Outstanding young faces in arts

Tran Le Quang Tien, a violin prodigy

The 14-year-old violist brought great pride to Vietnamese classical music by winning first prize in the junior category of the 2016 International Violin Competition in Kazakhstan.

Violin prodigy Tran Le Quang Tien performs at the 2016 International Violin Competition in Kazakhstan. (Credit: dantri.com.vn)

This was the second time Vietnam has won first prize in a prestigious international European contest, the other being the famous violist Bui Cong Duy’s first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition for young talents in St. Petersburg, Russia, nineteen years ago.

Unlike other musical talents, Tran Le Quang Tien leant violin quite late in his life. He began learning piano when he was five, but he moved to study violin one year later. 

However, he abandoned violin to learn dance and painting. Until Tien was ten he continued to study violin, and over two years later, in 2015, he brought home the first prize at the International Mozart Music Competition in Thailand.

Meritorious Artist Bui Cong Duy, who served as Tran Le Quang Tien’s direct teacher, said, “Tien has a confident performing style and expected artistic potential. His innate aptitudes surprised experts so much that they called him a Vietnamese violin prodigy.”

Nha Phuong, a beautiful woman in film

Actress Nha Phuong in a scene of the film "Song to the Sun"

Nha Phuong is one of the actresses who has appeared the most in film in the past few years. 

The 26-year-old actress played the lead roles in a series of television films such as Khuc hat mat troi (“Song to the Sun”) which is part of a co-operative project with Japanese, Zippo, mu tat va em (“Zippo, Mustard and You”) and Tuoi thanh xuan (Part 2, in co-operation with the Republic of Korea), as well as the movie 49 ngay (“49 Days”).

Her endearing face, along with her natural, emotional and authentic acting style, helped Phuong win the love of the public, particularly young audiences. 

With these “heavy weight” roles, she has won numerous grand prizes, including the Most Impressive Actress at the 2016 VTV Awards, Asian Star at the Seoul International Film Festival, the Best Actress in television film category at the Golden Kite Awards 2015 and the Favourite Actress at the 21st Golden Apricot Blossom Awards.

Thanks to her relentless efforts, Nha Phuong has become one of the greatest actresses in the Vietnamese film industry as she can show different mentalities in numerous roles. 

Being a prominent face in Vietnamese showbiz, she has always expressed her positive attitude towards life, with serious notions about love, life and career.

Dinh Tuan Vu director: considering challenges as motivation

Dinh Tuan Vu, the 27-year-old director, has only three years of experience; however he has gained numerous successes, particularly with the film Cuoc doi cua Yen (“The Life of Yen”). 

At the 2015 Vietnam Film Festival, in addition to the Silver Lotus Award, it was honoured in many other categories including the Best Main Actress, Music, Cinematography and Arts Design Awards. 

The film continued to win the 2015 Silver Kite Awards as well as the Best Film Director and Music Awards presented by the Vietnam Cinema Association.

Most recently, The Life of Yen surpassed numerous formidable competitors to win the Best Film Awards at the 2016 World Premieres Film Festival (WPFF) in the Philippines. 

For a young director, these were more successes than expected. At the 2016 Hanoi International Film Festival, Tuan Vu’s feature film titled Taxi, What’s Your Name won the Favourite Vietnamese Film award.

Tuan Vu is seeking opportunities to study abroad in countries having developed cinema in the world, aiming to make Vietnamese films with high quality and artistic values.

Nguyen Phi Phi Anh, bringing opera closer to Vietnamese audiences

Born in 1991 in Hanoi, opera director Nguyen Phi Phi Anh graduated from the Hampshire College Theatre and Film Faculty in the US. He came back to Vietnam to run an arts project entitled “Hope” at the L'Espace French Cultural Centre in Hanoi, leaving a good impression on the domestic theatrical world. 

With nearly 40 shows running from October 2016 to early 2017, the project presents three Broadway theatrical performances, titled Goc pho danh vong (“Corner of Fame”), Dem he sau cuoi (“Last Night after Summer”) and Mong uoc khong xa voi (“Dreams Are Not Far”), which were directed by Phi Anh.

Notably, although the plays were not entirely new, they were so attractive that all tickets were sold out. Previously, the first two musicals were first performed in 2012 and 2013 in Hanoi. 

The Corner of Fame was a romantic play and comedy, while Last Night after Summer attracted audiences with thrilling and thorny episodes. In addition, Dreams Are Not Far was a deep and sweet musical imbued with Asian cultural identities.

Phi Anh and his colleagues destroyed prejudices about opera in Vietnam. He made Vietnamese audiences see that this kind of music also has rich entertainment value and that it is very easy to understand. Phi Anh used the West’s techniques in arranging opera plays to convey stories imbued with Vietnamese culture.