Young dancer Đỗ Hoàng Khang Ninh will perform Carmen in the classic ballet Carmen Suite at the Saigon Opera House on March 28. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY — The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will present a special performance of the classic ballet Carmen Suite accompanied by live music by the orchestra at the Saigon Opera House on March 28.

The ballet was created in 1967 by Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso, based on the 19th-century opera by French composer Georges Bizet, to music by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin.

It depicts the tragedy of Carmen, a fiery gypsy, and her fatal love triangle with Don José, a naïve soldier, and Escamillo, a toreador.

The HBSO’s performance is staged by People’s Artist Kim Quy, one of the country’s leading choreographers and vice president of the Việt Nam Dancing Artists’ Association.

It will feature young talents of HBSO, including Đỗ Hoàng Khang Ninh as Carmen, Lê Đức Anh as Don José, Đặng Minh Hiền as Escamillo, and dancers from the ballet division.

Ninh received a scholarship to study with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet and participated in cultural exchanges in Korea. She has performed in the ballets Giselle, Cinderella, Ballet Kiều, and Swan Lake.

The HBSO Orchestra will provide live musical accompaniment to the dancers.

According to a representative of the troupe, the return of Carmen Suite honours a classic masterpiece of world music. It marks a bold evolution of the HBSO, in which ballet is not only “told” through body movement on stage but also accompanied by live music, offering an immersive experience for the audience.

After the intermission will be a musical composition of El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), a famous 1915 Spanish ballet-pantomime by composer Manuel de Falla.

The composition includes 13 movements, depicting the mystical world of Andalusian folk beliefs where love and destiny blend in a magical space.

The performance will feature HBSO Symphony Orchestra, along with guest musicians, including percussionists Phạm Anh Tuấn, Dana Difilippantonio, Lương Bỉnh Khôi and Huỳnh Vĩnh Phúc, and timpanist Vũ Ngọc Long.

Maestro Trần Vương Thạch will lead the HBSO Symphony Orchestra at the show. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

Maestro Trần Vương Thạch, the former director of HBSO, will lead the symphony orchestra.

Thạch studied at leading music schools and conservatories in Belgium and the Netherlands.

He has performed in many countries, such as Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, France, Japan, and South Korea.

In 2020, he was granted the title "Knight of Arts and Letters" (Chevaliers des Lettres et des Arts) from the French government for his efforts to promote artistic exchange between Việt Nam and France.

The concert will begin at 8pm at 7 Lam Sơn Square in Sài Gòn Ward. — VNS