During the first half of the concert, Son will perform masterpieces of Gabriel Faure (Two Nocturns No1 and No2), and of Maurice Ravel including Noctuelles, Oiseaux Tristes and Alborada del Gracioso. The second half will include works by Frederic Chopin including Barcarolle Fis Dur op 60, Six Mazurkas No 1, 2 (Op 17), No 4 (Op 33) and Sherzo No 2B moll.

Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in October 1980, where he was awarded a gold medal at the 10th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. It was the first time an Asian artist had won this prestigious international competition.

He began piano studies with his mother, Thai Thi Lien, who was the first Vietnamese pianist to graduate from the Piano Department at the Prague Conservatory in the Czech Republic in 1951.

Son was discovered by the Russian pianist Isaac Katz, who was on visit in Vietnam in 1974, he then pursued his advanced training at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia with Vladimir Natanson and Dmitry Bashkirov.

Since winning the Chopin competition, Son’s career has taken him to over 40 countries and such world renowned concert halls as the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Sydney Opera House, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

He has played with numerous world-class orchestras such as the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Orchestra.

He was the first person from East Asia to sit in the jury of the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition in 2005.

He now teaches at the Université de Montréal in Canada.

VNS/VOVNews