Bangkok’s noise is legendary, from the constant growl of traffic, to the bleating of ‘pretty girls’ selling the latest whitening cream, to outdoor speakers turned up to 11. It’s often hard to find a peaceful corner – a fact that Not the Nation parodied so well – and when you do, you cherish it. It’s even nicer when that peaceful corner is filled with lovely, soft classical music. I was lucky enough to attend an event recently that was just that, and even luckier to hang out with the talented musicans that performed. Surprisingly, they told me that these types of events were more common that I thought – you just have to know where to look.

I was recently invited to the Goethe Institute, Bangkok’s German cultural organization, for a classical music performance by guitarist Paul Cesarczyk and violinist Yavet Boyadjiev. I’m not a huge classical music nerd, but I do love what I love, and I’m always fascinated to see people create these beautiful sounds using instruments I couldn’t possibly hope to use. The most complicated music I’ve ever played came out of a slide whistle in grade school, if that’s any indication.

Paul and Yavet rocking like a hurricane. A peaceful, serene hurricane.

Paul and Yavet rocking like a hurricane. A peaceful, serene hurricane.

It was a wonderful performance for a small and intimate crowd. The duo performed pieces by Arcangelo Corelli, Niccolo Paganini, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Leo Brouwer, Maurice Ravel, Jaques Ibert and Bela Bartok. Personally, I’m a Beethoven guy, but the stuff they chose was fabulous nonetheless and I enjoyed every minute of it (except one piece – not sure by who, but it was rather jarring, incongruous violin music. I’m sure Yavet played it wonderfully, but it was not a style I dug). It was a great pleasure to meet Paul and Yavet after the show, two truly awesome folks, and we headed over to Sukhumvit 38 for some bamee noodles to talk about music and their life in Bangkok. Both are award-winning musicians – Paul from New York and Yavet from Cuba – who are faculty members at Mahidol University College of Music.

In talking to Paul and Yavet, they told me that there’s usually musical performances of some type going on, one of which is the Asia International Guitar Festival, on June 14-17 (I realize that’s today, so it’s a bit late). The website for the Thailand Guitar Society has plenty of links, as does the Goethe Institute, which seems to host a lot of these types of things. And of course, there’s the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, which puts on fantastic performances, several of which I’ve been lucky enough to see at various venues around town.

The Artistes.

The Artistes.

This is definitely someting I want to get more involved in in Bangkok. I often complain that there’s a lack of cultural activities here, but as I found out, you just have to know where to look.