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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Songwriter's love letters to be published

HCM CITY — The letters Trinh Cong Son wrote to his first lover as a young man in the 1960s are set to be published in book form by his family.

One of Viet Nam's greatest modern musicians wrote more than 300 letters to Ngo Vu Dao Anh, with whom he was fervently in love as a 25-year old after he graduated from the Quy Nhon Pedagogy College and chose to live and work as a teacher in B'lao, a mountain town in Lam Dong.

Anh, a Hue native, is said to be the source of inspiration for most of Son's love songs.

He wrote to her between 1964 and 1967. Despite the passage of more than 40 years, the war, her marriage and migration to the US, Anh preserved the letters, envelopes, and dry leaves like a treasure.

Both his first and last letters thank Anh, for her love for his town and for her love for him. Each letter is almost a piece of literature, filled with poetry and his feelings about love and human destiny.

Even after their love ended in 1967, Son and Anh continued to exchange letters, confiding about the sadness and happiness of their lives.

The last letter she received was in January 2001, three months before he passed away.

His family said the letters will be published next month to mark his 10th death anniversary.

Poet Nguyen Duy, who will edit the book, said though Son was excellent at writing love letters, they were not just about two people's love but also a commentary on contemporary society.

Curiously, Anh is the younger sister of Ngo Vu Bich Diem, who inspired Son to write Diem Xua (Diem of the Past). His unrequited love for her began when she was just 15.

The musician's family also plans to organise a series of music shows titled 10 Nam Nho Trinh Cong Son (10 Year Commemorating Trinh Cong Son) from March to April in various parts of the country.

It will begin with concerts at the Ha Noi Opera House, HCM City Opera House, and White Palace in HCM City.

There will be free performances at universities in Ha Noi, Hue, and HCM City and at the Binh Quoi Tourist Village.

The event will give Son's family the first opportunity to display 30 of the multi-faceted genius' paintings.

At White Palace on April 10, Trinh Vinh Trinh, Son's sister, will release two albums of her brother's music. — VNS

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Russian war movie filmed in Hoi An town

QUANG NAM — Viet Nam's Chanh Phuong Film Studio and Russia's IKA Film Studio are collaborating on the production of the film Nguoi Linh (The Soldiers), being directed by Stanislav Ivanov.

The film, currently shooting on location around the city of Hoi An city and the vestige site of My Son in the central province of Quang Nam, tells the story of a group of Russian military specialists who come to Viet Nam during the American War.

Pops singers to judge Singapore talent contest

HA NOI — Viet Nam Idol Uyen Linh and singer Nam Cuong will serve on the jury of Music Revolution 2011, a talent contest to be held in Singapore on Friday for Vietnamese students working and studying abroad.

Linh and Cuong will also perform such hits at the event as Cam On Tinh Yeu (Thank You, Love), Chi La Giac Mo (Just a Dream) and Bay Giua Ngan Ha (Fly in Galaxy). The contest is held annually by the Students' Association of the Singapore Management Academy.

Exhibition of S Korean illustrations on show

Ha Noi — The South Korea Cultural Centre has opened an illustrative painting exhibition in Ha Noi.

Over 70 paintings are on display, giving the public a full insight into the development of computer art graphics of South Korea as well as uniquely artistic traits of modern illustrative paintings.

Three Vietnamese painters Cong Quoc Ha, Nguyen The Duy and Nguyen Van Cuong also brought their works of net printing, wooden and gypsum carving, depicting beauty of Vietnamese countryside, nature and heritage.

The exhibition will wrap up tomorrow. — VNS

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Love duets in the limelight at Lim Festival

Traditionally tuned: (left) Singers perform quan ho love duets in a-cappella style at the Lim Festival. (above) Young people enjoy a folk game. — VNS Photos Vu Ngoc

BAC NINH — A love duet singing festival kicked off yesterday in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

The two-day festival gathered dozens of amateur and professional love duet (quan ho) singers at communes of Noi Due, Lien Bao and Lim Town.

The singing would be in a-cappella style (without musical instruments) which was the local style of love duets, People's Committee deputy chairman Nguyen Huu Manh said.

The entertainment would take place on six stages scattered throughout the area and on boats, temples and the homes of 10 local love duet artists.

Folk games such as traditional swinging, wrestling, hide and seek and card games will be organised.

The festival activities and also venues were widely publicised in a leaflet campaign, Manh said.

