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                                http://www.thaiembdc.org/Thaicommu/Talents/tl_1.aspx
                                http://www.narongmusic.com

Date:                            Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Venue:                          Royal Thai Embassy, Washington, D.C.

          One of Thailand’s leading composers, “Narong Prangcharoen” will be sharing his music, education, and career achievements in a reception night at the Royal Thai Embassy on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 7 p.m. during his visit to Washington, D.C. He will also play some excerpts of Thai performances from the movies that he composed for and will talk about the music he composed in memory of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana as well as the one he composed for the city of Annapolis.
          Though still young, Thai composer “Narong Prangcharoen” has already established an international reputation as one of Thailand’s leading composers.  In 2007 the Thai government named him a Contemporary National Artist and awarded him the Silapathorn Award, one of Thailand’s most prestigious honors.
          Prangcharoen has received many prizes, including the Alexander Zemlinsky International Composition Competition Prize, the 18th ACL Yoshiro IRINO Memorial Composition Award, the Pacific Symphony’s American Composers Competition Prize, and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.  Most recently, he won the Annapolis Charter 300 International Composers Competition.
Prangcharoen’s music has been performed in Asia, America, Australia, and Europe by many renowned ensembles.
          Mr. Prangcharoen began studying composition with Dr. Narongrit Dharmabutra in Thailand, and then received a full scholarship to continue his studies at Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, USA, where he studied with Dr. Stephen Taylor and Dr. David Feurzeig.  He is currently a full-scholarship doctoral student in composition at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, where his teachers include Dr. Chen Yi (Prangcharoen’s primary teacher), Dr. Zhou Long, Dr. James Mobberley and Dr. Paul Rudy
Prangcharoen has taught in the Western Music Department of Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand, and was an Instructional Assistant Professor of Music in Composition at Illinois State University.
          In addition to working as a freelance composer, he is currently teaching at the Community Music and Dance Academy of the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri in Kansas City.  Prangcharoen is presently completing a recording project of his orchestra and wind symphony works, which will be released by Albany Records in 2009.  He is the founder of the Thailand Composition Festival in Bangkok, Thailand, now in its fifth year.

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Narong Prangcharoen
and His “Tri Sattawat”

          “Tri Sattawat” (literally “Third Centenary”), a musical piece by an award-winning Thai composer, Narong Prangcharoen, was recently made the highlight of Annapolis’s 2007 – 2008 Lexus Classic Series Concert.
          “Tri Sattawat” was played by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (ASO), on February 15 – 16, 2008, under the conductorship of a young talented Spaniard, Jose-Luis Novo, in the jam-packed concert hall of the Maryland Hall of the Creative Arts.  The song, one of the four remaining entries in an international song contest held by the City of Annapolis to mark its third centennial commemoration in 2008, is a fine gift meticulously put together by Narong Prangcharoen to the people of Annapolis.
          Tri Sattawat is a perfect blend of the exotic traditional Thai music and its western counterparts that produces sophisticate, elegant and spicy tastes.
          Narong, aged 35, described by Los Angeles Times as “a composer with a gift for creating orchestral color”, is a PhD candidate in Musical Composition at the University of Missouri. He is also an Assistant Professor of Music Composition at Illinois State University and a faculty member of Thailand’s Srinakarin Wirot University in Bangkok.
          Narong has made his name as winners of many international awards, including the Alexander Zemlinsky International Composition, the 18th ACL Yoshiro IRINO Memorial Composition Award, the Pacific Symphony’s American Composers Competition and Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.
          Recently, Narong was commissioned to compose another musical piece of profound importance, “Tears of Dust”. The song was played on February 21, 2008, by Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in the requiem concert in memory of the late Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Niwattana, the elder sister of His Majesty the King of Thailand.  Narong said it is such an honor for him to be able to compose the piece for the Princess.

For more information, you may wish to visit the following website: www.narongmusic.com