Pianist Henri Sigfridsson will have a solo performance at opening concert of the season on March 1 at the VNAM Grand Concert Hall. Photo kuhmofestival.fi

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) will present its 2026 subscription concert series , highlighting Joseph Haydn and Tchaikovsky, reflecting both the historical depth and stylistic diversity of Western classical music.

The upcoming season will feature ten performances running from March through January 2027.

The opening concert will take place on March 1 at the Việt Nam National Academy of Music’s Grand Concert Hall. It will be conducted by Honna Tetsuji, with piano soloist Henri Sigfridsson performing Franz Liszt’s Symphonic Poem and Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2.

Born in Turku, Finland, Sigfridsson won First Prize at the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Bonn, where he also received the Audience Prize and Chamber Music Prize. He was also awarded the renowned ABOA Culture Prize in Finland, first prizes at the 1994 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar and at the 1995 Nordic Soloist Competition.

Conductor Honna has been the musical director and principal conductor of the VNSO for more than 20 years. With his experience of working with the world’s leading solo artists, namely Martha Argerich and Elisabeth Leonskaja, and conducting different orchestras, Honna has helped to improve the performance quality of the VNSO.

He has led VNSO performances in many places around the world, including tours in Tokyo and Osaka in Japan and the US.

The 2026 season is structured around two principal artistic themes, a Haydn cycle with four concerts and a Tchaikovsky cycle with three concerts. Alongside these are major works by composers such as Dvořák, Mahler, Wagner, Rachmaninov, Mozart and Ravel.

On March 28, the first subscription concert of the season will open the Haydn I and Tchaikovsky I series, under the baton of conductor Sado Yutaka, with cello soloist Phan Đỗ Phúc.

Launched in 2005, the VNSO Subscription Concert Series has presented 179 programmes to date. The series brings together distinguished conductors and soloists from Việt Nam and abroad, featuring representative masterpieces from the world’s symphonic and chamber music repertoire.

"The series continues to affirm the orchestra’s long-term and sustainable artistic vision," said VNSO director Trịnh Tùng Linh. "It aims to foster regular concert-going habits among audiences while creating a meeting point between the classical symphonic heritage and contemporary musical life in Việt Nam."

Throughout the year, the programmes will offer a wide range of artistic highlights, featuring works long anticipated by classical music audiences, including Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos No 2 and No 3, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies No 4, 5 and 6, Dvořák’s Symphonies No 8 and No 9 From the New World and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, among others.

Participating in the 2026 Subscription Concert Series are conductors and international guests familiar to Vietnamese audiences, such as Kim Xuân Hiếu, Nguyễn Khắc Thành, Zahia Ziouani and Mikhail Kirchhoff.

The soloists and vocalists featured in the series are leading artists from Việt Nam and abroad, representing diverse generations and performance styles, including Slava Kiselev, Tobi Tan Kai Rong, Kudo Shigenori, Nguyễn Đăng Quang, Nguyễn Thiện Minh and Phạm Lê Phương.

The series continues to affirm the orchestra’s long-term and sustainable artistic vision, aiming to foster regular concert-going habits among audiences while creating a meeting point between the classical symphonic heritage and contemporary musical life in Việt Nam. — VNS