HCMC – Concert “Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo”

Tue 29 Aug 2018, 8 pm
HCMC Opera House
No. 7 Lam Son Square, D.1, HCMC

From the organizer:

A famous guitar concerto, a strikingly original French mass, and a ground-breaking piece of French orchestral music are featured in HBSO’s concert at the Saigon Opera House on August 29.

There aren’t many concertos for guitar and orchestra, but Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez certainly leads the field. It was composed in 1939, and the choice of a guitar as the solo instrument reflects the composer’s Spanish nationality.

The term “Aranjuez” refers to a royal palace built by the Spanish kings near Madrid in the 16th century, and expanded in the 18th century. Rodrigo said that the famous middle movement of his concerto reflected “the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains” in the Aranjuez palace gardens.

The guitar soloist in Saigon will be the French-Vietnamese musician Nguyen Thanh Hang. She studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Dans de Paris (‘Paris National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance’), and now teaches and performs in France and elsewhere.

Charles Gounod’s Messe solonnelle en l’honneur de Sainte Cecile (‘Solemn mass in honor of Saint Cecilia’) in G Major, commonly known as the ‘Saint Cecilia Mass’, was written in 1855 and was the composer’s first major work. Saint Cecilia is traditionally celebrated as the patron saint of music in Europe.

The mass is written for three soloists, soprano, tenor and bass, who sing together in ensemble mode rather than individually. With its characteristics of simplicity and power, this work will make for easy listening almost as much as the Arunjuez concerto, thus reinforcing the impression of a particularly audience-friendly concert.

The third work, which opens the program, is Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune (‘Prelude to the afternoon of a fawn’). This famous piece of orchestral writing, though only ten minutes long, has been called a turning point in the history of music, and later formed the basis for a sensational ballet performed by the Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

The concert will be conducted by Claude Brendel, director of the Rouen Conservatory of Music. He conducted Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand in Hanoi in 2010.

Tickets

Admissions: 650,000 – 500,000 – 400,000 – 300,000 – 200,000 – 80,000 VND (for students, limited offer)
Booking and delivery: 028 38237419, Ms. Ngoc: 0903604539
At HCMC Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square
Online Booking: www.ticketbox.vn