13th European Music Festival opens in Hanoi, HCM City

The European Music Festival 2014 will be held at the Youth Theater in Hanoi and the Conservatory of Music in Ho Chi Minh City from November 22- December 5.

The European Music Festival 2014 will be held at the Youth Theater in Hanoi and the Conservatory of Music in Ho Chi Minh City from November 22- December 5.

The event is jointly organized by the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam and seven Embassies of European Union Member States and European Cultural Institutes,
The 13th edition of the festival will feature well-known musical talents and singers from Austria, Wallonia-Brussels (Belgium), France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden as well as a guest band from Vietnam.

This year, duo Vaiana/Keita from Wallonia-Brussels (Belgium) will make a debut. The duo is the passionate combination of the saxophonist Belgian Pierre Vaiana and the Ivorian balloonist Aly Keita. These two renowned soloists would offer a musical dialogue beyond styles and cultures together with their guest- the Vietnamese T’rung virtuoso Hoa Dang.

The festival will be continued with performances by Artur Dutkiewic – one of the greatest Polish jazz pianists and composers.

Célia Mara is an engaging front vocalist from Vienna, Austria who never fails to impress with her strong voice, amazing vocal improvisations, and quick switches to beat boxing and – sometimes – trumpet solos. And now, Célia Mara, together with her band, is ready to bring “Bastardista” to Vietnam for the first time.

Germany’s musical ambassadors this year is the Tingvall Trio. The interplay between three members from different countries gives the band a unique individuality.

Luxembourgish composer and pianist David Ianni will invite all audiences on a mystical, yet virtuosic journey through his musical landscapes. His music has been described by the press as “prayer and introspection” and as a “firework of pianistic brilliance and technical versatility”.

Swedish vocalist Kristin Amparo will be on stage together with guitarist Emmanuel Hailermariam and musician Andreas Unge who have won great international success.

With acoustics simple and colorful, the French talented trio Le Tab’s music is the result of composition and arrangement drawing on image and historic associations, strongly impregnated with stories and images of a thousand-color world.

Mat Troi Do, Vietnam’s leading band pioneering the mixture of Vietnamese pieces with various international genres, will also bring a new charm to Vietnamese traditional music
With a total of sixteen concerts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the festival offers Vietnamese audiences the prospect of experiencing different genres of music, including engaging jazz melodies with incredible voices and great songs, classic, contemporary well as Vietnamese traditional music.

The festival will also showcase interesting interaction between European and Vietnamese musicians.

Recognized as one of the most successful and anticipated annual multi-cultural events in Vietnam, the Festival provides a snapshot of the diversity and richness of European cultures for the Vietnamese public as well as promoting cultural exchange between the peoples of Vietnam and the European Union.

Free tickets are available in Hanoi at the Goethe Institute, located at 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc street and l'Espace at 24 Trang Tien street;and in HCM City at the Goethe Institute at 18 Road No 1, Cu Xa Do Thanh, District 3; and at IDECAF, the institute for cultural exchange with France, at 31 Thai Van Lung, District1.

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