Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Gudni A. Emilsson

Soloist: Rolf-Dieter Arens, Piano

Program:

• Thai Traditional Music: Pleng Talay Ba, arranged by Capt. Prateep Suphanrojn
• Maurice Ravel: Concerto for Piano in G major
• Manuel de Falla: El sombrero de tres picos – Suite No.1 and 2

Experienced the concerto by the French man, Ravel, where the material came from his abandoned works of a decade before and also strongly influenced by the jazz craze that was then sweeping the world. Also music by Falla, based on the well-known novella by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon, about a magistrate who has become infatuated with a miller’s faithful wife and his attempts to seduce her.

Rolf-Dieter Arens, Piano

Born: February 16, 1945 – Zinnwald, Germany, The German pianist and teacher, Rolf-Dieter Arens, received its first piano instruction already at the age of 5. From 1963 to 1968 he studied at the Leipzig’s Hochschule für Musik, piano with Professor H. Volger and chamber music with Professor L. Schuster. After two extensive years he completed master courses with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna.

After finishing his studies, Rolf-Dieter Arens taught from 1970 to 1986 piano at the conservatories in Leipzig and Weimar. In 1986 he was appointed as professor for piano at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. Apart from the training activity, Rolf-Dieter Arens has an extensive concert activity as a concert pianist, with engagements as a soloist and a chamber musician, which have led him all over Germany, to many European countries, as well as to Japan and South Korea. He has played with renowned conductors as Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt, Neville Marriner and Janowski, among others. He has taken part in numerous broadcast and TV productions and CD recordings.

In 1982 Rolf-Dieter Arens received the Kunstpreis of the GDR, and in 1986 was appointed to the Berliner Sinfonieorchester, where he worked as a soloist until 1991. Since that time he has given numerous master-classes in Germany, Sweden as well as South Korea and worked as a Juror at international competitions in Bolzano, Budapest, Dublin, Santander, Utrecht, Weimar and Vienna. From 1993 to 1999 he was artistic director of the Internationalen Sommermusikakademie Schloss Hundisburg. In 1995 he created the Kammermusikvereinigung Weimarer Solisten. In 1999-2000 he served as president of the Franz-Liszt-Gesellschaft Weimar, and since 2000 he is chairmen of the Internationalen Franz Liszt Klavierwettbewerbs Weimar, as well as artistic director of the Liszt-Festivals in Weimar. Since July 2001 he is rector of the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar.