TASANA NAGAVAJARA
Coming from the Thai classical instrument, Saw Duang, Tasana Nagavajara started learning the violin at the age of 9. His Thai teachers included Suphot Chomboon, Sutin Srinarong and Choochart Pitaksakorn. The turning point in his musical education came in 1989 when he was granted a full scholarship by the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) to study with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar in Switzerland. He thereby gained the golden opportunity to become a member of the Camerata Lysy Gstaad which performed under Lord Yehudi Menuhin in most major European cities, USA, Canada and South America. He received further training with Roland Baldini at the Vorarlberg Conservatory in Austria, and with Kathryn Lucktenberg at the University of Oregon, Eugene, USA. He obtained his doctorate degree from Chulalongkorn University in 2017, with a thesis on Mozart’s violin sonatas.
Tasana Nagavajara was a founding member of the Faculty of Music at Silpakorn University, and has also served as Director of the Silpakorn Summer Music School (SSMS) and the Pro Musica Junior Programme. As a professional musician, he has performed the major violin concerti with Thailand’s leading orchestras, and served as Concertmaster of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra under Hikotaro Yazaki for 10 consecutive seasons. He was also recipient of a Princess Galyani Vadhana scholarship to attend a violin master class with Hrachya Hrutunian in Neustadt/Saar, Germany.
In recent years he has concentrated his efforts on chamber music by introducing repertoire hitherto unfamiliar to the Thai audience, giving regular violin and viola recitals and leading various chamber ensembles, that culminated in the successful revival of the pioneering Pro Musica Orchestra under the baton of the late M.L. Usni Pramoj, which went on tour to 4 European countries in 2012.
Tasana Nagavajara has been intensifying his international career with his involvement from 2011 to 2016 as faculty member and chamber performer in the Estate Musicale Frentana in Lanciano, Italy, and in 2014 he joined the International Akaroa Music Festival, New Zealand. He has twice given recitals at the historic Mendelssohn House in Leipzig, Germany. Tasana is currently the Artistic Director of the Pro Musica Orchestra.
