Special Concert Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Vietnam-Austria Diplomatic Ties

At the concert. Source: Van Hoa newspaper

A special concert has been held at the Hanoi Opera House on November 26 night as part of the activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Austria (December 1, 1972 – December 1, 2022).

Titled MUSIK AUS WIEN “MOZART & STRAUSS”, the event was organised by the Austrian Embassy in Vietnam in cooperation with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO).

Attending the program were Austrian Ambassador to Vietnam Hans-Peter Glanzer; Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong, Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) Nguyen Phuong Hoa and a large number of Austrians living and working in Vietnam.

The VNSO was joined by Rainer Honeck, the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as singers Marta Poliszot (Soprano) and Adrian Eröd (Baritone; from the Vienna State Opera).

They performed numerous compositions by Wolfgang A. Mozart, Johann Strauss’s son Josef Strauss, as well as Emmerich Kálmán.

Source: Van Hoa newspaper

The audiences are served famous pieces with new expressions from the collaboration of Vietnamese orchestras and famous European artists. Source: Van Hoa newspaper

As leader of the Wiener Virtuosen, the Wiener Streichersolisten, the Ensemble Wien and the Vienna-Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Honeck is also a prolific chamber musician, appearing on numerous studio and broadcast radio recordings.

He has performed as a conductor in recent years, with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra and Kioi Sinfonietta in Tokyo, among others.

Eröd is a great favourite of public and press at his base, the Vienna State Opera, with his tremendous diversity, whether as Figaro in Rossini’s Barber of Seville, as Valentin in Gounod’s Faust, as Britten’s Billy Budd, or as Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon.

Poliszot has a beautiful, sonorous lyrical coloratura soprano voice and wonderful physical abilities.

Austrian Ambassador to Vietnam Hans Peter Glanzer speaks at the event. Source: Van Hoa newspaper

According to Ambassador Hans-Peter Glanzer, increasing cultural exchanges is a great way to show the richness and diversity in each country’s culture, helping the parties understand each other better. This is an important factor in cooperation between peoples and nations. Music has the power to bring people together. The ambassador quoted the famous Danish writer and playwright Hans Christian Andersen: “When words fail, music speaks”.

The same day, the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), the Embassy of the Republic of Austria in Vietnam had held a gathering in Hanoi to celebrate the anniversary of the diplomatic relations.

Attending the ceremony were Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, VUFO president; Do Hung Viet, assistant minister of Foreign Affairs; Tran Tuan Anh, chairman of the newly-established Vietnam – Austria Friendship Association; Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Glanzer, and representatives of ministries, departments, branches, members of the friendship association, diplomats of the Austrian Embassy in Vietnam.

Speaking at the ceremony, VUFO President Nguyen Phuong Nga congratulated the members of the Vietnam – Austria Friendship Association. “The birth of the Vietnam-Austria Friendship Association, the 119th member of the VUFO, has marked an important new development in the relationship between the two countries. I am sure that the association will make important contributions to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries.”