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“Christmas Love” concert. |
The HCM City Symphony Ballet Opera Theatre (HSBO) organizes two classical concerts on every 9th and 19th at HCM City Opera House. HSBO sometimes holds 1-2 other shows a month.
The theatre’s concerts often attract around 200 people, including 50 guests from universities. “Ticket buyers are mostly foreigners, artists or students of music schools. Foreign audience account for 50-70 percent,” calculated HSBO’s musician Nguyen Manh Duy Linh.
Linh noted that the theatre always suffers losses from these concerts. More tickets are sold for concerts with the presence of world or regionally famous artists. Ticket prices are very low and many concerts are free.
“The HCM City Music Conservatory sometimes organizes free concerts, but the number of performers are often higher than the number of audience,” admitted Anh Van, a student from the HCM City Music Conservatory.
So, many people were surprised when up to 300 tickets for the “Magic of Love” show by Suoi Viet orchestra were sold in late 2009. The orchestra also sold 700 tickets for “Christmas Love” concert in December 2009 at Ben Thanh Theatre.
Suoi Viet orchestra’s chief, musician Nguyen Bach, remarked that classical music is not popular with Vietnamese audiences, not because of the music itself or the audience’s tastes, but the laziness of organizers in advertising and bringing classical music to listeners.
He disagrees that young audiences neglect classical music, citing how most of the 300 audience members at the first show of Suoi Viet orchestra were young people.
Nguyen Bach’s band has looked for an audience by mixing classical music with pop and soul to make the music closer to listeners. The band also decorates the stage creatively.
“Almost all classical concerts in Vietnam look similar, with instrumentalists sitting in rows on the stage, in front of a pale curtain. Feeling is the resonance of many factors and we should not forget that this is the age of visual culture,” Bach explained.
HSBO has also mixed classical music with pop to attract audiences, Nguyen Manh Duy Linh cited. The theatre recently experimented with an outdoor concert at HCM City’s 23/9 Park, using a big LED screen placed behind the artists. The show was very successful and drew many young people.
PV