Piano show by Trang Trinh

New Year concert with National Symphony Orchestra

Pianist Trang Trinh - Photo: The pianist

Pianist Trang Trinh, a graduate from the Royal Academy of Music in the U.K., will have a performance called “Diary of Piano” at the Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien Street at 8 p.m. on February 23.

The show is about the ups and downs in life from innocence to pain and wisdom.

Born in Vinh Phuc Province, the pianist was invited to work for the London-based All Souls Orchestra, and she has had various performance tours in Italy, Austria, Hungary and Ireland.

In 2007, she won the Francis Simmer Prize for playing solo piano, and the Lilian Davis Prize for her performance of Beethoven‘s Sonatas.

One year later, she was awarded the Gretta GM Parkinson Prize for her outstanding academic records.

She will perform the show in HCMC early April.

Tickets are available at the Opera House at VND300,000, VND500,000 and VND1 million.

*Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Tetsuji Honna featuring piano soloist Isadora Kim will play at  Hanoi Opera House February 18 and 19.

Pieces to be played include Overture from Opera “Russlan and Ludmilla” by M.Glinka and Piano Concerto No.2 by S.Rachmaninov.

The painting “Ascending Dragon” by Do Hong Quan depicting Hanoi, past and present, will be on display during the concert. The event will also include a famous waltz and polka by Johann Strauss II and the waltz, Gold and Silver, by Austrian musician Franz Lehar.

Ethnic percussionists will perform with the orchestra to add a traditional Vietnamese flavor to the European classics.

Tickets are available at the Opera House for VND450, 000, VND350,000, VND250, 000, and VND150,000 and discounted 50% for students.

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Symphony ready for Opera House date

In charge: Composer Do Hong Quan at a performance. His latest symphony Ascending Dragon will be performed this weekend. — VNS File Photo

HA NOI — The Viet Nam National Symphony and Orchestra (VNSO) will perform a Lunar New Year's Concert this Friday and Saturday night at the Ha Noi Opera House.

The programme for the night features music by contemporary Vietnamese composer Do Hong Quan and old European masters such as Johann Strauss and Franz Lehar.

Quan's latest symphony, Dang Rong Len (Ascending Dragon), promises to be a concert highlight as the symphony was composed at the request of the VNSO and premiered last year on the occasion of Ha Noi's 1,000th birthday.

The symphony aims to evoke images of modern and ancient Ha Noi, musically celebrating the city's vibrant culture and romantic character, according to the composer.

Quan was born in 1956 into a family with a long musical tradition. His father, composer Do Nhuan, was a well-known composer and former general secretary of the Viet Nam Musicians' Association.

Quan began piano studies at the age of six at the Viet Nam National Academic of Music (VNAM). In 1976 he was sent to study composition and conducting at the Moscow State Conservatory in Russia, where he graduated with honours in 1981. In 1991 and 1992 he studied composition and conducting at the Paris National Conservatory.

Beginning his professional career in Ha Noi in 1986, Quan has served as vice director of the Ha Noi Youth Theatre, conductor of the Ha Noi Conservatory Symphony Orchestras, and is currently the dean of the Composition Faculty at VNAM.

His most well known works are Variations for piano, Four Pictures for oboe (or flute), piano and percussion, Rhapsodie Viet Nam for symphonic orchestra and the ballet The Mists, which won the State Musical Prize.

He has also conducted the symphony orchestras of the Moscow State Film Studio, the Tashkent State Opera House (Uzbekistan) and the VNSO.

The concert at the Opera House will also feature performances of Johann Strauss' operetta from Gypsy Baron, Eljen a Magyar; Tritch Tratch Polka and Emperor Waltz, along with the waltz Gold and Silver by Franz Lehar.

The concert begins at 8pm on Friday and Saturday. — VNS

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Insect world bursts into song

Guitar hero: Le Minh Son will perform at the Opera House on Saturday in a programme entitled Guitar for Myself. — File Photo

HA NOI — Songwriter Le Minh Son will perform at the Ha Noi Opera House on Saturday, in a New Year's Day programme entitled Guitar Cho Ta (Guitar for Myself).

As part of the show, Son will perform songs with singer Ha Linh from their upcoming album together which, he said, "will feature songs about insects, inlcuding the spider, bee, beetle, ant and grasshopper".

Singers Thanh Lam and Tung Duong will also perform, and the show will feature the debut performances of new pieces by Son entitled Giot Nuoc Mat (Teardrop), Mat Trang To (Big Moon), and Hay Uong Gio Bien Khoi Mot Lan (Try to Drink the Ocean's Wind Once).

