HCM CITY – French conductor Patrick Souillot will lead the concert “A Night of Serenade Music” of Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and Puccini at the HCM City Opera House on October 8.

The night opens with Dvorak’s Serenade for Wind Instruments, Cello and Double Bass, Op 44, written in 1878 to honour Berlin music critic Louis Ehlert.

The premiere of the composition took place at Prague’s Zofin in 1878 with Dvorak conducting.

The performance will be followed by Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) by Italian composer Puccini, who wrote it in only one night in 1890 as a response to the death of the Duke of Savoy. 

The event will close with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for strings in C Major, op. 48.

The composer created the four-movement serenade in 1880 to dedicate to his idol, Mozart.

It premiered at St Petersburg in 1881 and became one of the most famous serenade repertoires in the world.

In 1934, the work was used by choreographer George Balanchine, known as father of American ballet, for his ballet Serenade, earning fame worldwide.

Conductor Souillot, who will lead the the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera at the concert, studied conducting with American maestro Leonard Bernstein in 1986.

Since 1989, he has been music director of L’Orchestre, the symphony orchestra of the University of Grenoble in France.

He has worked with numerous orchestras in Europe and Asia, and staged many operas for opera houses in Europe.

The concert will begin at 8pm at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Tickets are available at the venue or at www.ticketbox.vn. — VNS