HCMC – A Night of Beethoven

Sat 03 Aug 2019, 8 pm
HCMC Opera House
No. 7 Lam Son Square, D.1, HCMC

From the organizer:

On Saturday August 3 the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet, Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will present a concert in the Saigon Opera House in cooperation with the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/ Dioxin – VAVA. August 10 is Agent Orange Day.

Agent Orange was a defoliant used extensively by the US during the American War (called ‘the Vietnam War’ outside Vietnam). Almost two million US gallons of Agent Orange and associated chemicals were sprayed on Vietnam, plus parts of Laos and Cambodia, between 1962 and 1971. Some 4 million Vietnamese came into contact with the substance.

Its horrific health effects continue to this day. About three million people in Vietnam are suffering from the consequences of Agent Orange, and at least 150,000 children with severe birth defects.

The concert’s main item will be Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano. But this will be preceded by an exciting line-up of traditional Japanese drums from the Ryuko Mirai Drum Ensemble.

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto was written in 1803, when Beethoven was 32, though it wasn’t performed publically for another five years. It’s in three movements, as is usual for concertos. The slow middle movement is very short, lasting only five or six minutes, and leads into the third and final movement without a break.

The concert will end with the symphonic poem “Thanh dong To quoc” by the late composer, song-writer Hoang Van (1930-2018). This will be an important event, musically thrilling, dedicated to a major Vietnamese cause, and with a patriotic Vietnamese theme at the end. The concert will take place under the baton of conductor Le Phi Phi, the son of Hoang Van.

The solo violin part of the concert will be played by Nguyen Huu Nguyen, the cello by Emma Savouret, and the piano by Ho Dac Thuy Hoang.

Violinist Nguyen Huu Nguyen lives in Paris and is a member of the French National Symphony Orchestra (‘Orchestre National de France’), which he joined in 1999. He studied at the HCM City Conservatory of Music from the age of 14 and won first prize in the Young Talent Violin Contest. He later entered the Paris Conservatory and won first prize at a contest organized by the Maurice Ravel Conservatory and the FNAPEC Chamber Music Competition.

Cellist Emma Savouret is also a member of the French National Symphony Orchestra, which she joined in 2002. She too studied at the Paris Conservatory.

Tickets

Tickets for the event are from 300,000 to 650,000, with a special price for students of 80,000 VND.
Booking and delivery: 028 38237419, Ms. Ngoc: 0903604539
At HCMC Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square
Online Booking: www.ticketbox.vn