The night's programme will be rounded out with performance of jazz and Latin pieces which have been re-arranged by Son for his guitar with an ensemble of musicians.

Son, 35, was voted "Musician of the Year" by The Thao & Van Hoa (Culture & Sport) daily in 2004. His song A I A won the Song of the Year award in 2005 at the annual Bai Hat Viet (Vietnamese Songs) competition.

Son's albums include Gieng Lang (Village's Well) and the recent Mot Khuc Song Hong (A Melody of Red River), as well as Guitar for Myself. His most popular hit was Chuon Chuon Ot (Red Dragonfly), recorded by singer Ngoc Khue in 2003.

Son, a graduate of the Viet Nam National Academy of Music, now teaches at the Ha Noi Arts College.

Saturday's performance begins at 8pm, with tickets available at the Ha Noi Opera House. — VNS

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German opera questions nature of innocence

An opera written by a German and Austrian trio will be performed by Vietnamese artists at the Hanoi Opera House on January 14 as part of German Year in Vietnam 2010.

The opera, titled “Man goes through the valley”, has music written by German composer Pierre Oser, with lyrics by Tankred Dorst and his wife Ursula Ehler. Oser will instruct the Vietnamese artists who were handpicked from Vietnam Opera Ballet Theater and Vietnam National Music Institute.

Tankred Dorst is one of the most famous modern writers in Germany.

The opera is based on a European legend about a man named Parzival, who left his home valley to discover the world. Parzival is a wild, warlike but very innocent boy, who grew up with his single mom. His mother, Herzeloid, who is broken-hearted because of his father’s death in battle, wants Parzival to keep away from all disasters, war and death, so she does not allow him to communicate with human society.

However, the deprived isolation thrust onto Parzival robs him of the ability to love and he does not know right from wrong.

The opera asks whether the boy learn how to love when he meets the community.

The dialogue is in Vietnamese and the songs in German. All singers, musicians, actors and dancers are Vietnamese.

Free tickets are available from the second week of January at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hanoi.

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Dining out at Opera Restaurant

The Opera Terrace at the Park Hyatt Hotel Saigon - Photo: Courtesy of the Park Hyatt Hotel Saigon

Located at the Park Hyatt Hotel Saigon’s lobby level, overlooking the elegant City Opera House, the Opera Restaurant is an ideal dining venue for local and international guests in town.

Open from 6 a.m. until 1 a.m. (last order at 11.30 p.m.), the all-day-dining restaurant serves an Italian-inspired breakfast in the morning, and offers fresh pasta, pizza from a wood-burning oven and other home-made dishes for lunch and dinner. In addition, Opera features a bar featuring the hotel’s signature drinks and a large floor-to-ceiling wine library with more than 1,500 bottles of fine Italian wines from Toscana, Veneto, Sicilia and Umbria.

To make sure all the dishes are authentic, Italian Chef Michele Gulizzi from Palermo, Sicily, gives the culinary direction for this exciting dining venue.

From December 1, the Opera Terrace offers its special free flow of white, red wines and beer with the choice of Nero d’Avola La Mura, Sicilia (Red Wine ), Grillo La Mura, Sicilia (White Wine) and draught Tiger beer. Priced at VND320,000 per person. Available from Monday through Friday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information and reservations, call 08 3520 2357 or email opera.saiph@hyatt.com.

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Revolution symphony at HCMC Opera House

The famous symphony by composer Vo Dang Tin called “Memories of Dong Khoi Revolution” will be performed at the Author Concert at HCMC Opera House in HCMC’s District 1 at 8p.m. November 9.

The symphony that Tin wrote in 1981 was inspired by his childhood memories of the 1960 revolution in Ben Tre Province.

In the second part of the concert, HCMC Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera will perform a ballet suite called “Sun in Our Heart”.

Vo Dang Tin graduated from the faculty of composition of the HCMC Conservatory of Music under the instruction of Professor-Composer Ca Le Thuan. Now director of HCMC Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera, he was the former artistic director of Bong Sen Theater of Traditional Music and Dance. In 2001, he was awarded the Gold medal for conducting at the National Arts Festival

Following that, in 2004, Tin received second prize for “Memories of Dong Khoi Revolution” by Vietnam Composers Association.

Tickets are on sale at the Opera House box office for VND200,000; VND150,000 and VND100,000.

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