BANGKOK, THAILAND – A solemn memorial concert in Bangkok recalled the victims of Nazi persecution and issued a warning against historical amnesia and Holocaust denial.
Music as a call to remember Auschwitz
The Holocaust Memorial Concert by Opera Siam took place on Sunday in the Great Hall of King’s College International School Bangkok, ahead of the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps on 27 January 1945. The evening was dedicated to the millions of innocent men, women and children murdered under Nazi rule, at a time when only a few survivors remain and responsibility for remembrance is passing to younger generations.
German ambassador stresses enduring responsibility
Before the performance, Dr. Ernst Reichel, Germany’s ambassador in Bangkok, addressed the audience with a personal statement.
“The German people still feel a shame that has no expiry date.”
said Dr. Ernst Reichel, German ambassador to Thailand.
He underlined that remembrance and responsibility did not stop at national borders, describing Holocaust commemoration as a task for people of all nations and insisting that future generations must never repress or relativise what happened.
Górecki’s symphony of sorrow and quiet hope
The concert opened with Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony, known as the “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”, a three-movement work for soprano and orchestra composed in 1976 and conceived as a lament for the suffering of war and the German occupation of Poland. The piece drew on Polish texts of great emotional force, including the perspectives of grieving parents and a message carved into a Gestapo cell wall by 18-year-old Helena Błażusiakówna.
Despite its tragic subject, the music remained largely in major keys, conveying a subdued message of hope and resilience. The Siam Sinfonietta let the symphony grow from a simple double-bass line into a radiant orchestral sound, while the repeated three-note soprano phrases emerged like a voiceless cry of humanity.
Cassandra Black’s restrained intensity moves audience
American soprano Cassandra Black impressed as soloist with a bright, controlled tone and a keen sense of the music’s spiritual character. Her urgent calls blended organically into the orchestral texture, avoiding any hint of showmanship.
By the end, the hall was so silent that no one wished to be the first to break the moment with applause, underlining the work’s impact on the audience.
Strauss, late Romanticism and a complex legacy
The second half featured the Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, composed in 1948, a year before the composer’s death. Under the baton of Somtow Sucharitkul, artistic director and chief conductor of the Siam Sinfonietta, the orchestra shaped a disciplined yet expressive late-Romantic sound.
Horn player Yuttapol Kangwansurakrai was singled out for handling his exposed solos with calm and warmth, while concertmaster Aim Chotikulo’s violin passages were among the evening’s highlights. Cassandra Black navigated the demanding soprano part with careful husbanding of her vocal resources and nuanced phrasing, even over a full orchestra.
As an encore, she sang Strauss’s “Zueignung”, filling the hall with unwavering vocal presence.
Remembering Strauss’s wartime choices
The programme also recalled the ambivalent biography of Richard Strauss during the Nazi era. After the war, his assets and royalties were frozen while investigators examined his possible proximity to the NSDAP, a probe that ultimately ended with a finding of innocence.
The concert noted that Strauss had remained in Germany to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and grandchildren, who were in grave danger under the regime. The family lived under house arrest on his estate in constant fear of the Gestapo, and Strauss even travelled personally to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the release of other relatives.
Israeli ambassador highlights power of education
Israel’s ambassador Dr Alona Fisher-Kamm used her remarks to underline education as a safeguard against future crimes against humanity.
“Education remains the strongest tool we have to ensure that such crimes never happen again – against any nation, any faith and any ethnic group.”
said Dr Alona Fisher-Kamm, Israel’s ambassador to Thailand.
In a situation where language often reached its limits, the concert became a shared act of remembrance. The responsibility to recall the victims was presented as a lasting obligation, to be passed on from eyewitnesses to the generations that follow.