, aiming for Suzuki Teacher Trainer and the Jaques-Dalcroze Diplome Superieur. He is the first licentiate of Jaques-Dalcroze Education in Thailand.
LOCATION
Steinway & Sons Showroom
#1F-04 Gaysorn Center, 1 Floor
999 Phloen Chit Rd., Lumpini, Bangkok
Tel: (+66) 65 696 1659