Traditional music concert celebrates capital

The Vietnam Traditional Orchestra will join in the nation-wide
celebration with a performance at the Ha Noi Opera House tonight.

The orchestra will play Rong Bay Khai Nhac (Soaring Dragon Opening
Music Festival), a new piece composed by the Vietnamese conductor Nguyen
Thien Dao in honour of the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi. The work will
be conducted by Dao along with Hong Thai and Ngoc Khoi.

"Rong Bay Khai Nhac was composed with all my passion for Vietnamese traditional music and instruments," said Dao.

The Paris-based conductor is a household name in both Vietnam and
France. A brilliant musician, Dao studied under Olivier Messiaen at the
Conservatoire de Paris, where he graduated at the top of his class in
1968. He has received numerous international awards including the Andre
Caplet Award, the Olivier Messiaen Award for Music Composition from the
Foundation Eramus de Holland and the Chevalier des Artist et de Lettres
du Government Francais from the French government.

Throughout his career, Dao has composed more than 80 musical works that
have been performed around the world and extensively in Europe.

The traditional orchestra was established in 2009 from a traditional
instrument troupe at the Vietnam National Academy of Music, and has
performed in many important events across the country, including
national receptions, international conferences, and international music
festivals.

A great work of nha nhac (ritual and
ceremonial music) played with war drums and clarinets will open the
concert. Other performances include dan bau, (monochord) solo; dan tranh
(16-chord zither); and other bamboo instruments./.

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Vietnamese, Korean musicians take part in chamber event

Soprano Cho Hae-ryong, pianists Noh Hae-ry and Chae Hyo-jin, of the
Republic of Korea (RoK) will perform in a chamber concert at the HCM
City Opera House this weekend.

They will be joined
on the stage by Vietnamese soloists – cellist Nguyen Tan Anh,
clarinettist Dao Nhat Quang and pianist Pham Dieu Thao – from the city's
Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO).

Cho
will sing popular works by composers A.L.Webber, G.Meyerber and
Rimsky-Kosakov, apart from Mozart's Parto! Ma tu ben mio from opera la
clemenza di Tito and Rachmaninov's Zdes Khorosho, Oni otvechali.

Born in 1973 in Busan, Cho graduated from the Ewha University in 1998
before developing her musical talents at the Glinka Music Conservatory
in Novorsibirsk, Russia.

She has won top prizes at
local and international music competitions, including the Obraztsova
International Vocal Competition in Russia in 2000 and Competition of
Romantic Music in RoK in 2007.

Cho worked with
prestigious symphony orchestras in RoK and Russia before following her
husband, Vietnamese clarinettist Dao Nhat Quang, to live and work in HCM
City.

She now works as a soloist and a vocal teacher for the HBSO.

The concert will continue with music by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Nguyen Manh Duy Linh.

Cellist Anh will perform with his colleagues, pianist Thao and
clarinettist Quang, in Brahms's Trio for clarinet, cello and piano,
I&IV mov.

They will also play Beethoven's Sonata for Cello and Piano No 2, I&II mov.

A 1988 graduate of the Gnesin Music Institute in Russia, Anh has
performed many times in Russia, Thailand, Japan and Vietnam.

He is now the leader of the HBSO's Symphony Orchestra.

The event will open at 8pm on Oct.9, 7 Lam Son Square, District 1.
Tickets, ranging from 100,000 VND (5 USD) to 200,000 are available at
the theatre's box office./.

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Designers present new collections

Thirty-two designers of the Vietnam Designers House presented their autumn-winter collections on Oct.5 in HCM City.

Around 250 people attended the show at the Designers House's outlet downtown.

More than 150 elegant and simple creations in cool colours of white, grey and black were displayed on the catwalk.

The show included clothing by major designers, such as Minh Hanh, Anh
Vu, Nguyen Hang, Le Hang and Bao Kim, and by 8X-generation designers,
including Group F8, Ngoc Dieu, Thien Toan, Khanh Vi, Van Vo, Thanh Hoa,
Kim Khanh, Minh Hoa and Phuong Linh.

Designers paid
particular attention to the one-shoulder dress, maxi dress, and
strapless gowns made of soft and silky textures.

The trend was tailored, oversized elegant pants that can be adapted to every occasion, from business-wear to evening-wear.

Well-known designers Dang Khoa and Cuong Thinh brought their latest and boldest creations for suits and night dresses.

The highlight of the show was the romantic, impressive and
inspirational wedding gown collections of designers Viet Lien, Trong
Nguyen, Tuan Huy, Hien Le and Thien Trang.

Miss Vietnam 2008 Thuy Dung and Miss Beach 2008 Lam Thu Hang modelled for the show.

Vietnam Designers House in HCM City was opened by Viet Mode Co, Ltd in late August after opening last year in Ha Noi./.

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Teenage team eyes AFC challenge

Vietnam 's U-16 football team will be going for broke to qualify for
the quarter-finals at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U16
Championship in Tashkent , Uzbekistan , from October 24 to November
7.

Team coach Hoang Van Phuc said Vietnam will
face tough opposition in Group C against Japan , Australia and East
Timor .

The championship will see 16 teams compete in four groups with the top teams qualifying for the semi-finals.

The four semi-finalists will also compete at the FIFA U-17 World Cup next year.

"It's a hard job for us, but then nothing is impossible in football.
I've told our players to work hard in preparation for the championship,"
said Phuc.

"The team is the strongest ever squad
that we've recruited from local youth training centres. All the players
are ready to fight for the AFC championship," he said.

Last week, his U-16 squad edged China 1-0 to win the ASEAN Football Federation Championship in Indonesia .

