Entrance fee in Hue relics to be zero during Tet

Hue Relics Preservation Center (HRPC) said on January 16 that the relic’s sites under Hue relic’s area will be charged zero entrance fees to Vietnamese visitors from February 19 to 21.

Besides, the center will organize a vast of art cultural activities to serve visitors during three days such as imperial games; dragon dances; traditional kungfu performances; calligraphy performance and musical programs in Thai Hoa Palace…

On February 11, the center will organize the ceremony to plant the New Year tree or called “Cay Neu” at The Mieu and Long An Palace at 10am.

Binh Thuan opens exhibition on Sea Islands

Ministry of Information and Communication in collaboration with Binh Thuan People’s Committee opened a map and documentary exhibition in Phan Thiet city on January 16, aiming to introduce ancient historical maps, documentaries under title of “Paracel, Spratly Islands belong to Vietnam - Historical and legal evidence”.

On display are maps and documents of versions of Han- Nom texts which were issued by the Vietnamese court during feudal times and French authority in Indochina from 17th- 20th century. The exhibition is aimed to affirm strongly Paracel and Spratly Islands belonging to Vietnam’s sovereignty.

In addition, the exhibition also showed Vietnam’s ancient historical bibliographies relating to Vietnam’s sovereignty over the two archipelagoes, official documents of the Nguyen Dynasty under the reign from King Gia Long to King Bao Dai, maps of China without Paracel and Spratly Islands, Vietnamese maps with the two archipelagoes, and historical documents on Paracel and Spratly Islands before 1975 and in the modern period.

Moreover, nearly 65 maps which published by Chinese Publishing Houses during the historical periods are on display. Most of the maps and documents were issued by Western countries in the period of 18th- 19th century, relating to Paracel, Spratly Islands and Vietnam’s sovereignty over the two islands.

Phu Quy island district will be the next destination for the exhibition starting January 18 to 21.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” author to visit Vietnam

Jordan Belfort, the famous author of best-selling The Wolf of Wall Street, arrived in Vietnam this Sunday to join “The Jordan Effect” program as a special speaker.

Attending the program at Gem Center in HCMC’s District 1 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., participants had a great opportunity to meet and listen to Belfort who talked about how to create a lifestyle of wealth and freedom as an entrepreneur and investor.

Belfort is so famous that Hollywood has made blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street. He together with more than 1,000 brokers turned a company worth US$30 million into a stock brokerage powerhouse in Wall Street and the world.

Belfort has transformed a vast number of lives. His testimonials say he can take virtually any individuals regardless of their background and empower them to attain the goals they have dreamed of but have never achieved.

Taking invaluable lessons from the mistakes he made and the prices he paid, Belfort has re-emerged from his dramatic rise and fall as a globally-recognized potent force behind extraordinary business success.

He has engineered over US$1.5 billion of financing for various public companies, and held controlling stakes in more than 30 of them. He has served as a consultant for more than 50 public companies, and has been written about in almost all major newspapers and magazines in the world.

As for his international circuit, Belfort will help individuals and corporations achieve massive increases in sales, productivity and teamwork.

Jordan Belfort’s two bestselling books have been published in 22 countries and translated into 18 languages. He is a frequent guest commentator on CNN, CNBC and BBC.

Khanh Ly postpones show in Vietnam

A seasoned expat Vietnamese singer has postponed her live show in southern Vietnam – once again – following her husband’s death.

Khanh Ly, a beloved singer who lives in the U.S., on Thursday sent a letter to local media, announcing the postponement of her upcoming show called “Khanh Ly Live Concert in Binh Duong.”

The concert was scheduled to take place next Friday at the Convention and Exhibition Center, located in the heart of the New Binh Duong City, the namesake province’s new administrative center, a 1.5-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City.

The 70-year-old artist said she would not be able to sing in the show as she is still mourning the death of her dearly loved husband.

Ly’s husband, Nguyen Hoang Doan, passed away at 71 on Wednesday last week in California.

The postponement came as no surprise to many fans, as they had speculated that the singer, who is a highly sentimental woman, is very unlikely to stick to the plan.  

The show may be organized in March this year, sources said.

The much-awaited concert was already postponed in October 2014.

The veteran singer held two live shows in Hanoi and the central city of Da Nang on August 2 and 8, 2014, respectively.

Right before the Hanoi show, Vietnamese composer Pho Duc Phuong, director of the Vietnam Center for Protection of Music Copyright (VCPMC), personally went to the performing venue and demanded payments from the organizer for the right to use several songs by late composer Trinh Cong Son in the musical event.

According to Phuong, the concert organizer did not sign any contract with the center regarding the copyrights of the songs even though the VCPMC had sent a document on the issue to them 10 days before the show.

A representative of the show organizer, Dong Dao Entertainment Company, admitted in early August that the company had difficulty paying for the song copyrights as tickets did not sell as well as they had expected.

The issue ended with a brief meeting between the two sides only minutes before the concert began in the capital city, and Dong Dao Entertainment Company finally agreed to pay the song copyright fees.

The royalty hassle led to the Binh Duong show being called off.

Ly began her singing career in Vietnam in 1962.

Five years later, she met Trinh Cong Son, whose songs helped turn her into a legend in the local music area for many following years.

Her fame remains intact during her years living abroad. Ly left Vietnam for the U.S. in 1975 when the country was reunified following the fall of the former Saigon regime.

In 2012, Ly received a license from the Department of Performing Arts under the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, allowing her to sing in Vietnam for the first time after nearly four decades.

Trinh Cong Son was a composer, musician, and songwriter widely considered one of the three salient figures of modern Vietnamese music, along with Pham Duy and Van Cao.

Son passed away in 2001 at the age of 62.

Goethe Institute hosts classical music

Large numbers of classical music lovers from throughout the nation gathered at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi on January 19 for a training symposium aimed at broadening an appreciation for it across all segments of society.

The event was highly successful said Prof. Andrea Tober, head of the education programme at the Berliner Philharmoniker, adding that it affirms Vietnam’s growing connection with the ‘creative economy’ around the globe.

Tober added that a major objective of the symposium was to provide representatives from the nation’s theatres, orchestras and cultural agencies the tools they need to become leaders and innovators in the creative economy of classical music.

HBSO gets set for the best of classical music

The Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will host a concert featuring two works written by composers Mozart and Johannes Brahms on January 19 at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House.

A representative from HBSO has revealed that acclaimed Spanish conductor and composer David Gómez Ramírez will be in attendance at the event.

The audience will also have the opportunity to enjoy Mozart’s Concerto and Brahms’s Symphony No.2 performed by pianists Nguyen Thuy Yen and Pham Nguyen Anh Vu.

Ticket prices are VND400,000 with a discounted price of VND80,000 for students.