HCM CITY — A concert featuring Vietnamese contemporary concerto and dance will be held at the HCM City Opera House on May 18 to celebrate the 129th birthday of President Hồ Chí Minh on May 19.

Khúc Khải Hoàn (Song of Victory) will open with a composition for wind instruments composed recently by veteran musician Trọng Đài, a graduate of Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music. 

He has written two orchestral compositions, but is more popular for the soundtracks of the movies Hà Nội Đêm Trở Gió (Hà Nội on a Windy Night) and Chị Tôi (My Older Sister).

The performance will feature a three-movement Concerto for Violin written by People’s Teacher Hoàng Cương, former headmaster of the city’s Conservatory of Music.

Cương wrote the song between 2007 and 2010 featuring traditional music and children’s music.

The concerto will be performed by his son, violinist Hoàng Tuấn Cương, a soloist in the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg (Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra) in Germany.

The concert will continue with two popular revolutionary songs Bác Hồ Một Tình Yêu Bao La (Uncle Hồ - A Great Love) by Thuận Yến and Tiếng Hát Từ Thành Phố Mang Tên Bác (Songs from the City Named after President Hồ Chí Minh), which are poems by Đăng Trung set to music by Cao Việt Bách.

The songs will be performed by soprano Duyên Huyên.

The second part of the programme will highlight contemporary dance piece Chạm Tay Vào Quá Khứ (Touching the Past) by HBSO choreographers Nguyễn Phúc Hải and Nguyễn Phúc Hùng.

The dance is about the generations born after the war learning about it only through films and stories.

The work also reveals the views and feelings of musicians, choreographers and dancers about the war.

Hải and Hùng presented their first dance piece Những Mảnh Ghép Của Giiấc Mơ (Dream Puzzles) in 2012 to much acclaim from local and foreign audiences.

Both have choreographed and performed many dance pieces, including Anh Em (Brother), Zig Zag, and Đi Qua Tình Yêu (Gone through Love).

Hùng, a graduate in choreography from Fontys Dance Academy in the Netherlands, is general director in charge of HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO)’s programmes.

The concert will be conducted by Trần Nhật Minh, who got a Master of Music in Conducting degree from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and performed by the HBSO symphony orchestra.

Khúc Khải Hoàn is organised by the city Department of Culture and Sports and the HBSO.

Meritorious Artist Trần Vương Thạch, the HBSO director, said: “The concert has become the city’s annual programme to celebrate the country’s major anniversaries.

“The programme also aims to introduce and promote contemporary works and traditional music by Vietnamese composers and choreographers.”

The concert will begin at 8pm. The HCM City Opera House is at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. — VNS