Legendary Bob Dylan to perform in Vietnam

Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan

World-famous American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is scheduled to perform in Vietnam in April to mark the 10th death anniversary of the legendary Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son.

According to initial source, the 70-year-old Bob Dylan will perform at HCMC-based Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) on April 10 in front of around 10,000 music lovers in the show “Bob Dylan tribute to Trinh Cong Son”.

Son is renowned internationally for his romantic music and is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern (non-classical) Vietnamese music along with Pham Duy and Van Cao.

Son is also known as a talented painter.

In related news, Backstreet Boys is set to perform in HCMC-based Military Zone 7's stadium on March 24 and grace Hanoi's My Dinh national stadium two days later.

Bob Dylan, who was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941, has been a major figure in music for five decades. His early lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social and philosophical, as well as literary influences.

Dylan onstage at the Azkena Rock Festival. June 26, 2010

As cited by Wikipedia, much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler, and an apparently reluctant figurehead, of social unrest.

Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

He was named among the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by the Time Magazine in 1999.

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Legendary Bob Dylan to perform in Vietnam

Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan

World-famous American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is scheduled to perform in Vietnam in April to mark the 10th death anniversary of the legendary Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son.

According to initial source, the 70-year-old Bob Dylan will perform at HCMC-based Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) on April 10 in front of around 10,000 music lovers in the show “Bob Dylan tribute to Trinh Cong Son”.

Son is renowned internationally for his romantic music and is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern (non-classical) Vietnamese music along with Pham Duy and Van Cao.

Son is also known as a talented painter.

In related news, Backstreet Boys is set to perform in HCMC-based Military Zone 7's stadium on March 24 and grace Hanoi's My Dinh national stadium two days later.

Bob Dylan, who was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941, has been a major figure in music for five decades. His early lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social and philosophical, as well as literary influences.

Dylan onstage at the Azkena Rock Festival. June 26, 2010

As cited by Wikipedia, much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler, and an apparently reluctant figurehead, of social unrest.

Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

He was named among the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by the Time Magazine in 1999.

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Talented young violists to perform in HCMC

International award-wining violinist Bui Cong Duy and other young musicians from the Vietnam National Music Academy will perform in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday.

Violinists Ha Thanh Vinh, Bui Cam Ly, Nguyen Linh Uyen, Nguyen Thien Minh, Chi Linh, and Do Hoang will join Duy to perform pieces by Joseph Haydn, Edward Elgar, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Pablo de Sarasate.

The concert will be conducted by Nguyen Anh Son and Tran Nhat Minh.

Tickets to the event organized by the HCMC Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera are available at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House, District 1, for VND150,000 and VND250,000.

Duy, born in 1981, is the eldest son of musical parents who introduced him to the violin at the age of five. At the tender age of 10 he joined Russia's Novosibirk Music Conservatory.

He has won a clutch of international competitions, including the 1997 Tchaikovsky International Music Competition for violinists aged under 18.

He has performed in many countries including Russia, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, and France.
 

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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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Orchestra offers festive cheer

Seasonal spirit: Clarinetist Dao Nhat Quang and the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra will perform music by Mozart at the Opera House today to usher in Christmas. — VNS Photo Duc Ngoc

HCM CITY — The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra will perform a special concert tonight featuring famous choral and music pieces to welcome the festive season.

The concert will open with British composer John Rutter's Magnificat for choir and soprano solo accompanied by an orchestra and a piano.

Rutter's inspiration for the piece was an ancient canticle in Medieval Latin.

It is full of energetic, shortened rhythms and strong melodies that evoke a celebratory and rejoicing character.

South Korean soprano Cho Hae-ryong will render Magnificat accompanied by pianist Nguyen Anh Vu and the HBSO Choir.

Tran Nhat Minh, a graduate of the Tchaikovsky Music Conservatory in Moscow, will be the chorusmaster. The show will continue with music by Tchaikovsky and Mozart.

The orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March in B-flat Minor, op.31, also known by the French title Marche Slave.

The show will end with clarinetist Dao Nhat Quang performing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, K622 in A Major together with the orchestra.

Tran Vuong Thach, the director of the HBSO, will wield the baton for the concert.

He has worked with several prestigious orchestras in France, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, and Spain.

The show will begin at 8pm tonight at the Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square, District 1. Tickets, costing VND150,000 to 200,000, are available at the box office. — VNS

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Music show marks Toyota’s 21st year in Asia

Lorenzo Castriota Skanderbeg conducts his symphony orchestra

Orchestra Citta de Firenze from Florence, Italy, will perform the Toyota Classic Symphony at the Hanoi Opera House tonight to mark the Japanese company’s 21st anniversary in the Asia Pacific.

