Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tạ Quang Đông

Before returning to Hà Nội after serving in the jury of the XVII Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tạ Quang Đông speaks to Việt Nam News. The Tchaikovsky Competition was first held in 1958 with piano and violin performances. Organised every four years, the second competition included cello and voice as well. Today, the competition has six categories for competing including woodwind and brass instruments.
How is this competition different from the Rachmaninoff competition you previously helped judge? 

This is one of the biggest competitions with a huge reputation in Russia as well as in the world. This year is the 17th competition in the 65th year. I've been on the jury of several large international piano competitions. The most recent was the Rachmaninoff International Competition for Pianists, Composers and Conductors in 2022. Some of the Rachmaninoff competition winners have also participated in this year's Tchaikovsky Competition. 

Being a Gnessin alumni, what do you think about having our students study music and the arts in Russia? 

This year, we have a contestant from Việt Nam. Nguyễn Khắc Hòa received a government scholarship to study singing in my alma mater, Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow. He has been living and studying here for 10 years and we were very glad he got to sing in the Voice category, which takes place in St. Petersburg.

Hòa's repertoire for the competition included arias from operas by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Bizet. He didn't win the finals, but he was very good. Currently, Hòa has been working on his PhD at Gnessin and we believe he will have a successful career ahead.

In recent years, we have had competent contestants representing Việt Nam in international music competitions. Nguyễn Việt Trung took part in the 18th Chopin International Competion in Warsaw in 2021. Nguyễn Đức Kiên from Việt Nam Academy of Music also received a recognition placard at the Rachmaninoff competition for juniors. 

If we want to send more contestants to the world's leading music competitions, we still need to update our teaching methods to catch up with the classical music centres of the world. We need to encourage more exchange programs between our institutions and others in the world in terms of professors, students and performances.

Do you foresee further cooperation between the two countries in music and arts training and performing?

Every year, the Ministry of Education and Training approves about 1,000 scholarships for students to study in Russia. We at the Ministry of Culture and Information have a project to train artists abroad until 2030, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision QĐ 1437 - TTG, which provides scholarships for tuition and living expenses to study in leading arts and music institutions in Russian Federation. 

Between our two countries, we still have great potential for further cooperation. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Russia's Ministry of Culture signed an MoU to strengthen cultural cooperation. In 2023 and 2024, there will be more cultural exchange programmes between our two countries. The most recent shall be Russian Cultural Week which kicks off on July 10 in Việt Nam.

Is there a Russian school of piano performing in Việt Nam? Can the public in Việt Nam listen to the competition winners?

Speaking of the Russian school of piano, you need to know that it's the main school of piano training and performing in Việt Nam, thanks to the cultural cooperation between the two countries in the past.

We have been working on opportunities not only for winners of this competition to perform in Việt Nam but also for some top-notch Russian pianists to perform and give masterclasses in our music schools. 

We are well aware that guiding our Vietnamese music and arts students to take part in international competitions shall be one of the goals of performing arts training. Every year, many Vietnamese contestants take part in competitions of different styles and levels. At the world's top competition, we must admit, the number of our contestants is still few and far between. I believe that many of our performing arts students will be working really hard to compete in the world's great competitions like the Tchaikovsky in the future. VNS