Hiền Nguyễn, who spent three years working in Italy and Quốc Đạt – winner of the National Opera and Chamber Singing Competition 2023 - will present timeless classic and semi-classic tunes of both Italy and Việt Nam during the concert.

Hà Nội-based soprano Hiền Nguyễn will bring her concert La Passione (The Passion) to HCM City Opera House on June 16, and to Perugia in Italy on July 25. — Photo courtesy of the artist

Classic Italian melodies such as Tristezza (Sadness) by Paolo Tosti, Quando m’envo (Musetta's Waltz) by Puccini, Torna a Surriento (Come Back to Sorrento) by Ernesto De Curtis, Come un’ape ne’ giorni d’aprile (Like a Bee on April Days) by Gioachino Rossini, will be presented during the first part of the concert.

Audiences will also be treated to songs by Vietnamese songwriters, including Ru Con Mùa Đông (Winter Lullaby) by Đặng Hữu Phúc, Sông Lô (Lô River) by Văn Cao.

After the interval they will be hear semi-classic songs La Passione by Jorge Avendano Luhrs, Caruso by Lucio Dalla, Besame mucho by Consuelo Velazquez and the folk tune Funiculi-Funicula.

Alongside solo performances, the two singers will also have some duet performances. Hiền’s beloved teacher, Italian Musical Prof Gianni Kriscak, will be the special guest of the concert. Kriscak, who currently a lecturer of theatrical music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austris, will accompany the duo on piano.

The Consul General of Italy in HCM City Enrico Padula said that the concert is an important testimony to the relationship that culturally binds Việt Nam and Italy.

“Music, in addition to being a form of art and mastery, can be a powerful means of connection, and this event is proof of this, especially in light of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Consulate General of Italy in HCM City, which represents a much deeper and older link between the two countries,” he said.

Baritone Quốc Đạt, winner of the National Opera and Chamber Singing Competition 2023, will join soprano Hiền Nguyễn to perform at the concert La Passione. — Photo courtesy of the artist

After the concert in HCM City, La Passione will tour Italy and on July 25 will be performing at the panoramic Piazza IV Novembre – a square in the historic centre of Perugia, a city about 164km north of Rome.

The concert La Passione had its debut at the National Academy of Music in Hà Nội in March in celebration of the launch of a book co-penned by Hiền Nguyễn, Prof Kriscak and vocal lecturer Trịnh Thị Oanh.

Entitled History of Italian Opera, the book is the first ever Vietnamese-language publication about the origin of Italian opera. It offers music lovers a new source of information about this theatrical art.

Italy has played an important role in Hiền Nguyễn’s career. While studying at the Việt Nam National Academy of Music (VNAM) and the University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, in 2012, she won a scholarship to study Italian language and culture at the University for Foreigners Perugia in Perugia.

Soprano Hiền Nguyễn and Baritone Quốc Đạt will perform at the concert La Passione (The Passion) to HCM City Opera House on June 16, and to Perugia in Italy on July 25. — Photo courtesy of the artist

A year later, she was the only graduate of VNAM to win a scholarship from the Milan Conservatory where she studied for two years. Coming back from Italy, Hiền realised that classical music is still challenging for most Vietnamese people.

“My goal is to present music in a fresher way which can help to access to everyone. With everything I’ve learnt in Italy, I want to diversify the way to perform classical music. This is not only my method to create my own style, but also to access more audience,” the singer said. — VNS