The European Music Festival 2009, the only annual international music event in Vietnam, will introduce 13 concerts featuring a variety of European music from jazz, classical, world music to pop music from November 26 – December 7.
This festival has the participation of seven EU state members, including Wallonia-Brussels (Belgium), France, Austria, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. Particularly, the event also sees the performances by Vietnamese guests such as saxophonist Quyen Thien Dac, vocalist Tran Mai Hanh and Bac Ha traditional music group.
Opening the festival in Hanoi will be a performance by the famous Belgian pianist Charles Loos with saxophonist Quyen Thien Dac and vocal Tran Mai Hanh, while the distinctive voices of Boat Beam – a female group from Spain – will light up the stage in Ho Chi Minh City with boundless energy.
For fans of classical music, the Signum Quartet from Germany and Duo Gazzana from Italy will feed their musical soul with remarkable compositions. The Signum Quartet, founded in 1994, has distinguished itself as one of the leading German Quartets of its generation, while Duo Gazzana is known throughout Europe and increasingly around the globe for its professionalism, passion for music, beautiful sound, captivating stage presence.
The Signum Quartet
From Austria, duo Klaus Paier (accordionist) and Asja Valcic (the cello) will bring into alive a musical cosmos full of percussive electricity, internalised passion and deliberate purism that manages to leave room for improvisation.
Artists of France and the Netherlands’ sparks will take audiences into sophisticated jazz melodies. France’s Quartet Jean-My Truong belongs to musicians who cultivate with cleverness the contrast of reachable themes in melodic music and sophisticated constructions, an evident manner coming from such a rhythmist. The Dutch pianist, Mike del Ferro is the Director of Jazz Programs of American Voices, where he travels the world performing in countries ranging from Latvia and Turkmenistan to Myanmar and Vietnam. For his performances in the festival, he will perform with Bac Ha Music Group.
Speaking about the event, Sean Doyle, Ambassador – Head of the Delegation of the European Commission said, “The Festival surely ignites artistic potential in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It will surprise and inspire with new and refreshing combinations of artists and styles.”
“The performances will not only reflect our cultural diversity but also experience the exchange and the similarities of sonic worlds,” he added.
The event is jointly organised by the Performing Art organisation, Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, the European Commission Delegation to Vietnam, and the Embassies of seven European Union Member States.
All concerts will start at 8pm from November 26 to December 8 in Hanoi and December 7 in Ho Chi Minh City. Free tickets can be collected at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and L’Espace French Cultural Centre in Hanoi.