Phuc, who is coach of Hanoi T&T's youth team, said six key players
including playmaker Dang Anh Tuan, Nguyen Xuan Nam , goalie Nguyen
Son Hai and Huynh Tan Tai will be eligible to play in the national
premier league in the next three years.

He added the teenagers need more practise with the national team in order to improve their skills tactically and mentally.

The team received a cash-bonus of 330 million VND (17,000 USD) from
the Vietnam Football Federation and sponsors at an awards ceremony in
Hanoi on October 5.

"The team's success was a sign
of the progress of Vietnam 's youth training programme. We are proud
of our youngsters and their glorious victory for Vietnamese football,"
said deputy head of the National Sports Administration, Pham Van Tuan.

The U-16 team are currently in training at the Vietnam Football Federation's Youth Centre in Hanoi./.

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Palestinian diplomat wins highest prize of Hanoi contest

Palestinian Ambassador Saadi Salama has won the exceptional prize at the
2009-2010 international contest on Thang Long-Hanoi called “ Hanoi
-Your Destination.”

Addressing the awards
ceremony, held in Hanoi on October 7, the Deputy Chairwoman of the
municipal People’s Committee and Head of the contest’s Steering
Committee, Ngo Thi Thanh Hang said that the contest has contributed a
great deal to help Hanoi become familiar to international friends.

It has also increased the number of people who love Hanoi , a city
of peace, with national and international cultural heritages and a safe
and friendly destination for international visitors, said Hang.

Ambassador Salama, who used to study and work in Vietnam in the
1980s, said he felt lucky to return to work in Hanoi on the occasion
of the city’s millennium birthday.

The contest gave him a chance to express his love of Hanoi where he considers his second homeland.

“I hope that there will be more contests about the country’s
traditional culture to make international friends understanding your
beautiful capital more,” he said.

Jointly held
by the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations and the National Steering
Committee for Thang Long-Hanoi thousand year anniversary, the contest
has attracted thousands of people from many countries around the world
since 2000.

This year’s competition received
1,789 entries in six languages including Chinese, Vietnamese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish.

At the awards
ceremony, the organising board also presented one first, five second and
10 third prizes to individuals and one first and two second prizes for
groups./.

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Singapore, two Koreas to join football’s VFF Cup

Vietnamese footballers lift up the trophy of the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup after defeating Thailand 3-2 on aggregate

Photo: Si Huyen

Singapore, North Korea and South Korea have confirmed their participation in the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Cup which will be organized in Hanoi from November 2-6, according to VFF general secretary Tran Quoc Tuan.

The four-team event -- together with hosts, Vietnam’s national football team -- serves as a training ground to prepare for the Southeast Asian (AFF) Suzuki Cup co-hosted by Vietnam and Indonesia in December.

The North Koreans will send their senior national team including some internationals who played at the World Cup Finals in South Africa last June while the South Koreans are sending their Olympic team, Tuan said on Tuesday.

At the AFF Suzuki Cup, Vietnam, as the defending champions, are in group B with Singapore and Myanmar, while three other strong regional teams Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia are in group A.

Five low-ranking teams in the region Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Brunei and Timor Leste are set to compete in the pre-qualifiers in Laos from October 16-24 to pick out two best candidates for admission to the two groups.

In the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008, Vietnam defeated Thailand 3-2 on aggregate to clinch the title.

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Qatar unveils 'island' World Cup stadium

The CEO of the Qatar 2022 Bid Committee Hassan Al Thawadi presents new official ambassador Zinedine Zidane with a personalized shirt in Doha

Photo: Reuters

Qatar unveiled its ultra-modern Lusail Stadium on Wednesday which would host the opening match and World Cup final in 2022 if its bid to stage the tournament wins FIFA's approval in December.

The air-conditioned stadium, which would have a capacity of 86,000, would take four years to build, would expected to be completed by 2019 and would also be surrounded by water. If Qatar loses its bid, the ground will not be built.

Bid CEO chairman Hassan Al-Thawadi told Reuters at the Leaders in Football conference that with eight weeks to go before FIFA make their decision, he was optimistic that Qatar could stage the first World Cup in the Middle East.

Qatar's candidature received some criticism from FIFA's inspection team last month when Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the head of the FIFA delegation, said that the country's small size, rather than the summer temperatures that can soar to above 50 degrees Celsius, could cause logistical problems.

Qatar would become the smallest host nation to stage the finals since Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930 if it won FIFA's approval.

However, Al Thawadi, speaking to Reuters in a private room at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground, said his team had responded to the inspection team's observations.

"If you look at their comments, they did not refer to the weather and for us that was a great, great success. A lot of people thought that our Achilles heel was the weather, but we have proved with our air-conditioned technology, we can overcome that.

"Regarding some of their comments regarding logistics and so on -- we are proposing a unique and innovative concept -- a compact World Cup (because of the size of the country).”

"Whenever you are pioneering a new concept it requires time for people to understand it,” he added. “There will be skeptics, and they are right to be skeptical, but we think although those concerns might be valid, we are able to overcome them."

The Lusail Stadium completes the line-up of the 12 stadiums Qatar would use in 2022 and would incorporate the air-conditioning technology the country has pioneered to make their stadiums more comfortable.

Qatar is one of four bids for the 2022 finals along with Australia, South Korea and Japan. They are spending US$4 billion dollars building nine new stadiums and renovating three others.

Due to the format of the FIFA bidding process, the five bids trying to host the 2018 finals are also going for 2022 -- in theory at least -- with England, Russia, the United States and joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands in contention.

All bidding nations presented their candidatures before delegates at the conference, apart from Australia.

The bidding war for the World Cup is beginning to intensify with FIFA president Sepp Blatter planning to visit British Prime Minister David Cameron in London next week.

FIFA will announce which countries will stage each event in Zurich on December 2.

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