VietNamNet Bridge – Italian and Vietnamese musicians will share the stage at the Ha Noi Opera House to perform an array of jazz pieces on December 10.

Saxophonist Quyen Thien Dac.

The concert, entitled Tango from Naples to Buenos Aires, will feature the Italian duet Giuliana Soscia and Pino Jodice and saxophonist Quyen Thien Dac.

The duet suggests a jazz interpretation of the traditional masterpieces of the Italian Roberto De Simone and the Argentinean Astor Piazzolla out of the Tango from Naples to Buenos Aires album, which was first presented in 2008 at the Opera House in Ankara.

The concert will be highlighted by two pieces Serenate A Pulecenella and Suite Napoli Antica composed by the duet. Dac will join the finale performance which draws the night to a close.

"I'm practising the pieces for the concert. It is a little bit hard to play the pieces, but very interesting," said Dac.

Dac is the son of jazzman Quyen Van Minh, well-known as the first jazz and saxophone instructor at the Viet Nam National Academy of Music. He began to study saxophone when he was 15.

Since 1997, he has performed regularly in Ha Noi, often at his father's night-club, Minh's Jazz Club, now located at 65 Quan Su Street. Dac studied in the US in 2004 and then began a two-year master's degree at the Malmo Academy in Sweden in 2010.

"I listen to the duet and I see their tango and bolero style in their pieces. I think the piano and accordion instruments are suitable with jazz because there are many different streams in jazz," said Dac.

Established in 2006, the duet is engaged in an intense concert tour of the most important jazz and music festivals.
Soscia is the accordionist, pianist and composer, she was awarded the Sonerfisa Trophy in Castelfidardo, International Award for Best Italian accordionist in 2001, the prestigious 35th European Personality Prize at the Capitol in Rome in 2005. She is the first accordionist to join the prestigious Jazz Festival Lucca.

Pianist Jodice is founder and director of the Power Jazz Unusual Orchestra. He won several international competitions for jazz orchestra composition and arrangement, as well as being awarded the Positano Jazz Prize as best new Italian talent in 2002.

The concert will be held to mark the closure of the Italy-Viet Nam programme 2012. Tickets are available from VND200,000 at Ha Noi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien Street.

VNS