The art of love duets was inscribed in the UNESCO's representative list of intangible cultural heritage in September, 2009. — VNS

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Spanish magazine spotlights ‘Great Wall of Vietnam’

Spanish writer Mark Jenkin has extolled the wonderful beauty of Son Doong (Mountain River Cave) in Quang Binh central province.

In a reportage entitled “Vietnam Cave” published in the National Geographic magazine in January, M. Jenkin wrote “There is a jungle inside Vietnam’s mammoth cavern.”

M. Jenkin cited his teammate Jonathan Sims, who was a member of the first expedition to enter the cave, as saying that his team could explore two and a half miles of Son Doong before a 200-foot wall of muddy calcite stopped them.

They named it the Great Wall of Vietnam.

The passage to Son Doong is perhaps 300 feet wide, the ceiling nearly 800 feet tall: room enough for an entire New York City block of 40-storey buildings, he wrote, adding that “And the end is out of sight.”

Located in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park recognized as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO in 2003, the cave, 200m high and 150m wide, is believed to be almost twice the size of the current record holder, Deer Cave in Sarawak Malaysia.

The massive cavern currently said to be the largest-known cave on Earth was discovered by a local man named Ho Khanh in 1991.

However, not until 2009 was it made known to the public when a group of British scientists from the British Cave Research Association, led by Howard and Deb Limbert, conducted a survey in Phong Nha-Ke Bang.

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Farmers turn jockeys as festive mood lingers

Farming horses and jockeys who are farmers in normal days are on the race which is held once a year

It was early morning Friday. On the most level stretch in a hilly area in An Xuan in the central Phu Yen Province, the eagerly awaited horserace began. All the animals were farming and draft horses, and were ridden by farmers.

When the staring siren went off, 32 horses set off amid the clamor of excited crowds.

Some galloped towards the finish line, others decided to turn back despite their riders’ best efforts to cajole them to run in the right direction.

Some others slowed down to a trot after an impressive gallop. One even headed out of the racecourse and towards the crowds.

The animals, small horses that are native to the area, have just reins since a full set of harness would be too big for them, a spectator explains to us.

The riders, dressed in their daily clothes and without any footwear, apparently wore any helmet they could lay their hands on.

Origin not known

The annual race has been held for very long though locals do not know when it started.

In 2006 it was acknowledged as an official cultural event of the province. Held on the ninth of the first lunar month, it draws thousands of locals and people from nearby provinces.

In this mountainous agricultural area where crops are cultivated on remote hillsides, the only means of transport are these hard-working animals.

Before the race, they have a week off during Tet and are fed a special diet to prepare for the race.

Interestingly, a farmer and one of the jockeys said mares were easier to raise and work harder than stallions, adding that out of the 32 racers, 28 were females.
All four of the animals that made it to finals were mares.

“I woke up early in the morning and rode 30 kilometers here,” 65-year-old Tran Van My from the nearby An Hoa commune said with a satisfied smile.
“What a payoff, this interesting race.”

An American freelance photographer introducing himself Jaques who seemed to be enchanted with the race, said: “I have never seen such a strange, wild, fascinating race like this. My friends in Binh Dinh Province told me about this.”

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Quan wins French student beauty pageant

Vo Hong Quan, a junior vocal music student at Virty-sur-Seine Music College, beat 15 contestants to be crowned Miss Spring 2011 at a beauty contest among Vietnamese students in France.

At the finale in Paris-based Armande Bejart Theatre Saturday night, 20-year-old Quan - who was awarded a scholarship to study in France after gaining outstanding academic achievements in Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music - won the title for her grace and skills.

The first runner-up is Nguyen Tuyet Mai, who majors in finance at Paris Sorbonne 2 University while Tran Thanh Tam, the sophomore student studying Economic Management at Paris 11 University is the second runner-up.

Tam also won Miss Photogenic and Miss ao dai (traditional long dress) at the final round.

Organized by of the Vietnam Students’ Association, the third annual event attracted participation of 15 Vietnamese students in France, who entered the final round.

“The beauty contest is to create a playground for Vietnamese students as well as overseas Vietnamese in France (OVF),” said Vo Xuan Hoai, General Secretary.

After the contest, the winner along with OVF members will participate in many activities including assisting Vietnamese students in France and acting as a bridge for friendship between Vietnam and international friends.

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