Vietnam Classical Players - VNCP

13/05/2018

It was a fantastic show to celebrate the Europe Day at the Hanoi Opera House. Looking forward to another fabulous concert at the Saigon Opera House toninght!

10/04/2018

Artist Profile: Vietnam Classical Players

The Vietnam Classical Players (VNCP) is the Ensemble-in-Residence of the Vietnam Connection Music Festival. It was co-founded in 2015 by Dr. Bui Cong Duy, an internationally acclaimed Vietnamese concert violinist and Dr. Chuong Vu, one of the outstanding American-Vietnamese musicians. VNCP aims to present concerts that inspire, embolden and challenge audiences. To create transformative musical experiences, the ensemble often performs programs with repertoire ranging from early baroque to contemporary music.

Led by Artistic Director Bui Cong Duy, the ensemble tours extensively in Vietnam and performs in the most prestigious concert halls of Vietnam including the Hanoi Opera House, the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House, the Grand Concert Hall of Vietnam National Academy of Music and the Concert Hall of Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music. It also takes parts in premier international music festivals in Vietnam among them the Autumn Melodies Arts Festival and the Vietnam Connection Music Festival. VNCP regularly collaborates with international artists and musicians. Since its birth, the ensemble has welcomed special guest artists from many countries in all 5 continents. VNCP looks forward to performing overseas, with the first European tour scheduled in the summer of 2019.

09/04/2018

Artist Profile - Bùi Công Duy, violin soloist

Acclaimed for his elegant, yet passionate and powerful performances, beautiful tone, and extraordinary technical ex*****on, violinist Bui Cong Duy, winner of the First Prize and Gold Medal at the 3rd International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (1997), is a young musician with a growing international career as a soloist and pedagogue.

Mr. Duy has appeared as a concerto soloist in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Macedonia, Poland, England, Croatia, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, with orchestras including Novosibirsk Philharmonic, Samara Philharmonic, Ịjhevsk Philharmonic, Saint-Petersburg Kapella Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, TrondheimSolisten, London Festival Orchestra, Brno Symphony Orchestra, Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Ho Chi Minh Symphony Orchestra, Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. He has been a featured soloist in many prestigious concert series and events such as “Concert in Berlin Philharmornie” with Berliner Symphoniker, “New Year Concert Tour” with the TrondheimSolisten, “Concert Tour” at La Fenice Venezia, Teatro del Maggio Florence, and Italian President Palace Roma, “Mobifone Series Concert” with Berliner Symphoniker, “Concert Tour” in Denmark, "Asian Orchestra Week" in Tokyo and Osaka, "Beethoven Festival" in Bonn, “Toyota Classic” events, "Gala Concert" in Bolshoi Zal, Festival in Samara, Sony’s “Blue Sky”, and "Gala Concert" in St. Petersburg.

Other competition successes include First Prize at the Zakhar Bron International Violin Competition in Novosibirsk, Russia (1995), First Prize at the Demidov International Violin Competition in Ekaterinburg, Russia (1993), and First Prize at the Vietnamese National Music Competition “Autumn” in Hanoi (1990). Mr. Duy has served as a jury member at the Tchaikovsky International Competitions for Young Musicians in Astana (Kazakhstan) in 2017 and in Moscow in 2014, the VI International Violin Competition Kazakhstan in 2016, the Demidov International Violin Competition in Ekaterinburg in 2009, and the Vietnamese National Music Competition “Autumn” in 2007.

At present, Dr. Bui Cong Duy is Deputy Rector for Concert Activities of the Vietnam National Academy of Music, Artistic Director of the Vietnam Classical Players, and Co-Artistic Director of Vietnam Connection Music Festival. He is married to pianist Nguyễn Trinh Hương and they are residing in Hanoi with their son Alex.

