• About Jeff von der Schmidt, the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble & LA International New Music Festival

Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

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Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

Category Archives: Vu Nhat Tan

The 100th Day of Mourning: An Elegy for Vũ Nhật Tân

29 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Buddhism, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Minh Dam Quang, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Chua Lang Pagoda, Dam Quang MInh, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Minh Nghia, Pham Truong Son, Tan Viện National Park, Ted Osius, Trang An, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vu Nhat Tan

The mountain top of Tản Viên.

On Tuesday July 21, 2020 during a hot Southeast Asian summer, I received the fateful text we’d all been preparing for since a cold February winter. Best friend and charismatic composer Vũ Nhật Tân, aged 49, had at 21h04 finally released his body and passed on to his next life after a long and difficult battle with cancer.

Today, Wednesday October 28, 2020 is the 100th Day since Tân’s death and an auspicious day for remembering the departed. Called “Tốt Khốc” or “The Last Cry” the 100th Day is part of a series of Vietnamese Buddhist rituals that have been strictly observed. Indeed, there are a group of Buddhist monks meditating on his spirit daily for the next decade preparing Vũ Nhật Tân for a more positive reincarnation.

For eight months Jan and I were truly on the other side of the world.

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The Silence of Nôm Calligraphy: Memories of the Tết Lunar New Year

24 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Nom Calligraphy, Tet Lunar New Year, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Music Ensemble of Tonkin, Bamboo House Hanoi, Banh Chung, Buddhism, Food, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hanoi Old Quarter, Nom Calligraphy, Poetry, Temple of Literature, Tet Lunar New Year 2018, Tet Markets, Travel, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Craftsman Era sunset glows on “Good Health” our Nôm calligraphy scroll.

As we say a “good riddance” to the chaotic Year of the Boar and as the more hopeful Year of the Mouse approaches on Saturday January 25, 2020, my thoughts and dreams return easily to 2018. That was the year I experienced my first Vietnamese Tết Lunar New Year in Hà Nội, the Year of the Dog.

“Anh Jeff, we want to show you and chị Jan the real Việt Nam!” said our good friends.

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HANOISE! The Fifth Season of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble Begins

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Arditti Quartet, Composers, Contemporary Music, Ensemble Modern, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Jorg Widmann, Lucas Fels, New Jogjakarta Contemporary Ensemble, Nguyen Thien Dao, Nina Janssen-Deinzer, Tetsuji Honna, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Arditti String Quartet, Ensemble Modern, Goethe Institut Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Honna Tetsuji, Indonesia, Jorg Widmann, Lucas Fels, Nguyen Thien Dao, Nina Janssen-Deinzer, Olivier Messiaen, Phu Xuan Ensemble of Hue, The New Yogyakarta Contemporary Ensemble, Vu Nhat Tan

 

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Members of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble.

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. Confucius

Days are long but years are short. The last short five years bear witness to many long days of hard work, resulting now in the inspiring progress of my friends and colleagues in the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. I’m proud to announce our impressive fifth anniversary season, HANOISE!

International collaborations define our fifth season, as we build new friendships and strengthen old partnerships with each concert. We’ll be working with two Vietnamese ancient music groups, the Phú Xuân Ensemble of Huế and the Đông Kinh Cổ Nhạc/Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin of Hà Nội as well as members of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in March of 2020. In October 2019, members of the Ensemble Modern in Germany and Arditti String Quartet will join my friends in concerts both in Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City, sponsored by the Goethe Institut. The season opens Friday September 6th at 20h00 at the Vietnam National Academy of Music as we present The New Yogyakarta Contemporary Ensemble and concludes in April 2020 with a final concert I’m looking forward to conducting.

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Liquid Tiramisù: An Introduction to Luscious Egg Coffee Spots in Hà Nội

03 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Café Giang, Food, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hanoi Social Club, Loading T Coffee, Music, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vietnamese Egg Coffee, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Asia, Buddhism, Café Giang, Dam Quang MInh, Egg Coffee, Food, Hanoi Coffee, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hanoi Social Club, Hanoi Street Food, Loading T Coffee, Vietnamese Ceramics, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vietnamese language, VTV4, Vu Nhat Tan

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The luscious egg coffee of Hà Nội at Loading T Coffee.

