Việt Nam National Symphony and Orchestra return to perform in HCM City and Hà Nội after a two-year break. Photo courtesy of Toyota Motor Vietnam

HÀ NỘI – Toyota Concerts will return to Hà Nội and HCM City after a two-year break due to the pandemic.

The concerts will highlight Việt Nam National Symphony and Orchestra (VNSO) and talented cellist Phan Đỗ Phúc under the baton of Honna Tetsuji.

The artists will play Cello concerto B-minor and From the New World by Antonin Dvorak.

The concerto for cello is one of the most popular works by the composer. The greatest of all cello concertos was the final piece that Dvorak composed during his three-year term as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York.

He created perfect unions of solo cello and a full orchestra, solo cello and solo wind instruments, as well as gratifying solos for orchestra principals.

The solo cello will be performed by Phúc. He is currently appointed the first conductor of the Việt Nam Youth Orchestra.

Cellist Phan Đỗ Phúc will perform with VNSO on July 28 and August 5.

He got a PhD in performing art at Stony Brook University in 2020. He has been the principal cellist at New York Classical Players Orchestra, Napa Valley Festival Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, and the VNSO.

He has performed with globally-acclaimed artists such as Larry Dutton from Grammy-winning string quartet Emerson, bassoonist Frank Morelli from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Carol Wincenc from the Juilliard School.

After the intermission, the cellist will play From the New World with the orchestra. It is one of the best works by Dvorak.

The composer began the symphony in late 1892 and finished it the following May. The first performance in New York on December 16, 1893, was a major event with a public rehearsal and much press attention.

Dvorak (1841-1904), widely regarded as the most distinguished of Czech composers, produced attractive and vigorous music with clear formal outlines, memorable and spontaneous-sounding melodies, and a colourful, effective instrumental sense.

He is considered a significant figure of nationalism, both proselytising for and making actual use of folk influences, which he expertly combined with classical forms in works of all genres.

The two-night concert will be organised by the Toyota Motor Vietnam Company and the VNSO. The VNSO, founded in 1959, gives almost 60 concerts a year, with a repertoire ranging from classical to romantic and contemporary. It has performed in the US, Italy and Japan.

After the HCM City Opera House show on July 28, the concert will be held on August 5 at the Hà Nội Opera House.

Tickets are available at the theatre box office at 7 Công Trường Lam Sơn, Bến Nghé District 1 in HCM City and 1 Tràng Tiền Street in Hà Nội.

All proceeds will go to the Toyota Vietnam Music Talent Fund to support young Vietnamese musical talents in pursuing their passion for classical music. - VNS