Emerging Cultural Leaders
Ascending Dragon Music Festival and Cultural Exchange
Southwest Chamber Music, United States Department of State
Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory
Southwest Chamber Music has been awarded a grant from the United States Department of State – Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for
Emerging Cultural Leaders: Ascending Dragon Music Festival and
Cultural Exchange. The grant is intended to support international exchanges in order to increase mutual understanding and build relationships, through individuals and organizations, between the people of the United States and Vietnam. The Emerging Cultural Leaders program will provide opportunities for aspiring artists and their mentors/teachers in the United States to participate in two-way exchanges, each three weeks in duration.
The highly competitive grant is part of a Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2008, signed into law by President George W. Bush. Congressman Adam B. Schiff of California’s 29th District recommended Southwest Chamber Music for inclusion. Gifts to Southwest Chamber Music from individuals, government agencies and foundations will provide a required cost sharing match for the remainder of the project budget.
Activities will include:
• Ascending Dragon Music Festival in 2010, the first international music festival between the United States and Vietnam
• Performances in both countries of newly commissioned Vietnamese and American compositions
• Arts management and leadership skill building workshops in collaboration with the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University and the
Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development Program
• A broad range of cultural activities in both countries that will include participant visits to national parks, UNESCO world heritage sites, nature preserves, jazz clubs in the United States and traditional music performances in Vietnam
In Vietnam during a three-week period March 2-24, 2010,
19 Americans will participate in:
• The Ascending Dragon Music Festival, part of the Hanoi 1000th anniversary celebration, performed by Southwest Chamber Music and Vietnamese musicians from the Vietnam National Academy of Music
• Cultural Exchange activities with students, administrators, and faculty at the Vietnam National Academy and Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory through master classes, open rehearsals, side-by-side performances and special workshops
In California during a three-week period April 12-24, 2010,
19 Vietnamese will participate in:
• The Ascending Dragon Music Festival performed by
Southwest Chamber Music and members of the Vietnam National Academy
• Cultural Exchange activities with composers, administrators and musicians from Vietnam in side-by-side performances, community outreach, and educational activities
The Ascending Dragon Music Festival and Cultural Exchange objectives include:
• Creating exchange and exposure opportunity for students, musicians, composers and administrators in Vietnam and America
• Providing new cultural exchange between Southwest Chamber Music, the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory
• Identifying and encouraging a new generation of emerging cultural leaders in Vietnam
• Commissioning and performing new works by Vietnamese and American composers
• Increasing Vietnamese institutional capacity through study of “best practices” in arts administration in the United States
• Enhancing the music curriculum in Vietnam through exposure to contemporary American composers and musical ideas, while creating first-time exposure experiences for Americans in Vietnam
• Providing Cultural Exchange activities that partner administrators, musicians and composers in both countries to encourage the continuation of the exchange festival in subsequent years; performances of American music in Hanoi, and Vietnamese music in Los Angeles; and follow-up activities that will encourage new work and increased musical activity
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The VIETNAM NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC (VNAM) is the premier music institution in Vietnam. Founded in 1956, VNAM has over 1800 students in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. The majority of its 200-plus teachers are graduates from overseas conservatories. The institution has trained over 7,500 students. The Academy also stages numerous concerts throughout the year in the Concert Hall. It participates in many exchange programs with conservatories abroad, sending its musical ensembles overseas to perform and teach and, in turn, hosting performances and teaching visits by many internationally-acclaimed orchestras and soloists. In addition to teaching, the VNAM is the home of the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra, which regularly performs at the Hanoi Opera House.
The HO CHI MINH CITY CONSERVATORY is the center for music education in the southern region of Vietnam. It provides music education in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. The Conservatory has over 100 teachers, including many famous musicians, composers and researchers, and experienced pedagogues graduated mostly from European conservatories. Apart from its education programs, the Conservatory is the home of the Ho Chi Minh City Symphony Orchestra.
