HÀ NỘI — A concert with popular pieces from international and Vietnamese composers will take place at the new Vĩnh Phúc Theatre on August 19.

The Toyota Concert 2017, held by Việt Nam National Symphony and Orchestra (VNSO) and Toyota Motor Việt Nam, will be held in the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc for the first time, as well as Hà Nội and HCM City. 

The Vĩnh Phúc concert will include Johann Strauss’s overture The Bat; Johannes Brahams’s Hungarian Dance; Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No 9; and Vietnamese songs performed by Đăng Dương and Đào Tố Loan. 

The Vietnamese songs include Trường Ca Sông Lô (The Lô River Epic); Du Kích Sông Thao (The Thao River Guerilla); Tình Ca (Love Song); Người Hà Nội (Hà Nội People) and Tình Ca Tây Bắc (Tây Bắc Love Songs) which were among the most popular pieces in the country in the 1940s to 1950s. 

"The songs by veteran composers praise patriotism and nostalgia of soldiers, many of whom never returned," said Nguyễn Trí Dũng, the VNSO’s director at a press conference in Hà Nội. 

The Lô River Epic was inspired by Văn Cao’s trip to the northernmost Việt Nam army base. 

The epic was published in 1948 and quickly laid on top of patriotic-inspired music. 

Văn Cao (1923-95), from Hải Phòng was the composer of the Vietnamese national anthem. He composed romantic songs and later composed patriotic marching songs when he joined the Việt Minh Front. 

He was posthumously given the Hồ Chí Minh Prize in 1996 a year after he died. 

Streets in Hải Phòng, Hà Nội, HCM City and many other provinces were named after him. 

Magic fingers: Pianist Nguyễn Việt Trung will perform with Việt Nam National Symphony and Orchestra in the Toyota Concert later this month. Photo news.zing.vn

Love Song was composed by Hoàng Việt in 1957 as he suffered the pain of family separation during the war and it quickly became popular.

The concerts in Hà Nội and HCM City will feature pianist Nguyễn Việt Trung and the VNSO under the baton of conductor Tetsuji Honna. The repertoire entitled The Melody for Incomplete Love Stories features pieces from Chopin and Brahms. 

Trung is currently studying at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music, Bydgoszcz, Poland and won first prize at Lodz 2005 Emmy Alberg Competition in Poland.

Trung is one of eight young pianists invited from across the world to perform in the Junior Academy programme Eppan in Italy in 2013. 

Trung will play Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2, which was dedicated to Chopin’s first love.

"I’m honourable to perform in a Toyota Concert for the first time," said pianist Nguyễn Việt Trung in a video clip from Poland screening at the press conference. "I know the concert to be a significant event for music talents. I’m eager to make my contribution to the event," he said. 

The concert will begin at 8pm at HCM City Mulnicipal Theatre on August 16 and Hà Nội Opera House on August 25 & 26. All proceeds will be used for Toyota Scholarship for Vietnamese Young Music Talents. Please see Page 25 for ticket information. — VNS