Published:  00:00 Sunday - July 04, 2010

A concert of two new pieces of music written about Vietnam’s capital will debut at the Hanoi Opera House on July 4.

The two concertos, entitled “Day song Hong – song Cai” (or “Here is the Red river – the ‘mother’ river”) and “Khong chi la huyen thoai” (or “It is not a mere legend”), were composed by Vinh Cat – credited with having written Vietnam’s first symphony.

The first concerto – “Day song Hong – song Cai” – is written for violin and the symphony orchestra and comprises three movements.

The second piece, a symphony in five movements, tells the story of the process of establishing the capital city of King Ly Cong Uan at the Dai La citadel.

The concertos will be performed by Japanese American conductor Shuichi Komiyama and hundreds of artists from the symphony orchestra of the National Music Academy.

Vinh Cat said it took him nearly two years (from January 2008 to December 2009) to complete the musical works as a gift to the capital city on the occasion of its 1,000^th anniversary.

Musician Vinh Cat is famous for composing “Picking flowers for the Uncle” – regarded as Vietnam’s first symphony, written to honour President Ho Chi Minh. He is also co-author of many projects and works on the preservation and promotion of Hanoi’s cultural relics.