Assumption University of Thailand’s ABAC School of Music delivered a stirring afternoon of music with “Virtuosity and Fire: Piano Concerto,” held on June 24, 2026, at Martin Hall, at Suvarnabhumi Campus’s iconic The Cathedral of Learning Building.
The concert featured acclaimed Thai pianist Phu Koanantakool as soloist in a commanding performance of Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with orchestral collaboration by Chonnakarn Sri-Utai. From the first notes, the performance lived up to its title. It was bold, dramatic, technically fearless, and full of fire.
Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is not music for the faint of heart. It demands strength, control, elegance, and emotional range from the performer. In Phu’s hands, the concerto became more than a display of virtuosity. It became a story of tension and release, thunder and tenderness, discipline and daring.
Phu brought a powerful stage presence to Martin Hall. His performance carried the confidence of an artist who understands both the architecture of Liszt’s music and the electricity of live performance. Known as an internationally acclaimed Thai pianist, Phu’s musical journey has been anything but ordinary. Before becoming a concert pianist, he was a speed metal drummer, later beginning formal piano studies at the age of 17. He went on to study at Silpakorn University before continuing his training at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, one of Europe’s respected centers for classical music education.
That unusual path could be felt in the performance. There was precision, but also pulse. There was refinement, but also rock-and-roll intensity hiding beneath the Romantic-era grandeur. Phu did not simply play Liszt. He wrestled with it, shaped it, and let it burn.
The orchestral collaboration by Chonnakarn Sri-Utai added depth and momentum to the concert, giving the music space to expand from intimate lyrical passages to full dramatic force. Together, the performers created an afternoon that reminded the audience why live classical music still matters. It is human, immediate, and impossible to duplicate.
Presented by the ABAC School of Music, the concert reflected the School’s commitment to artistic excellence, performance education, and meaningful cultural experiences for the AU community. It also offered students a close encounter with professional-level musicianship, where technique served expression and every phrase carried purpose.
“Virtuosity and Fire” was more than a concert title. It was the mood of the room. The performance brought together talent, training, risk, and emotion in a way that made Martin Hall feel alive.
For the AU community, the afternoon was a celebration of music at its most powerful: elegant enough for the concert hall, intense enough to raise the temperature, and memorable enough to stay with the audience long after the final note.
WRITER: THE AU LIBRARY
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