NDO/VNA – The Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will present a classical music concert, featuring chamber works by a number of well-known French composers, at the Saigon Opera House on August 14.

“Carnival of the Animals” will be led by Vietnamese conductor Le Phi Phi who is returning to Vietnam for the first time since the outset of COVID-19.

Born in Hanoi, Phi graduated from the Vietnam National Academy of Music and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with degrees in piano and orchestra conducting. After his graduation, Phi became the assistant-conductor and the permanent conductor of Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000.

He has taken tour concerts around the world to Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Germany, France, Italy, and many others. He often comes back to Vietnam to conduct.

The event will also feature two solo pianists Nguyen Thuy Yen and Pham Nguyen Anh Vu.

Georges Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite Number 1 will open the night. The suite consists of 22 items, some extremely short. Bizet himself played the harmonium backstage in the premier.

Next comes Saint-Saens' Carnival of Animals, probably his best-known work. It is written for chamber orchestra and two pianos and has 14 movements, often performed in a version for full orchestra. Its most famous movement features a solo cello and is called "the Swan". Each movement represents a different animal, such as a tortoise, an elephant, a kangaroo and a cuckoo.

After the interval, there will be three more compositions, Faure's Pavane in F Sharp Minor, Saint-Saens' Dance Macabre and Ravel's Bolero.