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.