CELEBRATING VERDI: Soloists Phạm Khánh Ngọc, Phan Hồng Dịu and Nguyễn Thu Hường are featured ahead of a concert marking the 125th death anniversary of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi at the HCM City Opera House on January 10. Photo collage courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY  Conductor Lê Phi Phi, together with soloists from the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO), will present a concert honouring Giuseppe Verdi, the leading Italian opera composer of the 19th century, at the HCM City Opera House on January 10.

The concert, held to mark the 125th anniversary of the composer’s death, will feature excerpts and arias from his critically acclaimed works, including La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny), Don Carlos, Nabucco, Il Trovatore (The Troubadour), Rigoletto, I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers), La traviata (The Fallen Woman), Aida, and Requiem Mass.

The night will open with Overture from La forza del destino, a four-act opera about forbidden love, inescapable fate and vengeance.

The work was composed and premiered in 1862 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and later revised in 1869, creating the version that is frequently performed today.

The programme will include the opera’s arias Pace, pace, mio Dio (Peace, peace, my God) and Rataplan, featuring celebrated artists Phạm Khánh Ngọc, Phan Hồng Dịu and Nguyễn Thu Hường.

Ngọc will introduce Caro Nome (Dear Name), an aria from Rigoletto, a three-act tragedy that explores jealousy, vengeance and sacrifice, which premiered in Venice in 1851.

She will also perform alongside baritone Đào Mác in a powerful aria and duet Si, vendetta, tremenda vendetta (Yes, revenge, tremendous revenge).

The concert will present arias Stride la vampa (The flames roar), Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie (See the gloomy nocturnal shrouds), and Di quella pira (Of that pyre) from Il Trovatore, a 1853 opera in four acts that depicts doomed love, revenge, and mistaken identity in 15th-century Spain.

The night will also feature the aria Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) from Requiem, the Grand March from Act II of the four-act opera Aida, and several other acclaimed works.

The performances will feature soloists Phạm Duyên Huyên, Phan Trung Hữu Kiệt and Phạm Trang, together with HBSO’s Choir and Symphony Orchestra.

ORCHESTRA LEADER: Conductor Lê Phi Phi, visiting from North Macedonia, leads the concert. Photo courtesy of HBSO

Conductor Phi, who is visiting from North Macedonia, will wield the baton at the concert.

Phi, born in Hà Nội, is widely known as a Vietnamese conductor with an international career, including long-term professional activity in Macedonia. He earned a Master of Music degree at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia and worked as chief conductor of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1993 to 2000.

He has performed with numerous artists, symphony orchestras, choirs, musical theatres, and ballets in European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Finland.

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