VietNamNet Bridge – The Saigon International Guitar Festival, featuring acclaimed foreign artists and educators, may be the year's most important event for classical guitarists in Viet Nam.

Hitting the right note: Salvatore Fodera from Italy is one of six artists who will perform at the Saigon International Guitar Festival 2014. — Photo guitarsaigon.com

Hosted by the HCM City Conservatory of Music from November 12-16, the festival aims to contribute to the development of the art in HCM City and Viet Nam and launch an annual tradition.

Guitarists from the US, Italy, Malaysia, Iceland and the Philippines will perform in addition to offering master classes and workshops.

At one workshop, festival participants can try their hand at playing the musicians' instruments.

"We hope the Saigon International Guitar Festival 2014 will validate our efforts to develop the classical guitar scene in HCM City," said guitarist Thanh Huy, a member of the organising board.

"Audience members will have a chance to enjoy the adorable performances and exchange with international artists."

The first performance offers a panoramic view of guitar music's six centuries of development.

Performers will be US-based Harris Becker, director and founder of the Long Island Guitar Festival, and Polish guitarist Paul Cesarczyk, head of the guitar department at the Mahidol University of Music in Thailand.

The next concert will present Salvatore Fodera from Italy, Gonzalo Noel Misa from the Philippines and Vietnamese artists Thanh Huy and Ba Tho, who will perform romantic songs by Agustin Barrios, Johann Kaspar Mertz and Miguel Llobet.

Fodera was born in Naples, Italy in 1983. Since 2010, he has been teaching at the Musikschule Laufen in Basel (Switzerland) and at guitar workshops around the world.

The Filipino guitarist has performed Western and Filipino solo guitar pieces in various countries.

He also plays guitar-piano duets with his wife, focusing on works from the Baroque period to the present.

The festival will end with contemporary pieces played by Iceland's Ogmundur Por Johannesson, a 34-year-old guitarist currently based in India, and Simon Cheong, founder and president of Malaysia's Classical Guitar Society.

The Saigon Guitar Quartet will perform Luigi Boccherini's Introduction and Fandango and Georges Bizet's Carmen.

All concerts will take place at the HCM City Conservatory of Music, 112 Nguyen Du Street, District 1. Entrance is free.

VNS/VNN