Evergreen Symphony Orchestra (ESO) embarked on a one-week, four-performance tour of Vietnam in late September.
The final performance took place on Sunday (Sept. 29) at the Hanoi Ho Guom Opera, with the Taiwanese ESO joining forces with the renowned Vietnamese Sun Symphony Orchestra (SSO), part of the Sun Group. This rare opportunity for Taiwanese and Vietnamese orchestras to collaborate showcased the power of music without borders. With hundreds of seats selling out quickly, the large audiences showed their appreciation.
The concert was thoughtfully planned, beginning with a pre-performance in the opera house’s lobby by brass ensembles from both orchestras playing Paul Dukas's "Fanfare pour preceder La Peri," offering a unique listening experience that delighted the audience and set the tone for the evening to come. The concert featured alternating section principals from both orchestras in each half, exemplifying the spirit of mutual exchange and cooperation.
The concert was led by French conductor Olivier Ochanine. The well-balanced and enthusiastically received program included Rossini: La gazza ladra Overture, Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, Mov. II (excerpt), Saint-Saens: Danse Bacchanale, Shostakovich: Festive Overture, and Marquez: Danzon No. 2.
The concert also featured a piece by the renowned Vietnamese composer Dang Huu Phuc, “Dance of Cheo and Len dong.” The encore pieces, Johann Strauss II’s Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka and “Hello, Vietnam!,” left the audience deeply satisfied by the cultural exchange between Taiwan’s ESO and Vietnam’s SSO.
Demie Chung (鍾德美), executive director of the Chang Yung-fa Foundation which supports the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, commented, “We are thrilled to have completed this tour with such enthusiastic responses from audiences at each performance. Whether in Ho Chi Minh City with Vietnamese singer Hoang Yen or in Hanoi with the Sun Symphony Orchestra, we have felt the boundless power of music. We believe that local music lovers and Taiwanese expatriates in Vietnam have gained a deeper appreciation of the rich musical culture shared between Taiwan and Vietnam.”
The tour also revealed an unexpected connection: ESO's principal clarinetist, Chuang Hui-chu, and SSO’s French conductor, Olivier Ochanine, discovered that they were old friends from their days at the University of Southern California. After graduating and working in different musical circles, they were delighted to reunite for this tour. Conductor Ochanine expressed that this collaboration was a rare and unprecedented experience, leaving a lasting impression on Hanoi’s music-loving audience.