HÀ NỘI — Young talents from five musical universities and colleges received scholarships from Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV) on Tuesday to further their studies.

The awards ceremony was held at Việt Nam National Academy of Music’s Grand Hall to honour students from the academy, Tây Bắc Culture and Arts College and Việt Bắc Culture and Arts Colleges.

Students from Huế Academy of Music and HCM City Conservatory of Music will also get scholarships at awards ceremonies to take place in the central province of Thừa Thiên Huế and HCM City. Each scholarship is worth about VNĐ6 million (more than US$250).

"I would like to send my warmest congratulations to the excellent students," said Đỗ Thu Hoàng, vice chairwoman of TMV. "Especially, we are really touched to see that there are some of you who have been facing with difficulties in life and suffering from serious illness but still try your best with extraordinary efforts to achieve outstanding performances. I do hope the scholarship will be an encouragement for you to strive for more success in the future.”

The Toyota Scholarship for Young Vietnamese Music Talents has been held annually since 2009. Over the last eight years, 815 scholarships have been dished out.

The programme has also helped prodigies practise and perform with professional orchestras, for example, pianist Lưu Hồng Quang performed in Toyota Classics 2017 and soprano Phạm Thị Duyên Huyền in Toyota Classics 2011.

"I’m honoured to represent the talented students to speak at the awards ceremony," said Phạm Nguyễn Nguyệt Hà, a piano student at VNAM. "I want to thank my parents and my teacher Nguyễn Trinh Hương who supported me a lot. The scholarship will help me to nurture my music dream.”

The funding for Toyota Scholarship for Young Vietnamese Music Talents comes from ticket sales for the Toyota Classics and Toyota Concert events. — VNS