“Reflection” Cultural Dialogue Piano: Hau Van

Mon 22 Aug 2011, 8 pm
Hanoi Opera House

From the organizer:
You are invited to a special piano performance with Pho An My titled “Reflection” Cultural Dialogue Piano: Hau Van by artist Dang Tue Nguyen. The program is also performed at the HCMC Opera House on 31 Aug.

Hát Văn has inspired pianist Pho An My and composer Dang Tue Nguyen to venture onto a new idea of musical play. This is the 2011 premiere of their co-production. Dang Tue Nguyen does not write his new work based on the Hát Văn music. Ancient poems provide him with inspiration to create characters who become alive with piano music. The piano and Hát Văn go hand in hand as two independent entities, crossing and exchanging and enriching each other. Pho An My plays the role of medium for the Holy Spirits to manifest themselves.

Program
NGHINH THAN / OUVERTURE
Variation 1 Mother of Heaven
Variation 2 Prince Bảy
Variation 3 Litte Bơ
Variation 4 Little Master

With “Bong” (Spirit medium) with four selected music styles for a typical séance, and music composed by Dang Tue Nguyen, surely Pho An My’s piano playing will be in a new height. “I studied a lot about traditional faith in seance. I learnt that Ong Hoang Bay is a charming man, escorted by twelve fairies, while Co Bo is beautiful by melancholy madam, while Cau (hilly Boy) is so childish. My piano playing changes, and also turns into those characters”.

Although piano audience is selective, but when it is played for a séance, and the pianist becomes a string connecting the world and the afterworld, piano becomes more familiar. They can feel the splash when Co Bo falls into the water, the naïve laughter of Cau, who suddenly falls asleep while playing, the audience can also feel the tenderness of fairies during “ong Hoang Bay” session… “Receiving the music piece rewritten from chau van by Dang Tue Nguyen, I find it stunning. Getting myself into “Bong” deeply, when I was practicing, I suddenly felt that a spirit walking through, I startled and had to stop playing”, Pho An My explained why she can turn herself into different characters of “Bong”.

The musical play is called Bóng (perhaps its best English equivalent of which is a Musical Séance), and consisted of four variations called Nhập (when the spirits have entered the body and mind of the medium). In between the variations are items of Hát Văn performance in its pure original format.

Together with People’s Artist Thanh Hoai, artisan Dzuong Thanh… piano playing of Pho An My brings “chau van” out of simple music for folk religious faith to become elegant, academic but still close and sensible. Séance believers can still indulge themselves with piano which is originally for classic music listeners. Piano-chau van by Pho An My harmonizes both reality –virtuosity, making “Bong” listeners lost into a multi-emotion world, which is both familiar and unusual, and exciting. “Bong” promises to satisfy piano lovers, chau van lovers and those who like to enjoy music in different ways.

Artists Pho An My and Dang Tue Nguyen
Pho An My was known by the public for the first time with a solo piano performance in 2006 at L’Espace (French Cultural Center). In consecutive years and then PhoAn My’s regular performances did strongly impress the domestic and international audiences. Born into a traditional musical transmitted family, Pho An My was familiar with piano since she was 5, she went to Berlin (Germany) at 13 and studied there for 8 years. She spent her time teaching in China later.

Choosing the contemporary branch of piano, Pho An My has demonstrated an emotional sound, expressing a typical character with improvisational style. Starting in 2005, Pho An My gave an idea of Dialogue between Vietnam traditional music with Western music flow. Programs such as Phieu Thanh, Lua Thieng (2008), dieu con mai voi Bong Benh (2009), Khoi Nguyen (2010) have used the language of Vietnam such as Ho Mai Hue, Hat Co Tay … particularly suitable for modern style remarked the most unique way of Vietnamese music by Pho An My.

Coming along with the name Pho An My is a composer of instrumental music Dang Tue Nguyen. He began his career with “Khuc improvisation” written for Piano and Cello in the finals competition for young musicians in Asia in Seoul Korea. With a special writing style and a deep level of understanding of instrumental music, since 2005 Tue Nguyen Dang always tried to create the modern musical language based on Vietnamese traditional folk music material. Works of Dang Tue Nguyen written as a dialogue between the timbre of the piano and Vietnamese folk music.In all of his works, Vietnamese folk music always appreciated not to be distorted in variations; they are used fairly and ingeniously with Western music. Dang Tue Nguyen’s works have always been highly recommended proffestionally of creating sophisticated techniques especially attractive and creative interplay between East and West thinking.

Tickets

Ticket prices: 500 000 VND, 800 000 VND, 1000 000 VND, 1500 000 VND.

Tickets are available at Ticket Counter at Hanoi Opera House, contact: 042 242 8351 – 0914 897 757 – 0916 571 125 or Ms Thu Anh 090 205 9236 or buy tickets online through website: dongdoshow.com