ROMANTIC ART: Phạm Vũ Thiên Bảo, viola principal of HBSO Symphony Orchestra and Saigon Chamber Orchestra, will perform in the “A Night of Romantic Music” concert held at the HCM City Opera House on May 26. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY — The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will host a concert of masterpieces by great composers of the Romantic music era at the Opera House on May 26.

The A Night of Romantic Music concert will open with Fantasie for Viola and Orchestra, Op. 94 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, an Austrian composer and outstanding virtuoso pianist.

Hummel became a student of Mozart when he was eight years old. His music reflects a transition from Classical to Romantic music.

The composition will be performed by Phạm Vũ Thiên Bảo, viola principal of HBSO Symphony Orchestra and Saigon Chamber Orchestra.

Bảo, who holds a master's degree in viola performance from the Paris National Conservatory of Music, has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Việt Nam National Opera and Ballet, and famous conductors such as Francois-Xavier Roth and Tetsuji Honna.

He has been teaching viola and chamber ensemble at the HCM City Conservatory of Music since 2016.

Bảo will continue the concert with Concerto No. 1 in D minor for Clarinet and Viola by German composer Felix Mendelssohn of the early Romantic period.

He will play together with clarinetist Hoàng Ngọc Anh Quân, a graduate of Maastricht Academy of Music in the Netherlands.

After the intermission, Quân and flutist Nguyễn Trương Hoàng Yến will present Tarantelle for Flute and Clarinet composed by French Camille Saint-Saens in 1857.

The work became popular when Italian composer Rossini invited Saint-Saëns to play Tarantelle at his home in Paris.

The highlight of the night will be Symphony No. 4, also known as the “Romantic” symphony, one of the most popular works by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner.

The four-movement composition was written in 1874 and premiered in 1881 in Vienna.

The symphony will be performed by HBSO Symphony Orchestra.

CONCERT LEADER: Meritorious Artist Trần Vương Thạch, former director of HBSO, will conduct the concert. — Photo courtesy of HBSO

Meritorious Artist Trần Vương Thạch, former director of HBSO, will conduct the concert.

Thạch studied at leading music schools and conservatories in Belgium and the Netherlands.

He has performed in many countries, such as Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, France, Japan, and South Korea.

In 2020, he was granted the title "Knight of Arts and Letters" (Chevaliers des Lettres et des Arts) from the French government for his efforts to promote arts exchange between Việt Nam and France.

The concert will begin at 8pm at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Tickets are available at the box office and https://beta.ticketbox.vn/hbso-2605-22474. — VNS