18th CENTURY MASTERPIECE: Ballet Kiều will be on stage at the Autumn Melodies Art Festival 2022 in HCM City from September 10-17. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY — The Autumn Melodies Art Festival 2022, the country’s biggest classical music and dance event, will kick off in HCM City tonight.

The opening concert will highlight Vietnamese songs praising the country, President Hồ Chí Minh and HCM City such as Tổ Quốc Gọi Tên Mình (Country Calls My Name) and Thành Phố Tôi Yêu (I Love HCM City), as well as excerpts from operas I due Foscari (The Two Foscari) by Verdi and The Magic Flute by Mozart.

The performance will feature vocalists Phan Hữu Trung Kiệt, Phạm Duyên Huyên and People’s Artist Tạ Minh Tâm, together with the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera's (HBSO) choir and orchestra.

The concert will be led by conductors Lê Ha My, HBSO’s director, and Trần Nhật Minh, who holds a Master of Music in conducting from Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

The festival will offer Carmina Burana, the best-known cantata by German composer Carl Orff, on September 11 to mark his 40th death anniversary.

Tenor Yury Rostotsky and baritone Konstantin Brzhinsky from Russian will perform along with Vietnamese soprano Phạm Khánh Ngọc in the show.

RUSSIAN SINGERS: Russian vocalists Yury Rostotsky and Konstantin Brzhinsky and Vietnamese soprano Phạm Khánh Ngọc (L to R) will perform cantata Carmina Burana at the festival. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

The Vietnamese Young Talents and Big Band Concert on September 12 is expected to be a remarkable night.

A programme with popular songs and film music will feature the HCM City Conservatory of Music’s Big Band, consisting of students from the Brass-Percussion Department, and young soloists such as clarinetist Hoàng Ngọc Anh Quân, flutist Nguyễn Trương Hoàng Yến, and pianist Trần Thụy San.

Clarinetist and conductor Nguyễn Tuấn Lộc will lead the concert. 

Ballet Kiều, which is based on Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều), the 18th century masterpiece by the great poet Nguyễn Du, will be on the stage on September 16.

The work is written and directed by choreographer Tuyết Minh, a pioneer in popularising contemporary dance, and co-choreographed by Minh and Nguyễn Phúc Hùng, while its music is composed by Việt Anh and Chinh Ba.

The performance features leading dancers such as Meritorious Artists Hoàng Yến, Phi Điệp and Đức Nhuận, together with HBSO dancers.

The festival will close with a gala concert featuring Triple Concerto in C Major by Beethoven and symphonic suite Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov on September 17.

The performance will highlight Vietnamese violinist Bùi Công Duy and pianist Nguyễn Trinh Hương, and Russian cellist Dmitry Feygin.

Meritorious Artist Trần Vương Thạch will wield the baton at the concert.

In addition, the festival will include a music symposium to discuss symphony and chamber music in Việt Nam at 2pm on September 13, and a dance workshop about creating a Vietnamese ballet work at 7pm on September 14.

All the shows will begin at 8pm at the HCM City Opera House at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Registration for free tickets is available at HBSO’s Facebook page. — VNS