09/04/2018

Artist Profile - Chuong Vu, guest concertmaster and soloist

Praised for his “exquisite playing” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner, violinist Chuong Vu has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber music collaborator in North and South America, Europe, and Asia with repertoire ranging from early baroque to modern music. Recent solo engagements include performances of the music by John Williams, the Double Concerto by Brahms, and the violin concertos by Bach, Barber, Bruch, Sibelius, Valentini, Vivaldi, and He Zhanhao and Chen Gang with the Northeast Orchestra, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra, Ho Chi Minh City Symphony Orchestra (HBSO), and Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Vu has been heard at Festival Internacional de Música do Pará, Enflama Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Vietnam Connection Music Festival, and Autumn Melodies Art Festival as well as at concert series such as Dallas’s Fine Art Chamber Players, Live at Dallas Steinway Hall, and Dallas’s Chamber Music International. His solo and chamber music performances have been broadcast live on Ho Chi Minh City Television, Vietnamese National Television, and Brazilian TV Cultura Canal 2. Further highlights include a solo performance of the U.S. National Anthem with the Open Classical Orchestra for an audience of more than 40,000 at the national-televised Texas Rangers game at the Globe Life Park in Arlington on July 29, 2016 and appearances as the featured soloist with HBSO, performing the violin concertos by Barber and Sibelius at the special concerts to celebrate 20 years of Vietnam-U.S. diplomatic relationship and 100 years of Finland's Independence Day, respectively.

As an orchestral musician, Chuong Vu is currently concertmaster of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra and the VASCAM Ensemble. He has performed as a core member of the Plano Symphony Orchestra, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony of Southeast Texas and served as guest concertmaster of the Irving Symphony Orchestra and the Monroe Symphony Orchestra. Other ensembles he has played with include the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic, among many others. A frequent Baroque violinist, Mr. Vu was a member of the Fantasmi Baroque Ensemble and has collaborated with early music ensembles including Houston Chamber Choir, Orchestra of New Spain, and Texas Camerata.

Chuong Vu holds a bachelor and master degree from the University of Houston, a graduate artist certificate and doctorate from the University of North Texas. His principal teachers include Fredell Lack, Emanuel Borok, Philip Lewis, Albert Muenzer, Cynthia Roberts, Nguyen Anh Giang, and Bui Cong Thanh. A passionate teacher himself, Dr. Vu has cultivated a number of talented young students, some of whom recently were accepted into the music programs at the Indiana University, Eastman School of Music, University of North Texas, and Columbia University. Dr. Vu is currently on the faculty of the University of Texas at Arlington.

Chuong Vu is Co-founder and Artistic Director of Vietnam Connection Music Festival. He is married to Dr. Szemoke Jobbagy, the associate concertmaster of the Plano Symphony. They live in North Texas with their two children, Elizabeth and Benjamin.

09/04/2018

Artist Profile: Phạm Khánh Ngọc, vocal

Pham Khanh Ngoc earned her Bachelor of Art with highest honors from the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music (HCMC) in 2014 under the guidance of Cho Hae Ryong. She excellently obtained her Master of Art in Vocal Performance from the same Conservatory under the tutelage of Professor People's Artist Nguyen Trung Kien.

Pham Khanh Ngoc won Gold Medal at the National Professional Performance Competition in Vung Tau in 2015. In September 2016 she won Second Prize at the Singapore Lyric Opera-Asean Vocal Competition. In April 2017 she was chosen to understudy the role of Zerlina in Mozart's “Don Giovani” at Musiktheater im Revier Opera House in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. In December 2017 she won First Prize at Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music Vocal Competition.

Pham Khanh Ngoc has performed in France, Belgium, Sweden, South Korea, Singapore, and Egypt. Her operatic repertoire includes The Girl in “The Dunes Keeper” by Ca Le Thuan, Queen of the Night in “The Magic Flute” by Mozart, Frasquita in “Carmen” by Bizet, Gabrielle in "La vie Parisienne” by Offenbach, and Adele in “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss II. In September 2016 her recital at the HCMC was named “This is the Moment."

Pham Khanh Ngoc is currently a soprano soloist of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera. She teaches at HCMC as a guest vocal coach.

03/04/2018

We are delighted to announce the repertoire for our upcoming concerts at the Hanoi Opera House (May 11) and the Saigon Opera House (May 13):

Ode to Joy is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller. It is best known for its use by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) in the final (fourth) movement of his Ninth Symphony, completed in 1824. Beethoven's tune (but not Schiller's words) was adopted as the Anthem of Europe by the Council of Europe in 1972 and subsequently by the European Union. The anthem symbolises not only the European Union but also Europe in a wider sense. The poem "Ode to Joy" expresses Schiller's idealistic vision of the human race becoming brothers - a vision Beethoven shared. In the universal language of music, this anthem expresses the European ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity. The anthem is played at official ceremonies involving the European Union and generally at all sorts of events with a European character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9dLGDCdg3g

André Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra performing Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' live in Maastricht. Taken from the DVD André Rieu - Love in Venice, available a...

