Guest conductor Gudni Emilsson and pianist Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy will be performing works by Schubert, Mozart and Haydn with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) on March 14 to mark 2010 German Year in Vietnam.

Emilsson has worked with the VNSO for years and has been conducting in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City since 2005.

Born in 1964, he studied the violin at the conservatory before receiving a scholarship from Iceland to study in Trossingen, Germany, where he earned a master's degree in piano and conducting.

Emilsson has received awards from the Herbert von Karajan and the Richard Wagner foundations and Deutschen Musikrat. He has been artistic director of the Tubinger Kammerorchester since 1999 and the Camerata Bohemica Prague and the new Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005.

Meanwhile, Schmitt-Leonardy is one of the leading pianists of his generation. He graduated with distinction from the University of Music Saar, and has won an array of top-prizes in international piano competitions across the world. As a soloist, he has played with the Philharmonia of the Nations, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and many other European philharmonic orchestras. His CDs have won such prestigious awards as the French Coup de Coeur.

The VNSO was founded in 1959. Members include graduates of the Vietnam National Academy of Music, as well as Vietnamese musicians who have received their training in well-known music universities in Europe and Asia.

The concert will kick off at 8pm on March 14 and 15 at the Hanoi Opera House. Free tickets can be picked up at the Hanoi Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street.