[dropcap size=small]C[/dropcap]oming from the Thai classical instrument, Saw Duang, TASANA NAGAVAJARA started learning the violin at the age of 9. His Thai teachers include 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, thus having 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. Further training then took place with Roland Baldini at Vorarlberg Conservatory in Austria, and with Kathryn Lucktenberg at the University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
Upon returning home, Tasana became a founding member of the Faculty of Music at Silpakorn University, and he has also functioned as its Deputy Dean and Director of its Summer Music School (since 2005). As a professional musician, he has performed the major violin concerti with Thailand’s leading orchestras, as well as serving as Concertmaster of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra under Hikotaro Yazaki for 10 consecutive seasons. He was also a recipient of a Princess Galyani Vadhana scholarship to attend a prestigious violin master class by Hrachya Hrutyunian in Neustadt, Germany. Recently, he was entrusted by the founder of the Pro Musica Orchestra, H.E. Privy Counsellor Mom Luang Usni Pramoj, with the responsibility of reviving the orchestra in the capacity of its Concertmaster, and that endeavor culminated in a very successful tour of Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany in September 2012.
Building on his early experience at IMMA, which allowed him to perform chamber music with Alberto Lysy at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in 1991, Tasana has kept up his international activities, being the first Thai musician to be invited to give a recital at the historic Mendelssohn House in Leipzig, Germany, in July 2011. Since 2011 he has been asked to act as faculty member at the annual Summer Music Festival in Lanciano, Italy, where he also performed chamber music with principal players from I Musici di Roma and the Orchestre National de France.