Visiting Artist:   Narong Prangcharoen
                    http://www.narongmusic.com/
Date:             November 4th, 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 Tuesday, November 4th, 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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