Follow me: Japanese conductor Tetsuji Honna will lead the Viet Nam National Symphony Orchestra on a tour through Laos and Cambodia. The orchestra will also give performances in HCM City and Ha Noi. — VNS File Photo

HA NOI — Viet Nam National Symphony Orchestra will tour Laos and Cambodia next week, returning from its international tour with a concert in HCM City on August 1 and performances in Ha Noi on August 5-6.

The programme for its performances abroad will include classical pieces as well as compositions from the host countries.

"The programmes will be a bridge of cultural exchange between Viet Nam and neighbouring countries to strengthen the long-lasting friendship," said the orchestra's acting director, Nguyen Tri Dung.

The tour will kick off at National Cultural Hall in Vientiane on July 24 at 7pm, featuring works by Lao and Vietnamese composers alongside pieces by Leroy Anderson and Johann Strauss.

The concert will open with the overture Nguoi Ve Dem Toi Niem Vui (He Who Brings Happiness to His People) by Vietnamese composer Trong Bang, a work composed to extole President Ho Chi Minh.

In the concert, under the baton of principal conductor Tetsuji Honna, Vietnamese musicians will play for the first time two works by Lao composers, including Ha Noi-Vientiane and Praise for the Party. They also share the stage with Lao conductor Duangmixay Likaya, performing his piece Praise for the Homeland.

A highlight of the concert will be a song composed by Hoang Ha, entitled Gap Nhau Tren Dinh Truong Son (Meet on the Truong Son Mountains), performed by Vietnamese tenor Trinh Thanh Binh.

Ha was sent to Laos by Radio the Voice of Viet Nam in 1970 to help Pathet Laos Radio set up an artistic editorial department. On this occasion, he met some musicians in the Lao liberation army, and the frienship between Vietnamese and Lao soldiers inspired the song, which has come to symbolise that friendship between two nations joined in fighting against the same invaders. Vietnamese and Lao musical influences are blended in the piece.

The orchestra will appear in Phnom Penh on July 28, at the Chatomuk Conference Hall. After opening with the same overture as in Vientiane, the concert will feature a Cambodian folk song entitled Svay Chanty and a symphonic piece entitled Apsara composed by Cambodian King Norodom Shihanouk.

Binh will sing the Vietnamese song Tinh Ca (Love Song) by Hoang Viet, a piece composed when the country was divided and many Vietnamese couples separated.

The HCM City concert will take place on August 1 at the Municipal Theatre, followed by appearances at the Ha Noi Opera House on August 5-6.

All of the concerts will feature performances of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the composer's Violin Concerto featuring violinist Bui Cong Duy.

Toyota Viet Nam, which is sponsoring the tour, will donate all ticket proceeds from the Vietnamese performances to the Toyota Scholarship for Young Vietnamese Musical Talents.

Students will also be able to attend the concerts at discounted ticket prices, according to Toyota Viet Nam vice president Dang Phan Thu Huong. — VNS