The past year of the pandemic has greatly affected Ninh Duc Hoang Long's artistic activities in Hungary as well as in Vietnam, but fortunately in the 2021-2022 season, Long will have more than 45 official performances with the Hungarian Opera House. In addition, Long's performance schedule has been arranged until June 2024 with many new challenges.
The dream of all opera artists
According to Hoang Long, on the world's famous opera stages today, young Korean opera artists have proven themselves very well and many have been successful. "However, Korea has a strongly developed classical music industry and opera artists are well-trained. In Southeast Asia, opera is still new, the theaters are young, there are few performances that create conditions for artists to work. In Europe today, besides Korean opera artists, there are very few other opera artists from Asia," said Hoang Long. Being in the official ranks of the Hungarian Opera House is the result of more than 10 years of Long's tireless efforts. In the past, he has performed many times with great Hungarian opera artists: Miklosa Erika, Rost Andrea, Molnar Levente, Alexandru Agache..., but with a world legend like Placido Domingo, this is the first time.
- Hoang Long graduated with honors in classical vocal performance in Hungary in 2017. Also in this year, he got his first opera role: a small role with world- famous opera artists: Francesco Demuro, Jessica Pratt, Ricardo Frizza. - In 2019, he toured 10 cities with the Hungarian Opera House in his first leading role - Nemorino in Donizetti's opera L'elisir d'amore. He has now graduated with a master's degree in opera performance (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music). - Selected in Vietnam Forbes 30 under 30 2020. - Certificate of merit from the Central Youth Union, certificate of merit from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam in Hungary. - The first Vietnamese citizen to be granted special citizenship by the Hungarian President after 5 years of studying and living in Hungary. |
Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra is a complex drama about politics and family relationships in mid-14th century Geneva, Italy; it mainly revolves around the character Simon Boccanegra - played by opera legend Placido Domingo. “Long’s role was very small, as a captain in the city’s army, probably only appearing on stage for a few minutes with a few lines. However, seeing Placido Domingo perform was already very difficult (6 years ago, he had a performance in Budapest, but because the tickets were too expensive, not having enough money to buy them, Long had to wait in front of the theater with his other fans for more than 3 hours in the rain, just to meet a living legend of world opera), but to perform with him in an official opera, whether standing in the choir or a very small role, was the dream of all opera artists. For Long personally, this was probably the biggest highlight in his career up to that point,” he shared.
Regarding this role, according to Hoang Long: “Small roles often create a lot of pressure, because when singing a main role, the performance will be consistent, making some mistakes is acceptable. But when playing a small role with a short appearance time, making mistakes is unacceptable”. In addition, for Long, this is an opportunity to learn and follow the work of great artists. In a play, usually each type of voice has a main role and a supporting role. Artists who sing supporting roles often follow and learn the main role. There are many cases where the main role suddenly becomes sick or cancels the performance, then a great opportunity will be given to the supporting role if that person knows and knows the main role”.
Only Sunday off each week
After his initial successes in 2018 and making an impression on Hungarian audiences, several management companies expressed their interest in signing a contract with Ninh Duc Hoang Long. However, they all wanted a long-term contract of more than 5 years, while Long did not want to be tied down, but wanted freedom in his artistic activities. Currently, Long is officially working at the Hungarian Opera House but can freely perform anywhere. Up to now, Long has performed at leading European concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie or the Dubai Opera House; had the opportunity to perform in London, Tokyo...
“The Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years has had a huge impact on Long. International vocal competitions all have age restrictions for men under 30 - 31 years old. At the time of the outbreak, Long was 28 years old, the right age to participate in international competitions. However, Long had to postpone it, as well as miss many events and concerts in his hometown because he could not travel to Vietnam. Instead, Long mainly participated in online performances,” he said, adding that he got married in 2019 and when his daughter was born, it was also the time when the pandemic broke out in Hungary.
“Fortunately, Hungary has controlled the epidemic and the theater has reopened. On June 12, Long returned to the stage for the first time with no empty seats. In the near future, Long's performance and practice schedule is almost full, with only Sundays off each week. Hopefully, when life stabilizes, Long can continue to hone and develop his career smoothly,” he confided. Ninh Duc Hoang Long also excitedly said that next October, he will be given his first leading role at the Hungarian Operett Theater (a genre similar to opera) as a prince from Asia, in the play Das Land des Lächelns by Lehar Ferenc. Having an Asian artist play the role of an Asian prince promises to create a lot of excitement for the audience.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ninh-duc-hoang-long-tham-gia-vo-opera-cung-huyen-thoai-placido-domingo-1851081383.htm
Comment (0)