HCM CITY (VNS) — Dutch maestro and educator Jan Stulen will be the guest conductor for the HCM City symphony orchestra next Thursday at its "Beethoven and Prokofiev" concert.

One of Viet Nam's top violinists, Bui Cong Duy, will accompany the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera at the city's Opera House.

The orchestra will perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, which German composer Richard Wagner admired for its rhythm, describing it as "the apotheosis of the dance."

The Concerto for Violin No. 1 in D major by Sergei Prokofiev, a Russian composer of the 20th century, will be performed for the first time in Viet Nam, according to the organisers.

Duy is one of the most successful Vietnamese musicians on the international stage.

He received first prize at the Z. Bron International Music Competition in Novosibirsk, Russia in 1995, and first prize and a gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Music Competition for Young Musicians in St. Petersburg in 1997.

Stulen has been chief conductor of many orchestras, including the Nederlands Ballet Orkest in Amsterdam, Nederlands Dans Theater, Deutsches Kammer Orchester Frankfurt am Main, Nederlands Promenade Orkest and Amsterdam RAI Opera Company.

As a teacher, he is active at the conservatories of Maastricht and Rotterdam. He also holds clinics and workshops for young conductors. — VNS