The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Oct. 23 and at the Boston Symphony Hall the following day.
"We wish through music to exchange and combine cultures to make friends with people in the world and to show the Vietnamese people's wish for peace," said Nguyen Van Tinh, Director of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's International Cooperation Department.
Ngo Hoang Quan, VNSO's Director, said it is an honour and a privilege to perform at one of the greatest music venues in the world.
The VNSO will be performing five pieces, including Violin Concerto Thang Long by Vietnamese composer Dam Linh (1932 – 2001) and Trong Com and Ly Hoai Nam – Vietnamese folk songs specifically written for the orchestra by Quan.
Linh was instrumental in introducing European classical music to Vietnam .
His compositions are a unique blend of Vietnamese folk and modern European music.
The piece will be performed by violinist Le Hoai Nam , who is the second violin principal at the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Nam has appeared as a soloist with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA)’s Symphony Orchestra.
He has been a guest concert master for the VNSO and the Asian Chamber Orchestra.
While he was a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra (1996 to 1999), Nam was the first Vietnamese to be appointed by Maestro Sergiu Comissiona to lead the orchestra during its 1999 tour to the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan.
Tetsuji Honna has been the VNSO's music advisor and conductor since 2001.
In 1992 he won the Bartok prize of the Budapest International Conducting Competition in 1992.
Honna has also conducted the Philarmonica della Scala in Milan , the Hungarian State Philharmonic and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has been invited to many international festivals, including the Carinthischer Sommer in Austria , the Oulunsalo Music Festival in Finland and the Milano Musica contemporary music festival at the Teatroalla Scala.
The concerts in New York City and Boston will also feature Adagio for Strings by American composer Samuel Barber and Symphony No8 by Antonin Dvorak.
The VNSO has toured extensively, performing about 60 concerts in Vietnam and abroad each year. Venues have included Beijing ; Shanghai ; Guangzhou and Guangxi, (2000); Thailand in 2003, Osaka and Tokyo in 2004; and the Music festival La Folle Journee au Japon, again in Tokyo , in 2008.
The VNSO has been conducted by such musicians as Japan 's Hidemi Suzuki , Germany 's Gudni Emilsson , England 's Colin Metters and France 's Pierre-Andre Valade.
The latest tour to the US is being sponsored by Toyota Motor Vietnam, the Vietnamese Embassy to the US and the Japanese Embassy to Vietnam.
