Elevating Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera)

The Organizing Committee of the "Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Stage Actor Talent" competition in 2025 will link the award with a large-scale touring event.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports hopes that the artists who won gold and silver medals at the "Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Stage Actor Talent Competition" will continuously innovate to spread this art form to a wider audience.

New vitality, new expectations for cải lương (Vietnamese traditional opera).

Returning after a six-year hiatus, the Tran Huu Trang Award has been upgraded to a national-level competition, with hundreds of Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera) artists participating from all three regions of the country, contributing to the continued spread and affirmation of the strong vitality of Cai Luong in the national cultural and artistic life. After being reorganized by Ho Chi Minh City in 2020, the competition, titled "Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Stage Actor Talent," successfully held two seasons in 2020 and 2022, leaving a significant mark in terms of professionalism, organization, and social impact.

In season 1, 19 outstanding individuals were awarded gold and silver medals in 4 categories: male and female lead roles, villainous male and female lead roles, elderly male and female lead roles, and comedic roles. Among them, 7 gold medals went to Vo Thanh Phe, Le Thanh Thao, Nha Thi, Thanh Toan, Kim Phung, Linh Trung, and Meritorious Artist Thien Hoa.

And in season 2, the following artists won gold medals: Vo Minh Lam (male lead, playing Co Sau in the excerpt "The Love Story of Khau Vai"), Huynh Tieu Nhi (female lead, playing Loan in the excerpt "Illusion"), Tran Thi Thu Van (female lead, playing Hue in the excerpt "Fated Love"), Cao Thuy Vy (female lead, playing Truong Lac Thai Hoang Thai Hau in the excerpt "Tragedy"), Nguyen Minh Truong (male lead, playing Tran Thang in the excerpt "The Scholar of Thang Long"), and Ha Nhu (female lead, playing Doan Thi in the excerpt "The Rejuvenation Elixir"). This season, 11 silver medals went to the following artists: Hai Long, Vinh Son, Bich Hanh, Bich Cham, Phuong Nga, Diem Ngoc, Le Trung Thao, Nguyen Van Khoi, Thanh Dong, Nhu Huynh, and Tran Minh Chau. They have the potential to create many more excellent roles, so that these gold and silver medals are not just titles, but become stepping stones for artists to confidently enter professional theater troupes.

"They need to gain the trust of directors and have their names remembered by the public. More importantly, the 2025 competition will contribute to shaping 'Cai Luong talent' in the context of the stage facing many challenges: not only must they be good at singing and acting, but they must also have aesthetic thinking, creativity, a spirit of collaboration, and stage presence," - Meritorious Artist Ca Le Hong hopes.

Artists who won medals in the "Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Stage Actor Talent Competition" participated in the play "Han Mac Tu" produced by Meritorious Artist Vu Luan and the Ho Chi Minh City Stage Association.

To allow cải lương (Vietnamese traditional opera) to spread widely.

This year, under the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, preparations for the competition have been organized systematically and professionally, enhancing the coordinating role of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, along with the responsible participation of the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association. Besides professional aspects, promotional and communication activities are also being intensified, helping to raise awareness among young people about Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera) through digital platforms.

In particular, with its groundbreaking direction, this year's competition promises to be the starting point for a journey to bring Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera) into the lives of the people. Artists who won gold and silver medals in this competition and the two previous seasons will be promoted, and their performances and excerpts will be included in large-scale touring shows.

With this new promotional model, Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera) has the opportunity to expand to localities recently merged into Ho Chi Minh City. Theaters, cultural centers, and public spaces in the expanded areas will become venues for performances by talents from the Tran Huu Trang Award. This is how the city is transforming the award from just a "ceremony of honor" into a "mobile cultural institution"—a place where art and the public meet on vibrant stages.

Experts are delighted that the competition, after two seasons, has demonstrated its inherent strength, contributing to the discovery, support, and dissemination of young talent. "To go further and transform the award into a crucial link in the development of the theatrical arts industry, connecting training, performance, and community service, we need a roadmap. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Council's approval of funding for promotion, staging, and touring is not just an investment in art, but an investment in identity, so that cải lương (Vietnamese traditional opera) is not limited to memory but is present in modern life," said Meritorious Artist Lê Thiện.

According to experts, the competition is no longer just a "launching pad," but is being elevated by Ho Chi Minh City into a strategy for developing in-depth human resources for the theater. The past two seasons have been a solid start. With season 3, when talents are brought to the mobile stages of the expanding metropolis, Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera) has the opportunity to return to its rightful place: an art form living among the people, not only for preservation but also for continued development.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nang-tam-cai-luong-196250707215223419.htm