Pianist Lưu Đức Anh will perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 2 in A Major at a concert in HCM City Opera House on October 3. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY — Internationally acclaimed conductor Honna Tetsuji will lead a concert featuring works by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt and Czech composer Antonin Dvorak at the HCM City Opera House today.

The concert will open with Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 2 in A Major featuring pianist Lưu Đức Anh of Hà Nội.

Born in 1993, Anh began studying piano with his father, Meritorious Artist Lưu Quang Minh, one of the leading teachers in accordion and jazz in Việt Nam.

Anh joined the Việt Nam National Academy of Music (VNAM) in 2000, and then the Royal Conservatory of Liège, Belgium where he obtained his Bachelor's degree in 2013 and Master's degree in 2015. He entered the Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden in 2016.

Anh has won numerous music awards, such as first prize at the "Léopold Godowsky" International Piano Competition 2014 in Warsaw, Poland, and first prize at the Stockholm International Piano Competition 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden.

He has appeared as soloist with the Việt Nam National Symphony Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, and has performed in Europe, Australia and Japan.

In 2018, he was invited to give a private performance for the Prime Minister of France, Edouard Phillipe at Văn Miếu (Temple of Literature) in Hà Nội, and later for Princess Victoria of Sweden at the same venue.

He has been a lecturer at VNAM’s Piano Department since 2018.

The second part of the night will feature Dvorak’s Symphony No 9 ("From the New World"), known as the New World Symphony.

The four-movement work will be performed by the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO).

Internationally acclaimed conductor Honna Tetsuji will lead a concert featuring works by Liszt and Dvorak at the HCM City Opera House on October 3. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

Conductor Tetsuji studied at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the London Sinfonietta, an English contemporary chamber orchestra.

He has won several top prizes at international competitions, including the Tokyo International Competition and Arturo Toscanini International Conductor Competition.

He has conducted numerous orchestras such as La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra of Italy and the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra.

He was appointed music advisor and conductor of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) from 2001-2009, and as the orchestra's director from 2011.

He took the VNSO to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall in the US in 2011, the Capella Paolina chapel and Italian Presidential Palace in Italy in 2013, and the Grand Hall of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia in 2014.

The concert will begin at 8pm. The venue is at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Tickets are available at the venue’s box office and www.ticketbox.vn. — VNS