“Sounds of Brotherhood”: Summary of Activities in Vietnam
Summary of World Youth Orchestra Foundation’s activities in Vietnam
with a project to support local artists and orphans in Ho Chi Minh City
The “Sounds of brotherhood” project of the World Youth Orchestra Foundation, which took place this year in Vietnam thanks to the support of the CDP Foundation, LCA Studio Legale and Temix, is about to end. The initiative could also count on the collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Hanoi, with the Consulate General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City and on the precious work of the project partners Vicas (Vietnamese Institute for Culture and Arts) and Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema.
Music, theatre, and art as instruments of dialogue and peace between peoples were at the center of the project, which succeeded in developing strong artistic-cultural cooperation between Italy and Vietnam, contributing to the training of many young Vietnamese artists, promoting the production of local artists and, at the same time, offering concrete support to orphaned and abandoned children in Vietnam. “Sounds of Brotherhood” is only the latest of the numerous successful initiatives developed since 2001 by the World Youth Orchestra Foundation.
“The WYO goes to Vietnam to bring its musical message once again through its mosaic of musicians from all over the world, who play with passion and love to underline three fundamental words in the lives of all of us: friendship, brotherhood, peace. Best wishes to Vietnam, best wishes to Italy”, says Adolfo Vannucci, President of the World Youth Orchestra Foundation.
“We are happy to make another contribution to the Sounds of Brotherhood project which closes its first year in an extraordinary country like Vietnam. We are happy to be able to share foundational experiences with young artists in the complex world of Vietnamese artistic education, with the public involved, and with the souls of dozens of girls and boys who suffer the discomfort of parental absence. Cultural diplomacy? Cultural cooperation? Certainly, but also a great love for a wonderful culture and people”, declares the artistic director and founder, Damiano Giuranna.
The first final event of “Sounds of brotherhood” will be held on August 29th at Hanoi University, with a reading of four cantos of the Divine Comedy by Valeria Almerighi, Federico Brugnone and Carolina Leporatti, dedicated to the students of the Department of Italian Studies of the University. On the afternoon of August 31st, in Ho Chi Minh City, the final event of the WYO4CHILDREN project – aimed at children who are orphaned, abandoned or in difficult family situations, between the ages of 5 and 17 years, – will take place at the Home of Mother’s Love in Binh Duong. The children will tackle a repertoire of Vietnamese and Italian music. The program includes a body painting show by the performer Francesca Chialà, who, thanks to the children’s contribution, will paint a 20-meter-long canvas with the colors of the Italian and Vietnamese flags to the rhythm of music. The program continues in Hanoi on 05 September, at the Vicas Arts Studio, with the final awards ceremony of the “Call for Projects” dedicated to Vietnamese artists for the categories of visual arts, music and theater, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador to Hanoi H.E. Ambassador Della Seta. Finally, the show that closes the experience of the “Sound Dialogues” theater workshops is scheduled for 07 September at the Theater of the Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema, in the presence of the Italian embassy, the diplomatic corps and the university students and professors.
“The CDP Foundation has always supported youth talent and promoted art and culture, characteristics that are embodied by the ‘Sounds of Brotherhood’ project, which we have decided to support and through which we have extended our commitment at an international level. We are convinced that the initiative will continue to encourage cooperation between the two countries, thanks to the power of cultural diplomacy, a fundamental tool for promoting inclusive development and social integration”, declares Francesca Sofia, General Director of the CDP Foundation.
“After the enormous success recorded in the first part of the year, I am extremely pleased that the World Youth Orchestra Foundation is returning to Vietnam for the final events of the “Sounds of Brotherhood” project. This initiative has already proven capable of creating fruitful synergies and establishing links between Italian institutional, cultural and academic realities on the one hand and Vietnamese ones on the other. I am sure that the new events planned will prove equally effective in further consolidating the already excellent cultural relations between our two countries”, declares Marco della Seta, Ambassador of Italy to Vietnam.
“Music has a unique and unrivaled power to bring people together, and has always been at the heart of LCA, as well as being profoundly important to me as the founder of Milan’s Blue Note. We are happy to continue our support of the World Youth Orchestra Foundation through this incredible project – which marks the milestone of its first year of activity – with the noble intention of bringing two distant countries closer together, promoting the cultural traditions of Vietnam, and fueling the passion of many young talents”, declares the lawyer Giovanni Lega, managing partner of LCA Studio Legale.
