Duo d’Accord comes to town

Duo d’Accord will return to Vietnam with shows in Youth Theater in Hanoi on November 22 and HCMC Conservatory 24 hours later.

Lucia Huang and Sebastian Euler will bring to Vietnamese audiences virtuoso works for two pianos, compositions for four hands and their own arrangements composed specifically for them and remarkable revivals of classic pieces.

The duo will also perform with Professor ‘Artist of Merit’ Vu Chi Nguyen and Dzoan Mai Dzuong with a work for two pianos and percussion - an unusual combination which promises a special musical experience.

Nguyen is the acting director of the National Academy of Music, while Dzuong is a lecturer who performs regularly with the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra.

Shortly after the founding of Duo d’Accord in 1999, the enormous potential of the two musicians became evident - they almost immediately won the two most important piano competitions worldwide, including the first prize of the Murray Dranoff competition in Miami. This launched their international career, with performances in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, and the production of outstanding CDs. Collaborations with major orchestras and renowned musicians such as Heinrich Schiff and Christoph Poppen followed.

Huang and Euler teach at the Conservatory in Innsbruck, Austria.

Tickets are freely available at the Goethe Institute at 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street in Hanoi and at 18 Road No.1, Do Thanh Apartment in HCMC’s District 3 from Friday.

Japanese film week in Phan Thiet

Japanese-made films and cartoons will be screened in cinemas in the central city of Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan Province tomorrow, as part of the Japanese Film Week in Phan Thiet programme.

The event is organised by the Consulate General of Japan in HCM City, the Japan Foundation and Binh Thuan's Film Screening and Distribution Centre.

Eight films with different themes will be shown, including A Good Husband, The Chef of the South Pole, Double Trouble, and Mind Games, which have been translated and dubbed into Vietnamese, and subtitled in English.
The films portray the lives of Japanese, focusing on issues in contemporary Japan.

A highlight of the programme is The Chef of the South Pole, a film by director Shuichi Okita in 2009. It follows the lives of a group of explorers and the challenges facing them in the South Pole.

The film will be screened during the event's opening ceremony at 7pm.

The three-day event will take place at Cinema 19/4 at 30 Nguyen Du Street. The schedule is available at the box office, and admission is free.

Local talent vies for beauty crown

Vietnamese model Tran Ngoc Lan Khue has left to attend the Miss Model of the World 2012 in China's Shenzhen City.

With more than 60 contestants from all over the world taking part, the event started yesterday and will run until December 2.

Khue, who is 1m77 high and weighs 52kg, studies German at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

In September she became the second runner-up at the Asian Super Model Contest 2012, also held in China.

In the latest competition, she will wear outfits designed by Quynh Paris, Minh Tu and Ngo Nhat Huy.

Miss Model of the World is an international modelling contest first held in Turkey in 1988.

Vinh Long hosts jam-packed music fest

Sixteen music groups from HCM City and several southern provinces are taking part in the 2012 Tai Tu Music Festival which opened today in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long.

The annual festival is organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in co-operation with the Viet Nam Stage Artists Association and Vinh Long Province. Prizes will be handed to the winners on November 21.

Tai tu, a traditional southern music genre, blending local forms of folk music. It has long been seen as part of the Mekong Delta's cultural identity.

Tai tu is often associated with farmers and workers who sing traditional songs while working in the fields and relaxing at the end of a hard day.

Cultural agencies, including the culture ministry, are working to secure UNESCO recognition for tai tu music as an intangible world cultural heritage.

Phuong Pham and friends jazz it up

Phuong Pham and friends will showcase their talents with a night of live jazz at Ha Noi's Youth Theatre on Saturday.

The programme is targeting young jazz lovers, and will feature performances of popular funky and smooth jazz pieces by US artists, including The Crusaders' Street Life, Alex Bugnon's Piano in the Dark, Lee Morgan's Willow Weep for Me and The Sidewinder, and Medeski Scofied Martin & Wood's Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing.

As the host of the show, Pham will debut his latest composition Hesitation. Pham - whose father is the famous People's Artist Quy Duong - currently lives in the United States. He started studying piano at the age of six, and he graduated from the Viet Nam National Academy of Music and then the Depaul University of Music in Chicago.

European music festival in Vietnam

The European Music Festival 2012 will entertain Vietnamese audiences again this year with some stunning performances from European musicians.

This event is being held by the European Union in Vietnam and the embassies from Wallonia-Brussels (Belgium), Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and the UK.

The festival features performances by pianists from Germany, Hungary, Poland and Sweden. It also has jazz and pop artists from the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The highlight will be Swiss singer Emma Transtromer, who is the daughter of Nobel-prize author for literature Tomas.

The program will kick off on November 22 in Hanoi and finishes 24 hours later in HCMC.

Puppets honor Whitney Houston

A puppetry performance to depict the images of legendary singer Whitney Houston and her most memorable song ‘I will always love you’ will be aired on HTV4 channel at 9 p.m. on Thursday. The program is part of the project ‘Love you forever’ by Baby Puppetry Center.

‘I will always love you’ was written by country singer Dolly Parton in 1974 for a lost love. It was covered many times but it became a real phenomenon when Houston recorded this version as the soundtrack for her movie The Bodyguard.

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