HÀ NỘI – Talented Vietnamese and foreign classical musicians living in Việt Nam and abroad are invited to audition to join the Sun Symphony Orchestra (SSO) – a newly founded private orchestra based in Hà Nội.

With the ambition of establishing an international-standard orchestra in Việt Nam, founding members said they want to bring classical music – often regarded as elite – closer to the public. At the same time, they want to attract talented musicians, especially Vietnamese, to be involved. Presenting Vietnamese classic music to the world someday is another goal of the SSO, which is sponsored by one of Việt Nam’s leading real estate developers, Sun Group.

The SSO introduced its management board last Thursday. French conductor and winner of the 2015 Antal Doráti International Conducting Competition Olivier Ochanine is the music director and principal conductor. Famous TV emcee, concert producer and contrabassist Vũ Anh Tuấn is executive director.

The five-member board also includes President Trần Khanh, Vice President Lê Thị Bích Trân, and general director Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Anh – all are successful businesspeople with a great passion for classic music.

 “As a non-profit orchestra, revenue is not our main goal,” General Director Quỳnh Anh said at the launching of the SSO’s management board last week. “We focus only on how to create a proper environment to nurture and develop Vietnamese music talents, then we can offer audiences nationwide regular opportunities to enjoy classical concerts.”

“Especially, we have a long-term plan to bring world-famous artists to Việt Nam to perform with the SSO,” she added.

Aiming to offer the best possible resources for the SSO to develop as an international-standard orchestra, the management board also has revealed a costly plan to build a new Opera House near West Lake to serve as a home for the orchestra.

Temple of music: The Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome designed by architect Renzo Piano. The international award-winning architect has been invited to design the new Opera House, which will be home to the Sun Symphony Orchestra. — Photo pinterest.com

The future Opera House will be the first project in Việt Nam by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Piano is well-known for his delicate and refined approach to building, displayed in museums and other structures around the world including the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Shard in London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Auditorium Niccolo Paganini in Parma, and the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.

When awarding Piano the “Nobel of Architecture” Pritzker Prize in 1998, the Pritzker Jury compared him to Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Brunelleschi, highlighting "his intellectual curiosity and problem-solving techniques as broad and far ranging as those earlier masters of his native land".

Speaking at the press conference, CEO of the Sun Group Đặng Minh Trường said: “With this building project, we expect our new Opera House will be a new temple of art. We hope it will be an iconic building of Hà Nội, like the durian-shaped Esplanade Theatre in Singapore or the sail-designed Sydney Opera House."

Commenting on the establishment of the SSO, Chairman of the Việt Nam Musicians’ Association composer Đỗ Hồng Quân said he was touched by the idea of building a new Opera House that will be home to new generations of talented classical artists. “So far, we don’t have any Opera House dedicated only to the classical music yet,” he said.

Musicians who wish to be SSO members should visit the website https://sunsymphony.vn/ for further recruitment information. — VNS