The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) will perform at Carnegie
Hall in New York City on Oct. 23 and at the Boston Symphony Hall the
following day.
"We wish through music to exchange and
combine cultures to make friends with people in the world and to show
the Vietnamese people's wish for peace," said Nguyen Van Tinh, Director
of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's International Cooperation
Department.
Ngo Hoang Quan, VNSO's Director, said it is an
honour and a privilege to perform at one of the greatest music venues
in the world.
The VNSO will be performing five pieces,
including Violin Concerto Thang Long by Vietnamese composer Dam Linh
(1932 – 2001) and Trong Com and Ly Hoai Nam – Vietnamese folk songs
specifically written for the orchestra by Quan.
Linh was instrumental in introducing European classical music to Vietnam .
His compositions are a unique blend of Vietnamese folk and modern European music.
The piece will be performed by violinist Le Hoai Nam , who is the
second violin principal at the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Nam has appeared
as a soloist with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Vietnam National Opera
and Ballet Orchestra and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts
(HKAPA)’s Symphony Orchestra.
He has been a guest concert master for the VNSO and the Asian Chamber Orchestra.
While he was a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra (1996 to 1999), Nam
was the first Vietnamese to be appointed by Maestro Sergiu Comissiona to
lead the orchestra during its 1999 tour to the US, Canada, Hong Kong
and Japan.
Tetsuji Honna has been the VNSO's music advisor and conductor since 2001.
In 1992 he won the Bartok prize of the Budapest International Conducting Competition in 1992.
Honna has also conducted the Philarmonica della Scala in Milan , the
Hungarian State Philharmonic and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has been invited to many international festivals, including the
Carinthischer Sommer in Austria , the Oulunsalo Music Festival in
Finland and the Milano Musica contemporary music festival at the
Teatroalla Scala.
The concerts in New York City and
Boston will also feature Adagio for Strings by American composer
Samuel Barber and Symphony No8 by Antonin Dvorak.
The VNSO
has toured extensively, performing about 60 concerts in Vietnam and
abroad each year. Venues have included Beijing ; Shanghai ;
Guangzhou and Guangxi, (2000); Thailand in 2003, Osaka and Tokyo
in 2004; and the Music festival La Folle Journee au Japon, again in
Tokyo , in 2008.
The VNSO has been conducted by such
musicians as Japan 's Hidemi Suzuki , Germany 's Gudni Emilsson ,
England 's Colin Metters and France 's Pierre-Andre Valade.
The latest tour to the US is being sponsored by Toyota Motor Vietnam,
the Vietnamese Embassy to the US and the Japanese Embassy to
Vietnam . /.