Notes from Vietnam

Event Details:

Location: Paramount Theatre

Date: Friday, February 12, 2016

Time: 8 pm

Program:

Dvořák Carnival Overture

Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
    Michael Urie, narrator

P.Q. Phan  Flash

Traditional Vietnamese Medley
arr. by Vân-Ánh (Vanessa) Võ

     Trống Cơm (The Rice Drums)
     Tùng Quân – Đăng Đàn Cung (King Parade)
     Lý Ngųa Ô (The Black Horse)

    Vân-Ánh Võ, Đàn Tranh (zither)
    The VA’V Young Ensemble & SỬ VIỆT Ensemble
and youth from Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center.

Vân-Ánh (Vanessa) Võ
Lullaby for a Country (World Premiere)

1.  Love
2.  Yearning
3.  Sorrow
4.  New Dawn

     Vân-Ánh Võ, Đàn Tranh (zither),
đàn Bầu (monochord), and vocal

Program Notes

Michael Morgan

Music Director Laureate

Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ

dan tranh zither

Michael Urie

narrator

P.Q. Phan

composer

Emmy Award-winner, Academy Award contributing composer and dan tranh (Vietnamese zither) virtuoso Vân-Ánh Võ headlines this year’s edition of Oakland Symphony’s Notes from . . . series, that has brought more than a dozen world symphonic music traditions to the stage. Võ’s genre-bending work “interestingly begs the question of what is American music,” observed the Los Angeles Times, and NPR called her style “gorgeous and sentimental.” She has clearly struck a chord with a fusion of Vietnamese and American idioms and sound. Additional Vietnamese artists and music will be announced. The program also features Oakland Symphony in Anton Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Well known for his roles on TV’s Ugly Betty, Modern Family and on and off Broadway in  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the recent runaway one-man hit, Buyer and Cellar, Award-winning actor and film–maker Michael Urie will narrate Britten’s classic orchestral guide that explains it all for you.

Pre-Concert Activity:

ON STAGE:

6:50 – 7:00 pm
Cameron Akioka, piano

7:00 – 7:30 pm
John Kendall Bailey discusses the music on the program.

IN THE LOBBY:

7:05 – 7:40 pm
Lobby performance by MUSE Orchestra

Thank you to our Concert Wine Sponsor,
Jeff Cohn Cellars in Oakland, for providing wine for the Baton Society Wine Bar and Post-Concert Reception!

Thank you to our Concert Dessert Sponsor, Louise’s Kitchen in Oakland, for donating delicious desserts for our Post-Concert Reception!