Coffeelosophy - part III

(part III)

P & R Productions

Gafaae had the resources and she utilized them. With help from her company, she first put on recitals with her husband the baritone. They re-introduced themselves to the Thai society as singers-performers. Right around the same time, they were also invited as guest artists in concerts of local music organizations. Things happen for a reason, and soon Gafaae was offered adjunct voice teaching positions in the music departments of two renowned prestigious universities, while at the same time she and her husband received requests from music lovers to take them as their private students. P&R: P stands for Pradichaya and R stands for Ralph, and one music critic referred to them as, 'an operatic couple, a match made in heaven.' Together, they built their teaching studio, and also produced concerts and productions of their own, their students and invited guests - all of which happened during their 'spare time' When it rains, it pours, but this was for a good reason: a man who had left Thailand decades ago returned with his brand new opera composition in English based upon a Thai drama by HRH King Mongkut (Rama VI), an opera commissioned to raise funds for the renovation of the Grand PhrayaThai Palace in which a large section of the land was turned into a medical school and a teaching hospital. There was a lot of advertisement for the event. By then, the talk of the town was 'KhunGafaae?' - khun is a polite title given to polite people by other polite people, 'She's the top business woman, she also sings opera.' No one put her down for 'sing to eat, dance to eat,' anymore. And by the time the famous opera production took place, Gafaae's youngest baby girl was barely four months old.

The decision

None of these was by any means a full-time job. Gafaae was on cloud nine, but she was exhausted maintaining the balance of her highly competitive business, her teaching, her performing, and her three boys and one girl. When she looked at the love of her life she was filled with worry, for he looked exhausted from being sleep deprived - his waking up at four every morning in order to beat the Bangkok traffic to get to school by six, and having gone on way past midnight every night because of the teaching, performing and socializing could not last forever. Gafaae asked herself if this was worth it. By then, both her parents had retired from their positions; yet, she was not appointed as their successor. Her business was at the point that either she gained total control or she would have to move on. On the peforming front, both Gafaae and her husband felt they fell into the 'local' category, but the even greater frustration came from being so far away from the mainstream singing culture and the consequent lack of access to teachers, coaches and more companies; not to mention all the other factors which are important in order to further their study in order to add to their singing and stage craft. Gafaae realized that she had to make a decision.

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To be continued.......
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