The Vietnam Connection Music Festival 2023 will take place this weekend and next weekend in Hanoi, with performances from both domestic and foreign artists.

The artists from the Vietnam National Academy of Music (VNAM) and the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra will perform two special concerts titled “Music Night at the Theater” and “German Music Night” on April 14 and 22, respectively, at the Grand Concert Hall, VNAM in My Dinh location, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi.

Artist Bui Ha Mien will join Vietnam Connection Music Festival (VCMF) 2023. Photo: VCMF

Vietnamese Meritorious Artist Bui Cong Duy said this year's program would feature famous songs and special opera excerpts, including six new pieces of music that have never been performed.

The artists participating in the performances are teachers from the National Music Academy and international artists, including Vietnamese Meritorious Artists Pham Truong Son and Phan Thi To Trinh, German conductor Alexander Mickelthwate, bassoonist Sebastian Chaves, and others.

For the first time in Vietnam, six musical works will be performed on the evening of April 16: "Song of a Russian Girl" (Chanson Russe) from the opera Mavra by musician Igor Stravinsky; "Rondino" from the opera Auber Le macon by musician Carl Czerny; two waltzes for string quartet by Antoni Dvorak; a trio for flute, bassoon, and piano by Gaetano Donizetti.

During the concert on April 22, artists from the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra will perform a symphony that is good and familiar to most audiences, such as Beethoven's Fate No. 5, and Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64, and others.

The next performances in the classical concert series of the Vietnam Connection Music Festival will take place in August 2023 at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House.

Founded in 2015, the annual VNCMF aims to bring classical music closer to the public with great performances of Vietnamese and international artists in big cities nationwide.

The latest VCMF was in 2019, with 14 concerts in Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City.