“You and Jan are Hanoians now, no longer outsiders anymore,” said our friend Vũ Nhật Tân, a few days before our recent Hà Nội residency concluded in April. He was quickly seconded in French by Đàm Quang Minh. “Monsieur Jeff et Madame Jan, nous marchons toujours ensemble!”

I continue to slowly absorb our most recent residency with the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. Always SRO concerts, important media interviews, long range planning meetings for an ever brighter future, new friends met and old friends brought closer, even progress with the labyrinth of first pronouncing and now speaking Vietnamese.

And always memories upon memories of the amazing cuisine of Việt Nam!

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1,000 Dragons Rising: In the Path of the Ancestors Triumph for the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble

13 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Contemporary Music, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Minh Dam Quang, Music, Nguyen Thien Dao, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Cultural Mosaic, Dam Quang MInh, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hanoi Old Quarter, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, In the Path of the Ancestors, Jan Karlin, Nguyen Thien Dao, Tet Offensive 1968, Vietnam National Academy of Music, Vu Nhat Tan

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The world premiere of Kim Thủy Hỏa by Vũ Nhật Tân.

”Bác Jeff!” breathlessly whispered one of my Vietnamese colleagues, hurriedly finding me back stage as we were all getting ready to perform. “We must wait to start the concert. We have over 1,000 people trying to find seats, more than the auditorium can handle. Uncle Jeff this never ever happen before!”

In the Path of the Ancestors indeed proved to be the right title at the right time for the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. Post concert noise and chatter continues to flood the city’s cultural discussions while both Vietnamese national and international television networks can’t seem to get enough of me, resulting in very good media exposure for a new music group in its fourth season.

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In the Path of the Ancestors with the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble

21 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Composers, Contemporary Music, Hamburg, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Minh Dam Quang, Music, Nguyen Thien Dao, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Luong Hue Trinh, Manila Composers Lab, Ngo Tra My, Nguyen Duy, Nguyen Thien Dao, Olivier Messiaen, Pham Tra My, Tet Offensive 1968, Thanh Hoai, Vietnam War, Vu Nhat Tan, Xuan Hoạch

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National treasures of Việt Nam, Thanh Hoài and Xuân Hoạch.

In the Path of the Ancestors is my next concert with the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. My friends here always find wonderful and poetic titles for our programs, they can’t do otherwise. In a long career devoted to new music, conducting over forty world premieres, numerous recording sessions, securing commissions, animating second performances, planning tours and collaborations, this concert at 20h00 in the Grand Hall of the Việt Nam National Conservatory of Music on Friday March 22, 2019 still looms as a milestone.

Three generations of composers are coming together. My Hà Nội New Music Ensemble will be joined by a cast of national treasures, whiz-bang technology, guests from the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and the light bearing Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin/Đông Kinh Cổ Nhạc led by Đàm Quang Minh. Cue national and international television broadcast by the major network of Việt Nam, VTV1!

For a new music concert? For a new music group four years old? Yes. After thirty years of new music work in the United States, this Vietnamese recognition is, trust me, a genuine milestone.

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A New Generation: From Hamburg to Hà Nội with Lương Huệ Trinh

07 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Arnold Schoenberg, Composers, Contemporary Music, Elbphilharmonie, Gurrelieder, Hamburg, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, John Cage, Kent Nagano, Kim Ngoc Tran, Minh Dam Quang, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Nguyen Thien Dao, Ton That Tiet, Toru Takemitsu, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan, William Kraft

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Elbphilharmonie, Georg Hajdu, Gurrelieder, Hamburg, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Kent Nagano, Luong Hue Trinh, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Nguyen Thien Dao, Nicholas Isherwood, Vu Nhat Tan, William Kraft

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Our first meeting at Public Coffee in the Neustadt District of Hamburg.

