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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