SWITCHED-ON FUGUES
About This Event
The Complete Electro-Acoustic Performance of
J.S. Bach’s The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge), BWV 1080
for Modern and Historical Instruments
Friday, July 24, 2026 · 7:30 PM
Neilson Hays Library, Bangkok
Om and Friends
Omporn Kowintha, Violin
Miti Wisuthumporn, Viola
Ekachai Maskulrat, Cello
THIPS Ensemble
Sallynee Amawat, Baroque Violin
Thanida Iamsirikulmitr, Traverso and Live Electronics
Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn, Keys/Synths and Electronics
Tickets
General 1,200 THB
Library Members 1,100 THB
Students 500 THB
Early Bird Until July 10
General 900 THB
Library Members 800 THB
Students 500 THB
Concert Descriptions
Should we play Bach on modern instruments?
Switched-On Fugues answers with Bach’s own silence. He left no instrumentation specified for The Art of Fugue, written in his final years when counterpoint of this density had already fallen out of fashion. The masterpiece exists as pure musical architecture, open to whatever forces can realize it, and that openness is where this performance begins. The title nods to Wendy Carlos’s landmark 1968 album Switched-On Bach, which proved that Bach’s lines could live as fully in any sound world as in his own.
Om and Friends and the Thai Historically Informed Performance Society Ensemble (THIPS Ensemble) perform BWV 1080 complete, all contrapuncti and canons in sequence, on gut strings and baroque traverso alongside synthesizers and live electronics. The ensemble brings historically informed performance practice, the study and use of period instruments and performing techniques true to Bach’s own era, into direct conversation with the electronic instruments of today. That the work still holds, nearly three centuries after Bach’s death and in instrumentation he never imagined, is itself a testament to what he was after all along.
Om and Friends
Om and Friends concert series was founded in 2018 by Omporn Kowintha, a Thai violinist, violist and educator who enjoys sharing her passion for classical music through performing chamber music with her friends. With this series, Omporn and her friends aim to create more performance opportunities for classical musicians in Thailand, inspire the next generation of musicians and audiences, and broaden the local audience’s exposure to live performances of classical music.
Omporn Kowintha, Violin
Omporn Kowintha began her violin lessons with Prof. Choochart Pitaksakorn at the age of thirteen. She had participated with Thai Youth Orchestra and became its concertmaster during 1994-1996. In 1997, she gained her Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Music Education from Chulalongkorn University. In 1998-1999, she received a scholarship from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, which enabled her to study with Michael Ma. In 2000, Omporn went to the U.S.A, and studied violin with Kathryn Lucktenberg and Fritz Gearhart at the University of Oregon. She also studied Suzuki Violin Pedagogy with Shelley Rich and was a violin instructor at the Suzuki Program of Community Music Institute at University of Oregon during the time she was there. Omporn received her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy in 2003.
Playing both violin and viola, Omporn participates in many chamber music ensembles and orchestras in Thailand such as Glom Piano Quartet, Bangkok String Quartet, the Artist Ensemble of Bangkok, and Pro Musica Orchestra. She also has her own chamber music series called “Om and Friends”, which has been giving chamber music concerts regularly since 2018.
She is also one of the most sought-after violin instructors in Thailand. Omporn has founded a music studio with her daughter called “Omri Music Studio”. Now, she is also the founding member of Thailand Association for Talent Education.
Miti Wisuthumporn, Viola
Miti Wisuthumporn has established himself as one of the leading Thai violists of his generation, performing on international concert stages, commissioning and recording new works, and mentoring young musicians. Currently the principal violist of the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Miti has received praise from critics, including a review from the Bangkok Post, which noted, “Miti played the central section’s exposed solo with admirable nerve and control.”
As a soloist, he has performed with the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Pro Musica, and the Chulalongkorn University String Orchestra. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with members of Pro Musica, the Bangkok String Quartet, Om and Friends, as well as renowned artists such as Andrés Cárdenes, Thomas Hampson, Clive Greensmith, Roeland Hendrikx, and many others.
Dedicated to introducing classical music to a broader audience in Thailand, Miti co-founded the JEEB Ensemble with five fellow musicians. The ensemble presents core classical repertoire in innovative and engaging ways, making it accessible to a wider audience. Their approach has proven highly popular—JEEB held sold-out music festivals in 2013 and 2017, embarked on a China tour in 2018, and launched Thailand’s first digitally streamed classical music album, distributed by Universal Music, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Miti began his musical studies on the violin at 14 before switching to the viola at 15, training under Asst. Prof. Col. Choochart Pitaksakorn. He pursued his studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S., and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in Austria. His mentors included distinguished violists such as Jiri Heger, Toby Appel, and Matthias Maurer, former viola soloist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
He currently teaches viola at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Kasetsart University, Chulalongkorn University, and Omri Music Studio.
Ekachai Maskulrat, Cello
Ekachai received his first cello lesson in Bangkok, Thailand. His musical studies brought him to many different countries, including Singapore, the United States and Switzerland. He studied with Apichai Leamthong, Li-wei Qin, Thomas Demenga, Christophe Coin and Petr Skalka, amongst others.
