VietNamNet Bridge – The Vienna Operetta Orchestra will be in Ha Noi on Wednesday to entertain classical music lovers. The Toyota Classic 2008 is honoured to introduce the world famous orchestra from Austria.

Singer Nguyen Bich Thuy. Thuy became the first Vietnamese to win at the China International Vocal Competition in October.

Michael Suttner studied first with Dietrich Schneiderin in Seeshaupt and later with Professor Raimund Grumbach at the State Academy of Music and Drama in Munich to develop the rich, pure tonal range that characterises his vocal talent.

He received first prize in the international singing competition held at Gotzis, Austria in 2003. He has also performed in numerous concerts throughout Europe under conductors such as James Levine, Eric Ericson and Gbor Hollerung.

His resume includes more than thirty operatic roles in a number of German and Italian productions since 1999.

Born in Poland, soprano Izabela Labuda has received numerous international awards and performed in operas and classical concerts throughout Europe, the Far East, the US, and the United Arab Emirates.

She won first prize at the Competition for Young Talent in Lodz in 1987 and received awards at the International Competition in Toulouse the same year. She was also awarded a prize at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna in 1988.

Izabela was a finalist in the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia in 1998 and won first prize in the New Voices Guetersloher Competition.

With a wealth of experience reflected in her rich repertoire, she is a true diva in every sense of the word.

Under conductor Siegfried’s baton, the classic night will feature selections from Strauss II, Mozart, Schrammeln and Lehar. The audience will also enjoy a Car Polka, which was specially written by Siegmund Andraschek in honour of the orchestra’s invitation to this Toyota Classics tour.

Many immortal songs from the gold and silver era’s of Vienna’s opera will be performed during this special evening.

Joining the accomplished singers on stage as a guest performer will be one of Viet Nam’s great opera talents, Nguyen Bich Thuy. Thuy became the first Vietnamese to win at the China International Vocal Competition in October.

She will give solo performances of My Dear Marquis from the operetta The Bat by Strauss II and Ah! I Was in Love from Mozart’s opera The Abduction from the Seraglio. She will also team with Suttner and Labuda in a performance from Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow.

Thuy will be comfortable with these pieces, because she performed them at the competition in China last month. She also spent time in rehearsal with the orchestra in Vienna.

The Bat

, first performed at the Theatre a der Wien in 1874, represents the pinnacle of the operetta genre. It is a merry tale of revenge played on a banker named Eisenstein by his good friend, Doctor Falke. The overture is a sprightly medley of tantalising selections from the many delightful melodies that lay in store just beyond the first curtain. It will open the night.

After intermission, the orchestra’s musicians will play Johann Schrammeln’s best-known piece, and probably the most beloved march in Vienna, Vienna Will Always Be Vienna. The piece was written in 1887.

The Vienna Operetta Orchestra was founded in 1989 by conductor Siegfried Andraschek. It has since gone on concert tours throughout Europe and Asia, notably performing no less than one hundred Strauss concerts in 1995.

The orchestra aims to showcase unknown pieces as well as the classics; it performs well-known pieces from Vienna’s gold and silver eras, as well as an array of classical programmes.

The Vienna Operetta Orchestra has enjoyed wide acclaim under the conductor’s baton. Known for his lively, energetic style and encyclopaedic knowledge of operetta, Siegfried is a recipient of the Republic of Austria’s Distinguished Honorary Cross for Science and Arts.

To allow all music lovers around the country the opportunity to enjoy the concert, the performance will be broadcast live on screens outside the Ha Noi Opera House as well as on VTC1-Viet Nam at 8pm, tomorrow.

This will be the 11th Toyota Classics Concert to be held in Viet Nam by Toyota Motors Asia Pacific and Toyota Motors Viet Nam in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Toyota Classics series is an official event of the 35th anniversary of Japan-Viet Nam diplomatic relations.

Tickets can be purchased for VND700,000, 500,000 and 250,000 between 8.30am to 5pm at the Ha Noi Opera House and at Toyota’s branch office in the Viglacera Building, Tu Liem.

All proceeds will benefit leprosy patients in Tuyen Quang and Dien Bien provinces.

(Source: Viet Nam News)