Nothing is random. In June of 2017, on our way to take in the conclusion of the opening season of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg with Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder conducted by our friend of over forty years, Kent Nagano, I noticed a Facebook post of a young Vietnamese student who was part of a team contributing a technology component to a Hamburg Staatsoper production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Æneas.

That got my attention for all types of reasons! 

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Canals & Rivers: How I Fell in Love with Bangkok, The City of Angels

28 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Bangkok, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Pang Vongtaradon, Thailand, Uncategorized, Vu Nhat Tan

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Bangkok, Canals of Bangkok, Chao Praya River, Golden Mount Temple, Grand Palace, Jim Thompson House, Lat Mayom Floating Market, OSS, Pang Vongtaradon, Thailand, Wat Saket

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The Lat Mayom floating market near Bangkok.

”The essence of Bangkok lies beneath the surface and its physical appearance.” Composer/pianist Pang Vongtaradon

The clichés surrounding big cities always have a kernel of truth. But to let stereotype define the home of millions of people, pick any major metropolis you like on the globe, and I think you’ll understand why, to me, hyperbole and sweeping generalizations are cynical or boring, or both. Jumping to conclusions is not great exercise.

I never thought I’d understand Bangkok. At first it is only big and only confusing. There is the cliché of constant tropical heat.  Then, and what is often a visual deal breaker for many first time visitors, there is the ever present brutalist transit system. Street level exhaust fumes are epic. Bangkok is a city where crossing the street resembles a pedestrian level version of ten lanes of a freeway in Los Angeles or an afternoon stroll in the Lincoln Tunnel.

And I just fell in love. How?

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The Hà Nội New Music Ensemble 2018-19 Season Starts September 8

07 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Buddhism, Contemporary Music, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Igor Stravinsky, Manzi Art Space, Minh Dam Quang, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Nguyen Thien Dao, Ripieno Ensemble, Manila, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Goethe Institut Hanoi, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Igor Stravinsky, In, Luong Hue Trinh, Manzi Art Space, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Nguyen Thien Dao, Pham Truong Son, Ripieno Ensemble of Manila, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan, William Kraft

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Violinists Phạm Trường Sơn and Vũ Thị Khánh Linh.

I may be house sitting for a friend in San Francisco this September, but unlike Tony Bennett I’ve left my heart in Hà Nội, Việt Nam!

The opening concert of the 2018-19 season of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble will get underway on Saturday September 8 at the Manzi Art Space at 8 PM. The first of five programs this season, the most ambitious we’ve planned, begins with a Composer Portrait concert of works for strings by Vũ Nhật Tân, entitled Màu Âm in Vietnamese, Shades of Sound in English, Couleurs des son in French, juxtaposed with ancient Vietnamese music from our friends in the Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin.

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Gongs & Bamboo: New Music from Hong Kong, Manila and Hà Nội

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Contemporary Music, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Ripieno Ensemble, Manila, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Cebu, Charles Kwong, Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis, Gilbert Nouno, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, IRCAM, Jonas Baes, Jose Maceda, Luong Hue Trinh, Magellan, MATA Festival, Ripieno Ensemble of Manila

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Asian Ensemble Workshop in Hong Kong brings together Manila and Hà Nội.

The Asian Ensemble Workshop in Hong Kong is an inflection point, at least in foundation speak. In plain English this June 2018 workshop is the start of something big!

From June 22 to 24 and sponsored by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, these workshop meetings are discussing side-by-side projects deepening artistic connections between the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, the Ripieno Ensemble in Manila, and the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble. The goal is to get started with collaborative projects during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, building on the strengths of each city, formally establishing an international network between Hong Kong, the Philippines and Việt Nam.

In case you were wondering, this regional Southeast Asian network didn’t just fall from the sky fully formed in the last few days. And though Hong Kong is not officially in ASEAN, the city does function as a geographical fulcrum. A flight from Hà Nội is only about an hour, the same from Manila. I’m happy to provide some necessary background.

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