Mazars Last Night of the Proms 2008 - Mazars - Thailand

A packed out house was order of the night on October 16th at the Khunying Sumanee Concert Hall for the Mazars Last Night of the Proms concert. This event, now its third year, is a partnership event between the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, Shrewsbury International School, the British Club and Mazars, as the lead sponsor and co-organiser of the event. Among the 500 plus guests, Mazars was pleased to welcome many clients and friends.

Concert goers were first entertained at a riverside open air dinner to jazz and swing band performances from Harrow International School and New International School of Thailand, before moving into the concert hall itself to be entertained by an 80 piece orchestra comprising the combined talents of students from Shrewsbury International School and around 20 professional outsiders, including musicians drafted in from the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. Most importantly the conductor, John Moore, was flown in from the United Kingdom by British Airways.

The Proms "Last night" concert typically features some popular classical pieces followed by the "traditional pieces" that involve some audience participation. Nobody was left disappointed this year!! The selection of music included Wagner, Ralph Vaughan Williams (Lark Ascending), on the 56th anniversary of this death, the performance of which also included a spell binding violin solo from a Shrewsbury International music scholar, Hee Won Woo, and a stirring piece from Sibelius (3rd movement from Karelia Suite). The orchestra then moved on to an "American in Paris" by George Gershwin, Irish tunes from County Derry (Percy Grainger) Valse from Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky) and the Radetzky March (Johan Strauss) which altogether amounted to a very international selection.

Shouts of "Encore" and "More" at the end resulted in the conductor finally becoming convinced that the audience was by then familiar with his name, "moore or less". After a couple of repeats, the audience returned outside to the riverside setting for a spectacular firework display and yet more sumptuous food!!