KVT – Sense Sational

Sunday night at the Hanoi Opera House and Giovanni Sollima, celebrated cello soloist and minimalist composer, hypnotized an almost capacity audience with a program featuring his own compositions and interpretations of selected works from 17th century composers Marais and D’all’Abaco to 20th century musical icons such as Jimmy Hendrix. The evening was appropriately called ‘Ba Rock Cello’ and Sollima’s compositions are a wonderful, innovative blend of chamber and rock music.

Sollima’s works are very famous and those familiar with his name will be aware of his film scores, one of the most notable being Peter Greenaway’s ‘Nightwatching’.

The adjective sensational is almost an understatement to describe the maestro’s non stop performance.

Sollima’s collaboration with local post minimalist sound composer Vu Nhat Tan on the Steinway grand was superb, if all too brief. I’m a huge fan of Tan and to hear him paired with such a renowned musician and composer was a real treat.

Catch Sollima on You Tube if you want a bigger addictive dose of his very wonderful music. My favorite is a collaborative series of performances of his compositions by a group of ten cellists including himself and Yo Yo Ma in Liverpool, England (2008). I only wish that CDs of his work were available in Hanoi…..I’d buy lots and lots.

The best seats were a steal at 500 000 a pop. Where else in the world could we get to see such sensational classical music so cheaply? Of course, in this instance, this was due to huge financial sponsorship from the Italian government and Italian companies.