VietNamNet Bridge – The 10th Autumn Melodies Arts Festival to be held at the HCM City Opera House later this month will feature more than 100 Vietnamese and nearly 30 international artists.

Fall fair: The 2013 Arts Festival concert Autumn Melodies. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

Meritorious artist and director of the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera, Tran Vuong Thach, expects the concert to evoke a range of emotions.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, he said, "The six-day event [from August 25 to 30] has become an academic festival with artists who have long experience and have made great contributions to the art."

World-renowned violinists Bui Cong Duy and Stephane Tran Ngoc, conductor Le Phi Phi and choreographer Bui Ngoc Quan will be among those performing at the event.

There will also be 13 artists from the US-based International Chamber Players and Fantasmi Baroque Ensemble and 12 from the Royal Norwegian Navy Band.

A galaxy of Vietnamese-origin pianists, like Germany-based Nguyen Duc Anh, who won the second prize at the 2015 Alkan-Zimmerman competition; Gabriel Tran Phuong Nam of France, who won the Claude Kahn competition; and Tran Yen Nhi, who is studying at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia, will perform.

The festival will also feature workshops on musical theory and outdoor shows besides performances in the theatre.

The HBSO Choir and Symphony Orchestra will open the festival with a performance titled Viet Nam Non Nuoc Ngan Dam (Viet Nam – Our Heritage, Our Love), followed by contemporary dance Vong Phu Bien (The Waiting Woman), which is choreographed by Nguyen Phuc Hai and Nguyen Phuc Hung and performed by HBSO Ballet.

The highlights will be the Baroque Concert performed by artists from the International Chamber Players and Fantasmi Baroque Ensemble and a concert by talented young pianists on August 26 and a classic concert on August 27 by the Royal Norwegian Navy Band.

August 28 will see romantic treasures unfold through the performances of Honna Tetsuji and Bui Cong Duy and artists from the International Chamber players and the Viet Nam National Academy of Music.

On August 29 a new contemporary dance, Mot Ngay Tren Mai Nha (One Day on the Roof), composed by Vietnamese-Belgian choreographer Bui Ngoc Quan and an outdoor concert by the Royal Norwegian Navy Band are on the schedule.

A concert featuring pieces by Bach and Brahms performed by world-class violinist Stephane Tran Ngoc of France under the baton of Le Phi Phi of Macedonia will close the festival on August 30.

Thach said following the success of the inaugural event held in 2005 to showcase young Vietnamese talents who trained abroad, HBSO has built it into an art festival since 2013.

The Autumn Melodies Arts Festival is now held every two years.

VNS