Saigon Opera House Christmas Festival On December 16 and 17

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by Joe Fotalattee

The Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) announced that a Christmas concert would take place at the Saigon Opera House on December 16 and 17.

Conductor Tran Nhat Minh, who received training in Russia and Italy, will direct the performance and serves as the HBSO chorus master. Vietnamese performers Pham Khanh Ngoc, Dao Mac, and Duyen Nguyet will perform alongside the symphony orchestra and choir of the HBSO and the children’s choir from the Republic of Korea.

Ticket prices vary depending on seating location: 1.000.000 – 850.000 – 700.000 – 550.000  (150.000VNĐ For students only).

The concerts begin at 8pm.

The Schedule: 

• Leroy Anderson, an American light music composer who lived from 1908 to 1975, is scheduled to open the Christmas concert with his well-known orchestral composition Christmas Festival.
• International vocal competition winner Pham Khanh Ngoc will perform Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate. Then, the chorus “For Unto Us a Child is Born” from Handel’s Messiah.
• Soprano soloist Duyen Nguyet will belt out Max Reger’s German Christmas song Maria Wiegenlied.
• Dao Mac, a baritone who has performed in a variety of roles for the HBSO operas, including Papageno in The Magic Flute and Doctor Falk in Die Fledermaus, will then perform a Christmas Scherzo by American arranger and keyboardist Don Sebesky and O Holy Night.
• Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, played by the solo orchestra, will be followed by the HBSO chorus performing Variations on Jingle Bells.
• For a finale, a group of Korean children who live in Ho Chi Minh City will then perform on stage while singing holiday songs from the movie Home Alone and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.