Career or Career?
That is the question facing highly educated beginners. Career: you walk along for a while, take an exciting turn and before you know it you are doing something completely different from what you were trained for. Career: look up, elbows on edge and up the ladder.
Kantha Bopha and Beatocello: Bach in the Pagoda
A few years before I moved to Thailand, I had read somewhere in a newspaper about a doctor in Siem Reap who performed an evening every week playing the cello to raise money for his medical project in Cambodia.
Thailand around the Nieuwmarkt
Piet van den Broek has settled in Amsterdam on long leave for several weeks, within the canal belt, in his town house on the Nieuwe Prinsengracht. Fortunately, he is not devoid of all Thai delights.
Meander over the Literature Museum
Piet met Simon at Ons Moeder while he was snacking on a herring. “That's one of the few things I miss here,” he said between bites, “a nice herring! Fortunately, Our Mother provides that.”
A beautiful concert hall was officially opened on the campus of Mahidol University in Bangkok West this month: the Prince Mahidol Hall.
An evening at the embassy
The Dutch embassy is located on Wireless Road in Bangkok like a jewel sandwiched between the residence and the chancery of the Americans. Rightly as a jewel, because that's what it is.
A Stradivarius among the goats: music in Eelswamp
A Stradivarius is an instrument that you don't expect to be able to listen to right now in Nong Plalai (half an hour's drive north-east of Pattaya). Yet that little miracle happened there, on Saturday, January 18, at Eelswamp, Gregory Barton's goat farm.
N/A Pattaya: Excursion on November 20 – from one palace to another
The NVT Pattaya will visit three palaces in Bangkok: the Ladawan Palace and the Suan Sunandha Palace and in between they will have lunch in the beautiful coffee room of the Phya Thai Palace. These palaces were built at the beginning of the last century by order of King Chulalongkorn. You can sign up for this excursion that departs from Pattaya.
A new music temple in Bangkok: Sala Sudasiri Sobha
'A dream of a building, radiant white, with the allure of a palace, just like that in the middle of nowhere'. Piet van den Broek writes enthusiastically about his discovery and the Yontararak couple who founded this musical oasis in Bangkok.
Five musical eighteens and a royal haircut
The word piano quintet has the same effect on me, an avid amateur pianist, as the exhaust of an F16 does on a heat-seeking missile. In the Bangkok Post of Friday, August 16, I read that the Piano Quintet 18 would perform the following Sunday at the Goethe Institute.
In the thrift store of the time: nostalgia or old stuff
Piet van den Broek was confronted with the question: "You write very fascinating about beautiful musical performances, but can't you do that in advance so that I can also attend them?" In this column he responds to this question and describes his visit to a concert in honor of Princess Galyani Vadhana in the beautiful Thewarat Sapharom Hall, a neoclassical showpiece of breathtaking beauty.
Historical awareness: the Meierij
A few days before the King's Day, at the regular table at Ons Moeder in Pattaya, I got into a conversation with a fellow countryman temporarily staying in Thailand.
A day in Bangkok with music
A trip from Pattaya to Bangkok is a true feast for the classical music lover, Piet van den Broek. In his column you can read why Piet did not accept the offer for erotic entertainment and playing a Steinway grand piano.
Restaurant review: Double Dutch in Pattaya
For seven and a half years, Peter has been running his guesthouse and restaurant Double Dutch in Soi Welcome, a side street of Jomtien Beach Road.
Enjoy music at two special places in Bangkok
A while back I decided it was high time for a serious musical experience and in the Bangkok Post I saw the announcement of a piano recital by Nina Leo at the Goethe Institute in Bangkok. Two birds with one stone: beautiful music in an interesting location.