somtow

Somtow does "Psycho"

Yes, I managed to get "Pyscho" into my Valentine's Day concert ... you see, it was about "all the varieties of Love" … and I had a "perverted love" category.......

Somtow does "Vertigo"

https://vimeo.com/392047243 This is also from our Valentine's Day concert....

Somtow and Bow do "Titanic"

https://vimeo.com/391628562 On the 14th we had a Valentine's Day concert — romantic music from 100 years of Hollywood....

The Sinfonietta goes to the Movies

We started work yesterday on a Valentine concert of classic movie love themes. Most of the great romantic classics of course were long before these kids were ev...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugnaught

Thoughts While Binge-Watching “The Mandalorian” - S.P. Somtow https://vimeo.com/260316369 I was finally able to watch The Mandalorian recently in between moment...

Complete Video: the World Premiere of my Holocaust Opera

Here's a link to the Financial Times story about my opera … https://www.ft.com/content/f791344e-3b72-11ea-b84f-a62c46f39bc2 and here is the video (with yellow s...

My New Opera about the Holocaust, Opening Tonight

This is what I wrote in the program book … SIX MILLION AND ONE Helena Citrónová is an opera. That is to say, it is a performance in which we accept the crazy no...

Thinking about Carrie Fisher

I was thinking about how Princess Leia managed to appear in the final movie — reconstituted from unused pieces of celluloid. So I thought I'd post our performan...

Forty Two Years with the Force - a Kind of Star Wars review

This essay will not be spoiler-free. A long time ago … and the galaxy might as well be far, far, away because I’m not a quantum particle and so my consciousness...

Our kids play the 1812 Overture

https://vimeo.com/381027730 A few glitches here and there but hey, it's live music. And the first concert of the Sinfonietta's Tenth Season. Hope you enjoy!...

Beethoven's Birthday Big Bang Flashmob in Thailand

Four youth orchestras from Thailand and five conductors celebrated Beethoven's birthday and the launch of a year-long Beethoven celebration with a "reverse flas...

Preparing to Avoid Clichés....

Today I took a rehearsal of the 1812 Overture for the first time in my life. (Thank god I found a score of the non-Soviet edition just in time.) Amazing that it...

Siam Sinfonietta winds play Stravinsky

https://vimeo.com/374167232 found this clip which is about 3 years old. It's the Stravinsky "Symphonies of Wind Instruments" - early version from I believe 1910...

Video of Helena Citrónová Suite by Somtow

https://vimeo.com/373452320 In response to the generous response to my article about the music for my upcoming opera, I'm posting the video of the Prague premie...

My Approach to Musical Language in “Helena Citrónová”

https://vimeo.com/370719154 This opera began years ago with an overture: a clanging, elemental, shrieking, painful overture that’s not so much like “music” as l...

An hour with Somtow and the Siam Sinfonietta

https://vimeo.com/370008371 Some unusual works here — a new piece by Bruce Gaston and a suite from my upcoming opera, "Helena Citronova"....

Somtow conducting Cassandra Black in the last scene of SALOME

https://vimeo.com/370011508 More things I have been doing to get in the way of writing novels...

My Address to the Beijing Opera Summit

https://vimeo.com/370007384 This is what I've been doing lately....

from my latest opera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-ZcOOWhYtc This is a scene from ARCHITECT OF DREAMS, my latest opera, which premiered two days ago....

The Siam Sinfonietta plays Mahler 4

https://vimeo.com/318208742 Two weeks after I directed "Jesus Christ Superstar" I had a completely different event - I conducted the kids in Mahler's 4th Sympho...