Strings attached: Macedonian violinist Lidia Dobrevska. — VNS Photos courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY (VNS) — A concert featuring famous works of 20th century Russian composers Aram Khachaturian and Sergei Prokofiev will be held by the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) on Sunday.

The Khachaturian & Prokofiev concert will take place at the city's Opera House.

Khachaturian, most renowned Armenian composer of the 20th century, is known for his symphonies as well as ballets and concertos for piano, violin and cello, particularly for the ballets Gayane(1942) and Spartacus(1954).

His most popular piece, the Sabre Dance from Gayane, has been performed by musicians worldwide.

He also composed 25 film scores. Many of Khachaturian's compositions evoke an Armenian melodic line, according to Rouben Paul Adalian, the director of the Armenian National Institute in Washington, DC.

His Violin Concerto in D Minor will open the concert at the Opera House with the performance of Macedonian violinist Lidia Dobrevska and the HBSO Symphony Orchestra. Composed in 1940the concerto premiered in 1940 in Moscow and was later awarded the Stalin Prize for arts in 1941.

Khachaturian's Adagio from the ballet Spartacus, which will be performed during the second part of the concert, won the Lenin Prize in 1954.

Metronome: Vietnamese conductor Le Phi Phi.

It premiered in what is now the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in 1956, and has been revised by many international choreographers including Leonid Yakobso, Igor Moiseev and Yury Grigorovich.

The concert will close with Suite No 2 from Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev, who is regarded as one of the 20th century's major composers.

Vietnamese conductor Le Phi Phi, who lives and works in Macedonia, will lead the orchestra during the performance.

Phi graduated from the Tchaikovsky Music Institute in Russia in 1993, and was later invited to conduct the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tickets, priced at VND550,000, 400,000, 350,000, 200,000 and 80,000 for students, are available at the venue. — VNS