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Việt Nam Cultural Profiles ProjectCultural Profile
 
                                                                               
 
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OVERVIEW:
Opera
VNOB Opera 2Western-style operatic singing has been taught hand-in-hand with orchestral and chamber music since the inception of the Việt Nam School of Music (now the Hà Nội Conservatory of Music) in 1956. Accordingly, when the Việt Nam Opera-Ballet Theatre (Nhà hát Nhạc vũ Kịch Việt Nam) was set up in 1959, its opera company and orchestra were the first to be operational. In the years which followed a production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin was staged with Russian assistance, followed by the company's first home-grown piece, an experimental quasi-operatic work entitled Núi rừng hãy lên tiếng ('Let the Mountains and Forests Raise Their Voices') set to words by Đỗ Nhuận and Trọng Bằng, which was realised with the assistance of specialists from North Korea.
In 1964, encouraged by the development of symphonic and choral music since the establishment of the Việt Nam Symphony Orchestra and Việt Nam Opera Ballet Theatre, the Ministry of Culture set up the Việt Nam Orchestra, Choir and Ballet Theatre (Nhà hát Giao hưởng, Hợp xướng, Nhạc Vũ kịch Việt Nam) under Phạm Ngọc Lê to co-ordinate more effectively the development and presentation of orchestral music, opera and ballet.
VNOB Opera 8In the following year this new institution presented the first truly homegrown Vietnamese opera - Cô Sao ('Miss Sao') by composer Đỗ Nhuận marked the first successful attempt to integrate rural Vietnamese folk melodies into the western operatic formula of solo and choral singing and recitatives set to orchestral accompaniment. In addition to performances in Hà Nội, this production toured to Nam Định, Hải Phòng and Quảng Ninh.
As war with the United States escalated during the late 1960s the Việt Nam Orchestra, Choir and Ballet Theatre was split into small groups to take patriotic songs and musical performances to the front lines. It also sent groups of symphony musicians and choristers to Thái Bình, Nam Hà (now Nam Định and Hà Nam), Ninh Bình and Thanh Hóa provinces to train non-specialist art and culture groups responsible for the development of the Tiếng hát át tiếng bom ('The Sound of Singing Drowns the Noise of Bombs') movement.
Despite the hardships of the period, two further homegrown operatic works were composed and premiered in 1968 - Nhật Lai's Bên bờ Krôngpa ('On the Banks of the Krongpa') and Lưu Hữu Phước's Bông Sen ('Lotus'). These were followed in 1971 by Đỗ Nhuận's second full-length opera entitled Người tạc tượng ('The Sculptor'). After Reunification two further Vietnamese operas were written - Đỗ Nhuận's Nguyễn Trãi and Nguyễn Đình Tấn's Tình yêu của em ('My Love').
VNOB Opera 1The Việt Nam Opera-Ballet Theatre regained its separate status in 1978. Since that time it has staged numerous popular works from the international operatic repertoire in collaboration with resident foreign cultural missions, but regrettably lack of resources has severely limited opportunities for the presentation of indigenous Vietnamese works. However, strenuous efforts are now being made to stage the lost Vietnamese operatic masterpieces of the past 40 years. In this connection Đỗ Nhuận's Nguyễn Trãi, which features a symphony orchestra, chorus and traditional musical instruments such as the cồng, chiêng (gong), đàn nguyệt (moon lute) and đàn bầu (monochord), was given a rare performance in October 2000 as part of Hà Nội's 990th anniversary celebrations.
Việt Nam has produced numerous distinguished opera soloists. Foremost amongst these are Trung Kiên (b 1939), Quý Dương (b 1937), Trần Hiếu (b 1937), Lê Dung (1951-2000), Quang Thọ (b 1948) and Anh Đào (b 1942), all of whom have performed widely on the international stage.
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The Việt Nam Cultural Profile was created in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) of Việt Nam with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation
Date updated: 24 February 2008
 
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