While Bundit Ungrangsee is young for a conductor, he was no child prodigy. The 28-year-old associate conductor of the Utah Symphony saw his first symphony concert at the age of 18, when Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic performed in his native Thailand.
And he had never played in an orchestra -- unless you count his stint as a keyboardist in a rock band. "I was a big heavy-metal fan," Ungrangsee told the Deseret News. "My favorites were Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Rush and Led Zeppelin."Yet, it was only a few years after his first exposure to orchestra music that Ungrangsee was in Ann Arbor, Mich., getting his master's degree in conducting under the renowned Gustav Meier. Shortly after that, he landed a job as music director of the Debut Orchestra, a pre-professional orchestra in Los Angeles. To explain his rapid progress, Ungrangsee said, "I work very hard, and I am obsessed with conducting."
On Thursday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Abravanel Hall (call 533-note for tickets) Ungrangsee will conduct a concert featuring another up-and-coming young artist, pianist Cassandria Barlow Martindale, of Sandy. A recent graduate of the University of Utah, Martindale makes her Utah Symphony debut with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concert No. 2 in C minor.
And though she's known the piece for four years, she says she tries to keep it fresh. "I like to find new emotions for different parts," Martindale said. "I used to think of the second movement as very tragic and really sad in the opening, and now I think of it as more like someone's being enlightened. It's like a brand-new morning, and someone has just woken up. It's a beautiful sound rather than a sad and tragic sound."
Martindale credits Dr. Bonnie Gritton with teaching her how to interpret a piece. She's studied with Gritton for nearly a decade and plans to continue with the same teacher for her master's degree. "Bonnie really motivates me to do more with a piece than just learn it and have the notes really accurate" Martindale said. "Instead, I think a lot more creatively about it. In my college years, I was able to do more of that by myself; she really taught me how to interpret a piece on my own."
Gritton, who's played many times with the Utah Symphony, advised Martindale to "watch the conductor" because "the more you watch him, the more comfortable he'll be with you."
Ungrangsee is less worried about conducting the Rachmaninoff than he is about conducting Richard Strauss' sardonic tone poem, "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks." "Strauss wrote this piece with enormous attention to detail," said Ungrangsee. "There are so many things the conductor has to take care of -- balance, intonation, proper articulation and so many changes in tempo."
Compared to the Strauss, Ungrangsee says Rimsky-Kor-sakov's popular "Capriccio Espagnole," also on Thursday night's program, "practically runs by itself."
With the Strauss, Ungrangsee has a definite plan. "I think the most important thing about the Strauss is to get across the spirit of Till Eulenspiegel," he said. "Till Eulenspiegel was a prankster, a very tongue-in-cheek sort of person. I have to bring out the fun, sarcasm, humor and liveliness. My mission is to communicate these to the audience."