Talks about music by Shostakovich in Ho Chi Minh

We often invite young Vietnamese people to our Russian Center operating at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy to provide them with the exposure to Russian culture and art in order to make them enjoy them. Our cultures are absolutely different and that is the reason why such things as Russian ballet, music and theatre are like terra incognita for young Vietnamese people.

On 29 September, the Russian Center hosted a meeting with Vietnamese students, dedicated to the 110th birthday anniversary of an outstanding Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich.

“Music by Shostakovich is the world of profound insights…the hymn to man…the protest against violence…it is a dramatic monolog delivered by the artist and it is the chronicle of our life…” (R. Shchedrin).

A Russian professor Yulya Arsentieva told the guests about Dmitry Shostakovich’s childhood, youth, conservatoire years, his early compositions and his famous ones, including the Seventh Symphony, music to the ballet named “The Light Stream”, opera “Katerina Izmailova”, music to films “Molodaya Gvardiya” and “Hamlet” among others.

The students watched video clips presenting the music and then shared their opinions on it, which they found unusual.

One can say that we let the young Vietnamese people open another page of an interesting and fascinating “book” dealing with Russian art.