Renowned conductor Lorenzo Castriota Skanderbeg will wield the baton while tenor Leonardo Melani and talented young Vietnamese pianist Luu Hong Quang, who won the first prize at the 2009 Chopin Piano Contest in Australia, will perform.

The symphony promises an evening of classical Italian music with concertos and symphonies, extracts from traditional Italian operas like Rossini’s La gazza ladra and Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco.

The show is a part of a series of performances being held from October 23 to November 12 in many Asian countries.

In Vietnam it has been held annually since 1997, acquainting Vietnamese audiences with world masterpieces and enabling local artists to perform with foreign professionals.

The money raised from ticket sales will go into the Toyota scholarship fund for young Vietnamese musicians.

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ASEAN orchestra formed, to perform in Vietnam

Vietnamese pianist Nguyen Tuan Manh

Photo: Tuoi Tre

The HCMC Conservatory of Music formed the ASEAN symphony orchestra earlier this month to perform in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi during this week’s ASEAN Summit.

The orchestra features 60 Vietnamese musicians and 24 from other ASEAN member nations, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

Public concerts will be held at the HCMC Conservatory of Music at 8 pm today and Hanoi Opera House Thursday.

A third, on Friday at the Vietnam National Convention Center in Hanoi, will be just for summit participants.

The musicians will perform symphony concerts under the baton of Japanese conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura, who has been the director of music and conductor of the HCMC Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra since 1993.

The performances will include “Academic Festival” by Johannes Brahms as the overture and “Symphony No 9 in E Minor from the New World” by Antonin Dvorak.

Young Thai violinist Anna Sowanna will perform “Carmen Fantasy” for Violin and Orchestra by Pablo Sarasate while Vietnamese pianist Nguyen Tuan Manh will play “Concertstuck” for Piano and Orchestra, Op.79 by CMV Weber.

Tickets to the shows will cost VND150,000 (US$7.5) to VND250,000.

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Vietnam orchestra to perform in New York

South Korean piano prodigy Isadora Kim

Photo: VnExpress

The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York next January under the baton of Japanese conductor Honna Tetsuji.

Self-taught South Korean piano prodigy Isadora Kim, 16, will join them at the concert sponsored by Vietnam-based NEO Design - Advertising Company Limited and organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism.

Kim Ji Eun, real name Kim Ji Eun, who lives and studies in Ho Chi Minh City, did not receive formal training since she did not exhibit any particular music talent as a child.

She learnt by downloading video clips of renowned composers and imitating them since moving to HCMC three years ago.

She was invited by the orchestra to perform at a cultural exchange symphony concert in December when she had just signed a contract with Carnegie Hall in New York.

“Kim is a talented pianist whom we hold in high esteem and we are honored to perform with her,” Tetsuji, a multiple award winner who has been the VNSO’s musical adviser and conductor since 2001, said.

The concert will feature the US and Vietnamese national anthems, G. Mahler’s Symphony no.4, a piece popular in the US since the artist had performed it at Carnegie Hall just before his death.

“VNSO and I have practiced and performed Symphony no.4 for the last four years; so, we feel very confident about our next performance,” Tetsuji added.

The proceeds from the concert will be donated to Hieu Ve Trai Tim, a charitable organization that helps underprivileged Vietnamese children with congenital heart disease.

“This event aims at using music as a medium for friendship among Vietnam, S. Korea, Japan, and the US,” Nguyen Van Tinh, head of the ministry’s International Cooperation Department, said.

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Guitarist Pierre Laniau to perform in Hanoi

Guitar soloist Pierre Laniau

International guitar soloist Pierre Laniau will perform for two nights at the French Cultural Exchange Center, L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi on September 20 and 23, reports Vietnamplus.

On the opening night, audience will have a chance to enjoy Spanish-style music with works by French composer and pianist Erik Satie (1866-1925). On the second night, September 23, Laniau will perform Mozart and contemporary works. All the performances will begin at 8 p.m.

After working with master artists such as Alberto Ponce and Narciso Yepes, the French born Laniau has selected the ten-string guitar, and experimented with music by Satie, Debussy, Copland, Gershwin, and Mozart without having to rearrange them.

Laniau has given performances in 80 countries around the world. In France, he often plays at important festivals such as Festival Montpellier, Lille and big stages in Paris such as Salle Gaveau, Le Cirque d’Hiver, Le Caller Sylvia Montfort.

Tickets are available at L’Espace for VND100,000 and VND50,000.

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