Ekachai is a founding cellist of various ensembles, ranging from early music to contemporary and rock, such as Ensemble Sonorità, Girandola Quartett, Van der Waals and Cell of Hell. Since 2012, he has been performing regularly as both principal and tutti cellist with Kammerorchester Basel, Basel Sinfonietta, Kammerorchester I Tempi, Geneva Camerata, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Les Musiciens du Louvre, l’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Balthasar Neumann Ensemble.
THIPS Ensemble
Founded in 2022 by five early music specialists of Thailand, THIPS Ensemble is the country’s leading independent early music group. The ensemble derived its title from “Thai Historically Informed Performance Society,” reflecting its mission to raise awareness amongst musicians in Thailand of authenticity in performing Western music before the mid-19th century and promoting the allure of early music through its engaging performances on period instruments to the general audience.
Sallynee Amawat, Baroque Violin
Violinist Sallynee Amawatis a dedicated performer, teacher and researcher based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She performs regularly throughout the Americas and Asia with period ensembles such as Ensemble Caprice, Arion Baroque Orchestra, and the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal (SMAM). Sallynee completed a Doctor of Music and Master of Music at McGill University in Canada, as well as a Master of Music in Performance and Pedagogy at the Hartt School in the United States. She is a founding member, Co-Artistic Director and Executive Director of Juno-nominated and award-winning ensemble Infusion Baroque, known for “brilliant virtuosity, musical integrity and a stage presence like no other.” (La Scena Musicale). As an active touring ensemble throughout the Americas, their artistic mandate includes furthering the performance and research of music composed for and by historical women musicians, and transcending cultural and temporal boundaries through early and contemporary music for period instruments. Sallynee is also the co-founder and music director of Compagnie intangible, a multidisciplinary performance group in partnership with Bangkok-based Canadian dancer Benjamin Tardif. Their dance-film project, Matchanu, combined music and dance from eighteenth-century France and Thailand, and has been featured at several festivals and symposiums such as the McGill Graduate Studies Symposium (McGill UNiversity, Canada), Asian Performing Arts on Stage and on Screen Symposium (UCLA, United States), FANG MAE KHONG International Dance Festival (Laos) and and the New Dance for Asia International Festival (Korea).
Thanida Iamsirikulmitr, Traverso and Live Electronics
Thanida Iamsirikulmitr is a historical and modern flutist. She has performed at prestigious venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Konzerthaus Berlin. Equally proficient in both modern and historical flutes, she has studied with distinguished mentors such as Aldo Baerten, principal flute of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and Wilbert Hazelzet, principal flute of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.
Thanida graduated from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Department of Music Performance. In 2015, she continued her studies at HKU Utrechts Conservatorium in the Netherlands, focusing on modern flute with Aldo Baerten before specializing in historical flutes with Wilbert Hazelzet. She earned her Master’s degree in Historical Performance in 2019 and has further developed her artistry through masterclasses with leading flutists including Robert Aitken, Julien Beaudiment, Trevor Wye, Jean-Claude Gérard, Patricia Morris, and Jan De Winne.
She has performed with numerous ensembles and orchestras and participated in international competitions and festivals, including the Osaka International Music Competition and the Utrecht Early Music Festival. Currently, Thanida performs with the Bangkok Bach Players and leads her own projects spanning Baroque, classical, experimental, and improvisational music. As one of Thailand’s pioneering traverso performers, she is committed to making historical performance practice more accessible while exploring new and innovative approaches to music-making.
Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn, Keyboards, Synthesizers, and Electronics
Akkra Yeunyonghattaporn is one of Thailand’s leading classical musicians, praised by The Straits Times Singapore for his “sensitive pianism.” Active as a soloist, chamber musician, composer, arranger, and educator, he is known for his refined artistry, profound engagement with music-making, and a wide-ranging repertoire that spans early music to contemporary works, performed on instruments from harpsichord and fortepiano to modern piano and keyboards. His performances have taken him to stages across Asia, Europe, and North America.
Akkra holds degrees from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, and McGill University, where he completed a Doctor of Music. As a composer and arranger, his work draws from personal memory, cultural heritage, and a spiritual search for meaning, often incorporating classical, jazz, and popular idioms into a single musical language.
With over two decades of teaching experience, Akkra is deeply committed to student-cenred learning. His students have gone on to win top prizes in national and international competitions and pursue advanced studies at major institutions worldwide. In addition to his work as a performer and teacher, he is regularly invited to give public lectures on music at conferences, universities, and cultural institutions. Based in Bangkok, he continues to perform, compose, teach, and speak, contributing to the evolving landscape of classical music in Thailand.
IMPORTANT: When purchasing tickets online, after putting your tickets in the basket, please settle the bill right away, and either enclose the bank slip with the order or email the proof of payment to info@neilsonhayslibrary.org so your order can be updated to “Complete”. If you don’t receive the order confirmation in your Inbox, please try checking in the Spam Folder or Junk Mail.
If your payment is not completed within 3 days of the online order, it will be automatically cancelled.
If you require any further information, please call 02-233 4999, or email info@neilsonhayslibrary.org.
Parking Location: With the limited parking space available at the library, it is recommended that you take a taxi or use public transportation. If you do drive, parking is available at Bangkok Union Insurance, 175/177 Surawong Road (garage entry on Soi Anuman Rajdhon 1) a 5-minute walk to the Neilson Hays Library. They charge a fee of THB 30 per hour for parking.