Vietnam Connection Music Festival (VNCMF) was co-founded in 2015 by Dr. Chuong Vu, one of the outstanding Vietnamese-American musicians and Dr. Bui Cong Duy, an internationally acclaimed Vietnamese concert violinist. The festival brings distinguished international artists as well as accomplished Vietnamese musicians who live abroad to Vietnam to collaborate with excellent Vietnamese artists in the performing and teaching of classical music. Through meaningful cultural exchange activities, VNCMF aims to bring classical music closer the public.
Thanks to the dedication of Vietnamese and international musicians, the generous sponsorship of Vietnam and overseas business and civic groups, and the enthusiasm of the general public, Vietnam Connection Music Festival is in its sixth season in 2020.
In the first year of its existence, the festival was dedicated to celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of Vietnam-United States diplomatic relationship. VNCMF 2015 international renowned artists such as Jeff Bradetich, Susan Dubois, Christoph Hammer, Paul Leenhouts, Cynthia Roberts, and Allen Whear, along with top Vietnamese musicians and outstanding young musicians from leading institutes including The Julliard School, The Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University and University of North Texas have delighted classical music lovers with beautiful music in the festival’s four concerts.
In its second season Vietnam Connection Music Festival had the pleasures of collaborating with International Chamber Players, Vietnam National Academy of Music, Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera, Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music, and the Goethe Institute Hanoi. VNCMF 2016 presented five concerts at Vietnam’s most prestigious concert halls including the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House, the Grand Concert Hall of Vietnam National Academy of Music, and the Concert Hall of Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music.
In its third season VNCMF presented 11 special concerts, with the participation of nearly 40 leading Vietnamese and international artists from the United States. France, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and China. The VNCMF organizers had developed a variety of programs that are close, familiar, easy to understand and accessible to Vietnamese audiences. As education an important element in the operation of VNCMF, six talented young violinists aged 10 to 17 years old from prestigious Vietnamese music schools had been selected to participate in the festival. VNCMF provided them with the opportunity to study with internationally acclaimed music educators as well as to practice their performing skills along the professional artists in the 3 concerts designed specially for them in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hue.
In the 2018 season the festival presented 11 concerts in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City. For the first time VNCMF featured 3 orchestral concerts with repertoire raging from early baroque to late romantic. VNCMF 2018 welcomed 4 Featured Artists - violinist Stephanie Chase, double bassist Jeff Bradetich and the two string quartets Arod and Ulysses - along with nearly 50 musicians from Vietnam and 4 continents of the world. Our new collaborative organizations for the year includes the Danang Department of Culture and Sports, Van Lang University, Soul Academy and the Youth Cultural House of Ho Chi Minh City.
Along with 14 concerts in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City, VNCMF celebrated its 5th anniversary in 2019 by co-organizing the first Vietnam International Music Competition for Violin and Chamber Music. The competition was held from 3rd to 11th of August, 2019, in the Grand Concert Hall of Vietnam National Academy of Music. It marked the first time that an international competition for violin and ensemble groups of piano and string instruments was hosted in Vietnam. The competition's jury included renowned artists and professors from leading universities and conservatories in the United States, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, Australia, South Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam, among them Viktor Tretyakov, Stephanie Chase, Vilmos Szabadi, Kyung Sun Lee, Chen Xi, Natalya Likhopoy, Max Levinson, and Bui Cong Duy. With the jury’s dream team, the Competition had attracted talented candidates from all over the world, contributing to a top-class stage where Vietnamese young musicians had a chance to compete and learn, to gain valuable experiences and be inspired to improve oneself in the process of building their musical careers.
In order to promote the development of classical music in particular and Vietnamese art culture in general as well as to improve the cultural life of Vietnamese people, VNCMF hopes to introduce more special concerts featuring a variety of themes, musical genres and musical instruments in the coming years, among them a concert to honor Vietnamese composers. VNCMF will also look forward to performing overseas in the near future.
We would like to send our deepest appreciation to all of our collaborative individuals and organizations as well as our generous sponsors who shared Vietnam Connection Music Festival’s mission and made VNCMF concerts possible.
Board of Directors
Dr. Chuong Vu, Artistic Director
Dr. Duy Cong Bui, Co-Artistic Director
Mr. Quan Hoang Ngo, Executive Director
Dr. Than Van Nguyen, Board Member
Dr. Huong Trinh Nguyen, Board Member
Dr. Phuong Huy Nguyen, Board Member
Mr. Nam Thanh Tang, Board Member
Ms. Sa Nguyet Tran, Board Member
Mr. Zhan Shu, Board Member
Ms. Grace Ho, Board Member
