Jan. 5 Concert Day.  We leave the hotel at 8 AM for a 9 AM rehearsal. There is a huge poster outside the opera house with Do Phuong Nhi and my photos on it. We are early so there are very few people around, but fortunately we know the way to the dressing room area and manage to claim one of them. I wander onto the stage, which is still being put together as well as the shell being put up. The stage is huge very much large enough for an opera turntable for sets when a theatrical performance is…

January 4 It is the day before the concert and there is still much work to be done primarily on the Dvorak Symphony. We've arranged to get to the rehearsal hall by 11:30 so we can meet up with one of our summer MME in conducting students who is currently teaching in Myanmar and has completed one summer and one semester on-line in our program thus far. Lee Pophal is on break from his job and is touring Vietnam with his sister. He makes arrangements to meet us for lunch that day and Thang and Lan take us to another…

January 3 Another morning rehearsal this time back on the Copland which was a bit rusty from the weekend's activities. The music came back soon enough allowing us to go through the entire piece and then the concerto. The Dvorak was more challenging and during the break the personnel manager came to me and told be that because of exams at the Academy of Music, two oboes and the pianist could not make tomorrow AM's rehearsal. Thus he asked me if starting at 1:30 would be adequate. Then the Assistant Concertmaster asked if we could get more string section rehearsal…

Fort Collins Symphony Music Director Wes Kenney will conduct the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) at the Hanoi Opera House on January 5, 2018 as part of an ongoing international exchange program. Maestro Kenney will conduct the VNSO’s performance of Copland’s Suite from Rodeo and the Dvořák Symphony No. 6. Violinist Do Phoung Nhi will play the Bruch Violin Concerto she performed for Fort Collins in May 2016. The exchange has been several years in the planning and took place two seasons ago when Do Phoung Nhi was introduced to Fort Collins audiences. Her parents Le Hoang Lan and Do…