{{multiple image | image1 = RheingoldBangkok.JPG | caption1 = Bangkok Opera's 2006 production of ''Das Rheingold'' with features drawn from Southeast Asian myth | image2 = ChanceGanesha.JPG | caption2 = Bangkok Opera's 2006 production of ''Ayodhya'' with Michael Chance as Ganesha}}
[[File:FluteBangkok.JPG|thumb|Bangkok Opera's 2006 production of ''The Magic Flute'' with Nancy Yuen as Pamina and Will Rhodes, Dominick Gilbert and Soponwit Wangcharoensab as boys]]
'''Opera Siam''', formerly Bangkok Opera, is an opera company in Bangkok, Thailand. It presents an international opera repertoire, together with home-grown favorites.<ref name=Fodor>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=xTLZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 Fodor's Bangkok 25 Best]'', p. 90 (2015).</ref>
The company was founded in 2001, as a production company to mount ''Madana'', the first full-length grand opera by Thai composer S. P. Somtow under the royal patronage of Princess Galyani Vadhana. This production featured in the title role the American soprano Stacey Tappan.
In 2002, with Somtow as artistic director, the Bangkok Opera began a series of productions, the first being Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas''. The series then moved onto larger-scale works such as ''Mae Naak'', ''The Magic Flute'', and ''Turandot''.
At the end of 2005 the Bangkok Opera declared its first "complete" season and also started a five-year project to perform the complete Wagner's ''Ring Cycle''. Its resident orchestra is the Siam Philharmonic Orchestra and its resident chorus is the Orpheus Choir of Bangkok.<ref name=NYT>Turnbull, Robert. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/arts/thai-impresario-prepares-a-ring-with-a-difference.html "Thai Impresario Prepares A 'Ring' With a Difference"], ''The New York Times'' (April 18, 2006).</ref> The company performs regularly at the Thailand Cultural Centre, and at other venues in Bangkok.<ref name=Fodor />
{{Listen|type=music |filename=Magic_Flute_Overture.ogg |title=Overture to The Magic Flute |description=Composed by Mozart, recorded from Bangkok Opera's 2006 production, conducted by Trisdee na Patalung, featuring the Siam Philharmonic Orchestra, duration is 6:36}} Somtow says the Bangkok Opera was set up based on the idea that, "nothing important has ever happened in art when an audience has been ready for it." He says the opera caters to three groups: expatriates, high society, and other Thais who love opera. He seeks to bring all three groups under one roof.<ref name=NYT />
In 2013 Opera Siam International premiered S. P. Somtow's ballet-opera ''Suriyothai'' in honour of the birthday of Queen Sirikit. It starred Stacey Tappan and Winita Lohitkul, and was conducted by Trisdee na Patalung.
==See also== *Music of Thailand
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.operasiam.com Official website of the Bangkok Opera] *[http://www.somtow.com Somtow's World] *[http://www.operasiam.com/orpheus Orpheus Choir] *[https://www.facebook.com/siamphilharmonic/ Siam Philharmonic] *[http://web.mac.com/somtow/iWeb/Ayodhya/Podcast/0885E747-1DAD-45FA-89DC-D69F31198F85.html Michael Chance sings Ganesha's aria from "Ayodhya": audio] {{authority control}} Category:Musical groups established in 2001 Category:Thai opera companies Category:2001 establishments in Thailand