VietNamNet Bridge – The 2014 European Music Festival will open in Ha Noi on Saturday and in HCM City next Monday, with artists from seven European countries and Viet Nam participating.

International sound: Musicians from seven European countries and Viet Nam will take part in the European Music Festival. — Photo courtesy of Delegation of the European Union to Viet Nam

The festival's thirteenth year will feature well-known musical talents from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland and Sweden as well as a guest band from Viet Nam.

With a total of 16 concerts in Ha Noi and HCM City, the festival is expected to offer Vietnamese audiences music from diverse genres, including engaging jazz melodies, classic pieces and contemporary jams, as well as traditional Vietnamese music. The festival will also showcase interactions between European and Vietnamese musicians.

"Over the past twelve years, the European Music Festival has established itself as one of the most successful and anticipated annual multicultural events in Viet Nam," said Delphine Malard, first counsellor of the Delegation of the European Union to Viet Nam.

Through unforgettable concerts, the event showcases the unity in diversity and richness of European cultures for the Vietnamese public, and promotes cultural exchange.

This year, duo Vaiana/Keita from Wallonie-Bruxelles will make a debut on Saturday evening. Saxophonist Belgian Pierre Vaiana and Ivorian balafonist Aly Keita will offer a musical dialogue incorporating diverse styles and cultures, along with their guest, the Vietnamese T'rung virtuoso Hoa Dang.

The festival will close in HCM City on December 5 at the city's Conservatory of Music with the performance French trio Le Tab, and in Ha Noi with the Vietnamese guest band Mat Troi Do (Red Sun) at the Youth Theatre.

Mat Troi Do, Vietnam's leading band, mixes Vietnamese pieces with various international genres, and has brought a new charm to Vietnamese traditional music.

More information about the event can be found at www.eumusicfestival.com.

The event was organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, seven embassies of EU member states and European cultural institutes.

Free tickets to the festival's concerts can be collected in Ha Noi at the Goethe Institut, located at 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street and l'Espace at 24 Trang Tien Street.

They can be collected in HCM City at the Goethe Institut at 18 Road No 1, Cu Xa Do Thanh, District 3; and at IDECAF, the institute for cultural exchange with France, at 31 Thai Van Lung, District 1.

Source: VNS