“The Sun Symphony Orchestra (SSO), a newly formed private organization based in Hanoi, recently announced ambitious plans to bring classical music to Vietnam,” reads an unsigned Wednesday (9/27) article at Musical America (subscription required). “Intent on creating an orchestra of international standing, the SSO has named French conductor Olivier Ochanine, winner of the 2015 Antal Doráti International Conducting Competition, as its music director and is busily recruiting musicians. Vu Anh Tuan, a well-known TV emcee, concert producer, and contrabassist, is the orchestra’s executive director. The SSO’s management team also announced plans for a new opera house … to serve as the orchestra’s home. Italian architect Renzo Piano, famed for such projects as the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, the Shard in London, the Auditorium Niccolo Paganini in Parma, and the Auditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, will design the building. Dang Minh Truong, CEO of the Sun Group—one of Viet Nam’s leading real estate developers and sponsor of the orchestra—voiced hopes that ‘our new Opera House will be … an iconic building of Hanoi, like the … sail-designed Sydney Opera House.’ ”
Posted September 29, 2017
