The World Youth Orchestra (WYO) is in Hanoi for its first visit to Vietnam from March 30 to April 12 to rehearse and perform with members of the Youth Symphony Orchestra, Vietnam National Academy of Music (VNAMYO) in the Sounds of Brotherhood project.

The project aims to develop the artistic, musical, and theatrical language of young people and to support the production of Vietnamese artists in order to promote artistic and cultural cooperation between Italy and Vietnam.

It includes four activities: performances, music education, theatre workshops, and professional support for Vietnamese artists.

WYO will join VNAMYO in performances, exchanges, and workshops. Photo: VNAMYO

"The Italian Embassy in Hanoi is pleased to support the Sounds of Brotherhood project, which makes a valuable contribution to promoting people-to-people exchanges," said Marco della Seta, Ambassador of Italy to Vietnam.

The World Youth Orchestra, composed of 70 young musicians from universities, academies, and conservatories around the world, opened its Vietnam tour on April 6 at the Concert Hall of the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi with A Night of the Ascending Dragon, a concert created to promote dialogue between the different Italian and Vietnamese repertoires. On April 10, the tour continues at the Hanoi Opera House with the Opera Puccini Gala, a concert for soprano, tenor, and orchestra to celebrate the centenary of the death of Maestro Giacomo Puccini.

The theatrical activity Sound Dialogues, which will take place in two phases - from March 30 to April 11 and from September 2 to 8 - and is dedicated to 25 Vietnamese students from the Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema, aims to explore and enrich the intercultural dialogue between Italy and Vietnam through the acting and pedagogical work of three Italian theatre professionals: Valeria Almerighi, Federico Brugnone, and Carolina Leporatti.

Their approach is based on the connection between sound and movement that characterizes body language, where the word is not only the bearer of content but also a significant and universal expressive power.

The WYO4CHILDREN program is a great way for children to have a better understanding of music. Photo: VNAMYO

WYO4CHILDREN, meanwhile, targets orphaned or abandoned children in Ho Chi Minh City and aims to promote their emotional, individual, and social development through music. The initiative, which began on January 27 and will end in September 2024, includes a program of weekly lessons in which 80 children between the ages of 5 and 17 will learn basic music skills, play classical and traditional Vietnamese instruments, form a community choir, and improve their social skills through social games. The support of the Missionaries of Charity of Binh Duong, who donated their facilities about an hour from Ho Chi Minh City, was essential to the project's realization.

The fourth activity will be carried out in collaboration with the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies and will involve the publication of a call for projects aimed at Vietnamese artists of different disciplines (music, theater, or visual arts). The winning projects, selected by a jury of experts, will receive a scholarship.

Finally, thanks to the collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome, a conference entitled "The oriental suggestions of Giacomo Puccini" will be held on April 9th by Prof. Simone Caputo at the Department of Italian Studies of the University of Hanoi.

After 23 years of activity, WYO boasts 75 countries represented, 300 international partner universities, 3,500 talents involved, 350 events held, and over 10 million people attending its concerts around the world. It has received numerous institutional recognitions, such as those from the UN, UNICEF, the European Commission, and the President of the Italian Republic.

The project, conceived by WYO Artistic Director and Founder Damiano Giuranna, aims to demonstrate that music should not be limited to being a cultural necessity of an elite, but can be a powerful tool for communicating values and ideas, a tool of cultural diplomacy capable of stimulating best practices in the artistic, social and political fields.

"For more than 20 years, the World Youth Orchestra Foundation has used music and art as a tool to create community, thoughts, and actions of brotherhood, cultural diplomacy, and peace, giving Italy a project that represents the country internationally, a project of high academic and institutional prestige," said Damiano Giuranna.