The “Sounds of Brotherhood” project has run from January to September 2024 and comprises five areas of activity:
– The tour of the World Youth Orchestra, composed for the occasion of 70 young musicians from universities, academies and conservatories from all over the world, which took place in collaboration with the Vietnam National Academy of Music (VNAM) from 6 to 10 April in Hanoi. The concerts attracted over 2000 spectators, local authorities and diplomatic representatives from various countries, numbers that testify to an undoubted success and the sincere appreciation of the public.
– The “Sound Dialogues” theater workshops, led by Valeria Almerighi, Federico Brugnone and Carolina Leporatti, allowed 25 Vietnamese students from the Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema to explore and enrich the intercultural dialogue between Italy and Vietnam. The approach adopted allowed the students to make a profound connection between sound and body language.
– There was also space for the little ones, thanks to the WYO4CHILDREN project, created in collaboration with the Missionaries of Charity of Binh Duong and dedicated to the social and cultural growth, through music, of Vietnamese children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The initiative started last January with a program of lessons in which 80 children aged between 5 and 17 learned the first musical rudiments and learned to play classical instruments such as the violin, piano, percussion and guitar. The young students also created a “community choir”, improving their relational skills.
– A multidisciplinary “Call for Projects”, launched in collaboration with the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS) and open to Vietnamese artists without age limits, recorded good participation from the artistic community. The winning projects, selected by a jury of experts, will be financed with a scholarship.
– Finally, a conference held at the Italian studies department of the University of Hanoi by Prof. Simone Caputo of La Sapienza University and dedicated to the Puccini centenary entitled ‘Exoticism and the Far East in the Opera of Giacomo Puccini’.
After 23 years of activity, WYO boasts 75 countries represented, 300 international partner universities, 3,500 talents involved, 350 events held and over 10 million people attending its concerts around the world. Numerous institutional recognitions have been obtained, such as those from the UN, UNICEF, the European Commission and the President of the Italian Republic. The project, conceived by the WYO Artistic Director and founder Damiano Giuranna, intends to demonstrate that music should not be limited to being a cultural necessity of an elite but can represent a powerful tool for communicating values and ideas, a tool of cultural diplomacy capable of stimulating best practices in the artistic, social and political fields.
World Youth Orchestra
The World Youth Orchestra (WYO) was born on 15 September 2001: four days after the tragedy in New York and Washington, sixty-five young musicians from academies, universities and conservatories representing the five continents met in Rome to found a new idea of “making music”. The project is based on two clear objectives: the testimony of the ideals of peace and brotherhood, and the development of the artistic talent of young people. In the midst of the intifada, the WYO was in Israel in 2003 and 2004, as well as in the Palestinian Territories, in Jordan and it passed critical checkpoints on foot: King Hussein Bridge and Abdala Bridge. In 2006, it was in Tunisia, Algeria and in 2007, the year of Arab culture, in Algiers as the only Western project. The WYO brought his testimony of brotherhood to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Tel Aviv, to the kibbutz of Neve-Shalom-Wahat al-Salam, to Amman, to the casbah of Algiers. The World Youth Orchestra was also named Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF Italy; the President of the Italian Republic awarded the WYO with the Medal and the Silver Plaque for cultural and social merits; the WYO also received the Presidential Medal for the ‘Sounds of Brotherhood for Iran’ project and received an invitation to the UN in New York from the Permanent Mission of Italy and from UNICEF Executive Director. The orchestra has received messages of support from the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the highest European and Italian leaders.
World Youth Orchestra Foundation
The World Youth Orchestra Foundation was established in January 2014 thanks to the experience and results obtained from a project born in 2001 and managed for years by the NGO MusicaEuropa. The Foundation is responsible for managing the activities of the World Youth Orchestra and all the ensembles that sprouted from it. It also deals with advanced musical education, the promotion of young musical talents, as well as with the creation of artistic and musical projects useful for spreading awareness on major social themes such as peace, goodwill, multicultural dialogue and cultural diplomacy.
