HCMC kicks off international piano fest

The first International Piano Festival in Vietnam was kicked off at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory yesterday to mark the conservatory’s 55th birthday.

The event, which will last until October 23, is gathering instructors and students from the conservatory’s piano department as well as the Vietnam National Academy of Music, Hue Academy of Music and music experts from America, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Singapore, and South Korea.

Seminars about the history of piano as well as piano classes will be held during the festival.

The concert titled “Piano concert” featuring foreign pianists will take place on October 21 and 23 and a show titled “Young Pianist” presenting outstanding young Vietnamese pianists, on October 22.

Tickets for the shows cost from VND100,000 to VND350,000.

The conservatory plans to make the festival a biennial event.

National ca tru fest draws to a successful conclusion

The national ca tru (ceremonial singing) festival closed on Oct. 16 with excellent performances receiving awards.

In the hat cua dinh (singing at communal houses in villages) category, the Hanoi's Thang Long ceremonial singing club took first prize while the Co Dam club from Ha Tinh province topped the hat cua quyen (singing at royal places) group.

Hai Duong province's cultural centre was the best in hat thi (head-to-head competition) while Thanh Hoa province's Ha Trung Township won first prize in hat choi (singing in homes).

The organising board presented additional awards for best voice, best instrumentalist and most promising singer.

Theater to stage Oscar Wilde’s play in English
 
Oscar Wilde’s great social commentary is about two close friends Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff who both pretend to be someone they are notHCMC-based Youth World Theatre will stage Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest in English this October.

Oscar Wilde’s great social commentary is about two close friends Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff who both pretend to be someone they are not and problems arise from their living a double life.

The play will be directed by Nicaraguan director Jaime Zuniga.

Actresses Lan Phuong and Nguyen Ha Tu Trinh will play Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew respectively.

The cast will also include amateur actors who are expat artists living in HCMC such as American independent filmmaker Aaron Toronto and choir director Brian Riedlinger.

Performing in English with Vietnamese subtitles, the play will be run from October 20 – 22 and October 27 – 29 at Youth World Theatre, the College of Theatre and Cinema, 125 Cong Quynh, District 1, HCMC.

Tickets cost VND500,000 for VIP seats and VND100,000 for students.

87-year-old woman receives French Legion of Honor

Vietnamese war correspondent Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong on October 12 received France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor at the French Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City for her contribution to boosting relationship between Vietnam and France.

According to French ambassador Jean-François Girault, Phuong has had many activities to tie the relation between the two countries before and after the war.

The 87-year-old woman has written many articles and books to introduce Vietnam to French readers during the last 30 years.

She has taken 28 French cinematographic delegations to Vietnam before and after the war.

In1990, she opened the Lotus gallery which showcased paintings by Vietnamese young artists.

Phuong has brought works of Vietnamese young painters to many exhibitions in France since 1991.

“Receiving the reward, I see my effort has not been done in vain,” she said.

The Legion of Honor is a French order established by King Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 May 1802.

It is the highest medal of the French Republic to award to the collective and individuals who have made merit to France as well as contributed to tie the relations between France and other countries.

Parkour, a new street art in Vietnam

Parkour, the French street art that involves moving around or over obstacles at speed, has become popular in Vietnam and is threatening the hegemony of graffiti and break dance as the quintessential street art.

Founded in 1997 by actor David Belle based upon his military, athletic, and martial arts training, parkour requires practitioners to vault, roll, run, climb, crawl, or jump.

Practitioners are called traceurs and there are dozens of groups with hundreds of members in Vietnam.

Tony, a Ho Chi Minh City traceur, said the art had first come to Hanoi around five years ago and been brought to HCMC by a group named Mario which remained the largest in Vietnam.

Initially members themselves found information about the art and share it since there were no classes.

Nguyen Hung Anh, a former member of Mario, said at its peak there had been 150 members, but the group had later split into smaller groups.

Unlike other street arts like graffiti that require expensive equipment, parkour seems to be an ideal sport for Vietnamese youngsters since it requires just comfortable athletic shoes, good physical health, and mental stability.

It can also be practiced anywhere.

Since it is easy to injure oneself, practitioners have to carefully undergo both physical and skills training.

Experienced traceurs do not prefer to take parkour to the streets due to the Vietnam’s dense traffic.

“"During practice, you face danger all the time, so the most important thing is safety,” Nguyen Manh linh, a senior traceur, said.

One of the most outstanding traceurs in HCMC, Ngoc Chien, who had two years’ training in India, said every move had to be considered carefully to avoid injuries.
“You can take risks, but remember you have only one life to live.”

Women’s Union marks 81st anniversary

A culinary festival, a painting exhibition featuring Heroic Mothers, lectures, concerts and dance performances are among many activities being held in Hanoi and HCM City to mark the 81st anniversary of the Vietnam Women’s Union (October 20).

