EU music festival to be spellbinding

VNS, english.vietnamnet.vn

Image from article, with caption: "The Bay Collective performs at the press briefing on Thursday."

The festival will run from November 17 to December 2 at the Youth Theatre in Hà Nội and the Conservatory of Music in HCM City.

The annual cultural event is jointly organised by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Việt Nam, the Embassies of EU Member States and the European Cultural Institutes. Bringing together musical talent from all around Europe, the festival aims to celebrate the richness and diversity of European culture, according to Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the EU delegation.

"The European Union and Việt Nam continue to strengthen links. Cultural exchanges and public diplomacy are an important part of these efforts,” he said at a press briefing on Thursday. “Events such as the European Music Festival showcase the EU’s motto, which is ‘unity in diversity’."

This year, audiences will once again be able to enjoy concerts by artists from Austria, Belgium (Wallonia- Brussels), Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Sweden.

There will be a total of 17 concerts in both cities. Audiences will be taken on a journey through classical music, jazz and Rythm and Blues.

The festival will be opened on November 17 in Hà Nội by the Bay Collective, an open project by Vietnamese-Danish pianist Trí Minh and Danish singer/songwriter Nay Ruby. They will share the stage with Việt Nam top singer, diva Thanh Lam, and Michael Moller, multi award winner from Denmark.

In HCM City Janice, a singer from Sweden will start the event with electronic R&B. A broad spectrum of jazz melodies will be presented by Mezcal Unit (France) and Veronika Harcsa (Hungary).

The festival will also present a series of classical concerts by Karolina Mikolajczyk and Iwo Jedynecki from Poland, Christoph Angerer and Ines Schüttengruber (Austria), Duo Nazareno Ferruggio and Phạm Quỳnh Trang (Italy) and Piano Duo Andreas Kern and Paul Cibis (Germany).

Performances will be presented by Quintet Inattendu with contemporary music from Belgium. Quintet Inattendu is the junction between Europe and Asia, presenting Charles Michiel (saxophone), Simon Francois Diricq (clarinette), Nguyễn Thu Thủy (16-string zither, bamboo xylophone) and Lê Thị Thu Thảo (monochord). Their performance will be accompanied by Thu Hương (vocal).

Audiences will enjoy an unpublished work by Jean-Luc Fafchamps, a composition inspired by the legend of Hòn Vọng Phu, about a woman who waits forever for her beloved. This initiative mixes traditional Vietnamese music with Western contemporary music.

Full information about the event and artists can be found at www.eumusicfestival.com.

Admission to the concerts is free. Tickets can be reserved and obtained from November 14 in HCM City at the Hà Nội Goethe Institute and L’Espace; and from November 15 at the HCM City Goethe Institute and IDECAF Theatre.