HCM CITY — Maestro Unai Urrecho of Spain will conduct the New Year concert at the HCM City Conservatory of Music on January 20.

The concert will feature Overture from the operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Johann Strauss II, Piano Concerto No 2 in F Minor, Op 21 by Frederic Chopin, and Symphony No 8 in G Major Op 88 by Antonin Dvorak.

Young Vietnamese pianist Bùi Vũ Nguyệt Minh will perform along with the Saigon Philharmonic Orchestra.

The 18-year-old student of the conservatory won Gold Prize at the 2009 Asia International Piano Academy Festival and Competition in Cheonan, South Korea, and third prize at the 2016 International Piano Memorial Isidor Bajic in Serbia.

She was hounoured as one of the HCM City’s 10 outstanding young citizens of 2016.

Conductor Urrecho began as an orchestra musician at an early age in the Arrasate Musical Symphony Orchestra and then performed with numerous orchestras, such as the Boston Symphony, New World Symphony and Barcelona Symphony.

He later studied conducting with Maestro Sygmon Kawalla at Chopin University in Warsaw, Poland where he obtained his doctoral degree in opera and orchestral conducting.

He has conducted at Saint Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Basque Country National Symphony Orchestra, and Rumanian National Radio Orchestra.

Urrecho now is a professor at the University of Suwon, South Korea. He was the founder and artistic director of Hwaseong Academy Festival Orchestra, and since 2013 he has been artistic director and principal conductor of Kwangsung Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

The concert will begin at 8pm at 112 Nguyễn Du Street in District 1. Tickets are available at the venue. — VNS