The culinary show that opened in HCM city on October 18 displays kitchen antiques and other related objects that were used by women in the southern part of the country in different periods.

The organizers invited culinary specialist Cam Tuyet to give a talk and demonstrate how to make some of the southern region’s most popular dishes.

Among the cultural activities launched on October 19 at the Women’s Cultural House in HCM City is a painting exhibition of 81 Heroic Mothers who made great sacrifices in the country’s fight for independence.

To make her eloquent, moving tribute, artist Dang Ai Viet traveled around the country on a 50cc motorbike to meet with the Heroic Mothers.

Seminars and forums that highlight the work and successes of contemporary Vietnamese women will also be held.

Dozens of specialists in healthcare, beauty, marriage and other family issues were invited to talk with the women and families attending the cultural activities.

The Hanoi Opera House will host a music gala called Ru Vang Cuoi Thu (Golden Late Autumn Melodies) on October 20, featuring revolutionary songs.

Veteran and young performers, such as People’s Artist Thu Hien, Hong Nhung and Uyen Linh will participate in the concert.

Meanwhile, local authorities have worked with the Women’s Union to visit and present gifts to Heroic Mothers families and honour young women for outstanding achievements in academics, business and art.

Ao Dai show to mark Women’s Day

Nearly 100 Ao Dai (the traditional long dress) designed by Pham Quoc Tuan are on display at an exhibition that opened at the Vietnam Women’s Museum in Hanoi on October 18.

The exhibition, entitled “National Beauty”, is part of the activities to celebrate Vietnamese Women’s Day (October 20).

The collection by fashion designer Quoc Tuan is made from a variety of fabrics with diverse styles and representing the traditional cultural colors of the country’s 54 ethnic groups. New patterns with a foreign influence from Chinese art and Japanese painting, are also included in the collection.

Designer Quoc Tuan said that his Ao Dai show aims to honour Vietnamese culture and promote the beauty of the traditional costume.

Le Kinh Tai’s art characters come out to world in to he

Thought-provoking art exhibition ‘To He’ by Le Kinh Tai, opens this Friday at the Viet Art Center, promising to recall the artist’s and viewers’ childhood and bring a fresh expression in his art style to appease his ego and his painting characters’ ego in to he sculptures.

The exhibition features 27 large paintings made of oil on canvas and nine sculptures made of fiber glass with, which Tai calls to he, a traditional toy for children in Vietnam that is made from glutinous rice powder in the form of edible figurines such as animals, flowers or characters in folk stories. With the name ‘To He’ the artist more or less aspires to make a metaphor of his work as an artist. In this metaphorical peruse, his own artwork and career are referred to the practice and product of a traditional artisan, who has never been isolated in life, but also by his talent and creativity, gives joy, imagination and passion to the world.

If art enthusiasts often see animalesque human characters in his oil on canvas paintings, they now will see them in shape of to he sculptures.
 
Fans of Tai’s paintings are attracted by his color combination. This exhibition is no exception as in these new paintings and sculptures he continues to lure viewers’ eyes with bright color tones of green, blue, yellow, orange, black, and white. His to he works seem to be no longer themselves anymore, just like the rice powder in the hands of the talented to he artisans, but lively animals and characters. Tai’s colors, in a magical way, become vivid, resounded, sometimes warm and sometimes humorous. Even the texts and scribbles by the artist on the surface of some paintings transform into visual elements. Those are Tai’s painting characters coming into the world.

With ‘To He’ the artist’s wish to send a message that art is a magical wand which could immediately turn its audience into children by just one single touch seems to be perfectly manifested. In a world which is day by day becoming older and uglier, the chance to become a child seems to be a necessary need, nay even a vital tool for us to survive.

The exhibition runs until October 28 at the center, 42 Yet Kieu Street in Hanoi.
 
World police music gala in Hanoi
 
The 16th world police music gala will be organized for the first time in Vietnam from Saturday to October 26 by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security and Japan’s Mainichi newspapers, reports VietnamPlus.

This is an annual event based on an idea of Japan’s Mainichi newspapers, aiming to create a safe society by enhancing international exchanges among countries’ police officers. Thus, the event is expected to strengthen the relationship between Vietnam and other nations in the field of crime-fighting and security. Joining the 16th music gala will be four music delegations of Tokyo police, Seoul police, New York police and the ceremonial music troupe under Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security.

It is expected that the event will feature a special outdoor concert along with a splendid colorful parade offering the diverse cultures of Asia and North America. The beautiful images of Hanoi and Vietnam’s police will also be introduced to international friends.

As part of the event, police missions coming from participating countries are set to join a parade around Sword Lake and an outdoor concert in Ly Thai To Park in the capital.

PV