Dutch pianist, composer and arranger Mike del Ferro will make his debut in Vietnam on Nov. 27.

His debut, which will take place at Hanoi ’s Youth Theatre, is among several performances by European artists at the European Music Festival which opened on Nov. 26, and will close on December 8.

Ferro started studying classical music at the age of nine. After falling in love with jazz, he refocused his studies and subsequently received a Masters of Music in Contemporary Music (Jazz and Classical) at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1989 he won several important prizes at jazz contests, including first prize at the Rotterdam Jazz Piano Competition, the soloist prize at the Europe Jazz Contest in Brussels , and first prize at the Karlovy Vary Jazz contest.

He studied composition and arranging at the Musikhochschule in Colonge , Germany from 1993-96. During that time, Mike was appointed to the faculty of the Royal Conservatory in Gent , Belgium , where he taught jazz piano until 1997.

Ferro’s reputation as a soloist, accompanist, composer and arranger has led to worldwide performances, recordings and tours with famous musicians such as Toots Thielemans, Jack DeJohnette, Oscar Castro Neves, Deborah Brown, Erik Truffaz, Jorge Rossy, Sibongile Khumalo and many others.

At present, his role as Director of Jazz Programme of American Voices, he has travelled the world performing in countries ranging from Latvia and Turkmenistan to Myanmar and Vietnam , as well as coordinating artistic programming for American Voices’ jazz festivals worldwide.

For his appearance at the festival, Ferro will share the stage with the Vietnamese Bac Ha folk music group, who performed in the Netherlands at the beginning of the year. The Vietnamese group also performed together with Dutch artists at last year’s festival.

Apart from his debut in Hanoi , Ferro will perform for audiences in HCM City next Monday./.