The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera will host the Christmas Concert at the Opera House on December 20 and 21.— Photo courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY — The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will feature a wonderful musical night with a Christmas concert at the Opera House on December 20 and 21 to celebrate the holiday season.

The concert will feature timeless and uplifting songs, promising to bring warm moments in the Christmas season.

The night will open with excerpts from Messiah, an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel.

Tenor Phạm Trang will perform arias Comfort Ye, My People and Every Valley Shall Be Exalted, while baritone Đào Mác will sing Thus Saith the Lord and But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming, as prophetic expressions of the joy of preparing to welcome the Saviour.

Soprano Cho Hae-Ryong will deliver an energetic and vibrant aria Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion.

Two classic choral works, Hallelujah and Glory to God in the Highest, will be featured.

After the intermission, the concert will feature classic and modern Christmas melodies, such as Adesta Fidelis, Santa's Epic Ride, The First Noel, Angels We Have Heard on High, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Korean Children's Voices Choir will perform in the concert.— Photo courtesy of HBSO

The performance will feature leading soloists Meritorious Artist Phạm Khánh Ngọc and mezzo soprano Phạm Duyên Huyên, the HBSO Choir and the Korean Children's Voices Choir.

Conductor Trần Nhật Minh, head and chorusmaster of the HBSO Opera, will lead the concert.

Minh graduated in chorus conducting from the Magnitogorsk State Conservatory in Russia, and then earned his Master’s of Arts at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2007.

He won several top prizes at international competitions such as the International Competition for Young Conductors in Vladivostok in 2003, and the International Choral Festival organised by Interkultur, the world’s leading organiser of international choir competitions and festivals, in Hội An in 2014.

The two shows will begin at 8 pm at 7 Lam Sơn Square in Sài Gòn Ward. Tickets are available at the venue. — VNS

Conductor Trần Nhật Minh, head and chorusmaster of the HBSO Opera, will lead the concert. — Photo courtesy of HBSO