03/04/2018

We are delighted to announce the repertoire for our upcoming concerts at the Hanoi Opera House (May 11) and the Saigon Opera House (May 13):

Funiculì, Funiculà is a famous Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza (1846-1922) to lyrics by Peppino Turco. It was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. Luigi Denza was born in Italy and studied at the Naples Conservatory. He later settled in London and became a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in 1898. He wrote one opera, Wallenstein, and over 600 songs. Many of his songs became popular, but none could match the success of Funiculi Funicula. Although the song was composed in only a few hours, it has remained popular for over a century. Richard Strauss later included the tune in the fourth movement of his orchestral tone poem, Aus Italien, believing it to be a popular Neapolitan folk tune. Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov also mistook "Funiculì, Funiculà" for a traditional folk song and used it in his 1907 "Neapolitanskaya pesenka" (Neapolitan Song).

Funiculi, funicula interpretada por Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras e Placido Domingo.

03/04/2018

We are delighted to announce the repertoire for our upcoming concerts at the Hanoi Opera House (May 11) and the Saigon Opera House (May 13):

En Aranjuez con tu amor (To Aranjuez with My Love) is the pop version of the famous melody of the second movement (Adagio) from the Concierto de Aranjuez, a guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999). Written in 1939, the concerto is by far Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. The pop version caused the composer great displeasure and distress as he did not agree to the transformation of his work which he considered a violation of moral rights. Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife tried to stop the version from being released and spreading. But it was useless; the more he tried to block them, the faster it spread and sales increased. In the end, the composer resigned himself to accept the fact that the pop version reached a far greater public than that of classical music concertgoers, and led to much wider recognition of the original classical concerto for guitar and orchestra. Since that time, the concerto has become part of the universal repertoire for orchestras and guitarists, and is one of the contemporary works most performed throughout the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ovhmoc3xCE

André Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra performing 'Concierto de Aranjuez' live in Maastricht. Taken from the DVD 'André Rieu - Songs From My Heart'. For c...

03/04/2018

We are delighted to announce the repertoire for our upcoming concerts at the Hanoi Opera House (May 11) and the Saigon Opera House (May 13):

La Vie en rose (Life in Pink) were written in 1945 by Louis Guglielmi (1916-1991) and Édith Piaf (1915-1963). Initially, Piaf's peers and songwriting team did not think the song would be successful, finding it weaker than the rest of her repertoire. Heeding their advice, the singer put the song aside, only to change her mind the next year. The song was performed live in concert for the first time in 1946. It became a favorite with audiences. "La Vie en rose" was the song that made Piaf internationally famous, with its lyrics telling about the joy of finding true love and appealing to those who had survived the difficult wartime. The song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NK9zdPj-os

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03/04/2018

We are delighted to announce the repertoire for our upcoming concerts at the Hanoi Opera House (May 11) and the Saigon Opera House (May 13):

From the ubiquitous and distinctive opening theme of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” to the haunting score to “The Untouchables” and the powerful soundtrack to “The Mission,” Italian composer Ennio Morricone (b.1928) has made his mark through his more than 500 film and television scores. That mark is indelible at this point and his reputation is gigantic among filmmakers, other film music composers, and aficionados of film music. The music for Giuseppe Tornatore’s award-winning “Cinema Paradiso” (1989) is among Morricone’s most recorded and most popular works. The composer perfectly captures the nostalgic and heartfelt nature of the film, a look back at the filmmaker’s life-long fascination with the cinema. The love theme Cinema Paradiso portrays the longing and desire between Tornatore’s alter ego, Salvatore, and his long lost teenage love interest, Elena.

Full concert here http://ow.ly/8pGM307IGUP Subscribe to our channel for more videos http://ow.ly/ugONZ Ennio Morricone - Se from Cinema Paradiso Josh Groban,...

02/04/2018

We are delighted to announce the repertoire for our upcoming concerts at the Hanoi Opera House (May 11) and the Saigon Opera House (May 13):

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) composed a total of 21 nocturnes, some of which are widely regarded as the most beautiful and important short solo pieces for the piano. Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. posthumous, was composed in 1830 and first published 26 years after the great composer’s death. Chopin dedicated this work to his older sister Ludwika Chopin, with a note “To my sister Ludwika as an exercise before beginning the study of my second concerto.” The musical directive for this nocturne, "Lento con gran espressione" (slow with great expression), makes it a hauntingly beautiful work and among the most melodious of his nocturnes which are characterized by his cantabile style. This piece is sometimes also called "Reminiscence".

http://www.szpilman.net Wladyslaw Szpilman plays F. Chopin: Nocturne C sharp-minor Op. posth. Recorded in Warsaw at home in 1997. Cameraman Jaroslaw Mazur. C...