Nadlada Thamtanakom

In her early youth, Nadlada Thamtanakom sang the traditional music of her country, Thailand. She began western classical singing at university in Thailand, and distinguished herself rapidly, making her début with Bangkok Opera in 2004 in the Mozart rôle of the Queen of the Night, followed quickly by Zerlina, as well as Flora in Britten’s Turn of the Screw.

She was awarded a full scholarship by the Khun Kaseam-Phornthip Narongdej Foundation from 2007-2012, allowing her to study in Europe from September 2007. She completed her voice studies at the Royal (Francophone and Flemish-speaking) Conservatoires in Brussels, graduating in June 2010.

She has continued to perfect her singing, in masterclasses with Gundula Janowitz (festival of Auvers-sur-Oise 2011), Ann Murray, Sir Thomas Allen (opera) and Graham Johnson (Lieder and art songs), and is currently taught by Luc De Meulenaere. She also extended her education through a two-year course with Operastudio Vlaanderen, leading to a qualification equivalent to a Master’s degree.

With the Operastudio, Nadlada sang in concerts at the Antwerp and Ghent Opera houses, and in other concerts including one with the Jeugd en Musik Orkest Vlaanderen. The repertoire for these concerts included arias of Blonde, Gilda, Nannetta, Adele. Her lyric soprano voice covers the operatic repertoire from Handel to the modern era. Nadlada has performed on stage in Brussels and Ghent as the Princess in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges in 2008 and Aspasia in Mozart’s Mitridate, Rè di Ponto in 2010, and was warmly congratulated by composer Philippe Boesmans in April 2011 for her interpretation of Kristin in Julie, directed by Sibylle Wilson with the Ensemble Contemporain de Bruxelles, conducted by Bart Boeckart.

She has maintained her relationship with Bangkok Opera (now Opera Siam), returning to Thailand to sing the rôle of the Queen of Heaven in Somtow Sucharitkun’s opera The Silent Prince in 2012 and 2013, in the opera’s first performances outside the US. In August 2014 she created the rôle of Dainagon no Suke in the same composer’s Dan no Ura, in performances conducted by the composer. She returned in December that year to sing Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and will reprise The Queen of Heaven in Germany in August this year. With Opera Siam’s youth orchestra, she performed at the Bayreuth Junge Künstler festival in 2015 and 2016. Beethoven symphony 9th December on the 18th and La Boheme as Musetta on the 24th and 25th December 2017. Meanwhile, in Europe, she has sung the rôles of Mi in Lehar’s Das Land des Lächelns (in French) and Despina in Cosi, in Belgium. She has also become a frequent member of the Opera Vlaanderen chorus and Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège.