Green Wind, the first community choir in Việt Nam, will hold its annual concert in Đà Nẵng, Hà Nội and Hạ Long. Photo courtesy of Green Wind Choir

HÀ NỘI — A series of classical music will be performed at the annual concert with the theme The Circle of Green of the first community choir in Việt Nam, Green Wind.

Conductor Nguyễn Hải Yến and more than 100 members of the Green Wind Choir will hold The Circle of Green in three cities: Đà Nẵng on August 12, Hà Nội on November 4, and Hạ Long on November 11.

They will perform around 20 works, including timeless songs from classic films, such as When You Believe from the film The Prince of Egypt, How Far I'll Go from Moana, The Circle of Life from The Lion King, and Another Day of Sun from La La Land.

"The annual concerts of Green Wind have always placed significant importance on Vietnamese songs. Folk songs such as Trống Cơm (Cylindrical Drum), Lý Kéo Chài (Drawing Fish Net, a southern folk song), Bài Ca Tôm Cá (The Song of Shrimp and Fish) and 30 Con Chim (30 Birds) are sung with four, or even six-part harmonies, giving the pieces a new dimension that is both familiar yet more expansive, graceful, and profound. That's why they could touch the listeners’ emotions," said conductor Yến.

Conductor Nguyễn Hải Yến, founder of the Green Wind Choir. —Photo courtesy of Green Wind Choir

The Circle of Green 2023 concert is expected to welcome around 2,500 visitors over three nights, including about 750 children who are special guests from social welfare centres in Đà Nẵng, Hà Nội and Hạ Long. In each city, Yến will spend time teaching the children to sing and select some of them to perform with Green Wind.

“Green Wind Choir’s annual concert also brings special gifts to hundreds of children in especially difficult circumstances, currently residing in many social welfare centres,” said Yến.

“Those gifts are moments of enjoying music in high-quality auditoriums, dreams and beliefs in a bright future ahead, and positive energy coming from the talented conductor and hundreds of Green Wind performers on stage.”

'Let our imagination soar freely'

Tickets to The Circle of Green concert are available on ticketbox.vn, ranging from VNĐ200,000-1,000,000 (US$8 to $42).

Founded in September 2019, Green Wind Choir currently has over 200 members ranging from six to 85 years old who practice singing together every weekend in Hà Nội. In over three years since its establishment, Green Wind has been actively involved in high-quality artistic programmes as well as community events.

"When I was a student at the Music Institute, our teachers occasionally gave us tickets to see concerts by foreign artists. At that time, it was like we were living in a different world, a beautiful world where we were immersed in music and let our imagination soar freely,” Yến recalled.

"I believe those were the moments when we truly enjoyed the precious cultural heritage of humanity, felt the value of music, and nurtured beautiful emotions for the soul. I founded Green Wind with that desire. On the journey with Green Wind, I have witnessed the miraculous healing power of choral music.”

The most important activity of Green Wind is its annual choral concert. In 2020, Green Wind Choir organised its first concert, Green Christmas, with 700 attendees, including 164 special guests from social welfare centres in Hà Nội.

Their second concert, Green Passport, was held in Hà Nội and Hạ Long, attracting nearly 2,000 people. VNS