Composer Quang Thuan: "Each song is a heartfelt expression of my feelings."

(Baonghean) - In a small room filled with the sounds of a late spring afternoon, we listened to him sing his first song, "Sending to Autumn," with poignant and passionate emotion, composed when he was a student at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music...

In 1970, 12-year-old Quang Thuan went alone to the capital to study elementary music at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music. Constantly on his mind at that time was homesickness, longing for his friends and old school in Vinh. During some classes, he would sit listlessly, unable to absorb a single word...

But then, his passion for writing music to express himself through music supported and propelled Quang Thuan through elementary, intermediate, and university-level studies, all the way to the Symphony Orchestra Department at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music.

At 16, Quang Thuan was selected to perform with the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra. At that time, he was already a proficient French horn player. Standing on stage for the first time, in a large performance in a magnificent concert hall, he felt a mixture of joy, honor, nervousness, and anxiety… He thought he wouldn't be able to even hold the horn to play. But when the conductor gave the signal, he regained his composure, gently picked up the French horn – the instrument that had been with him throughout his student years – and passionately joined the orchestra.

During his studies at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, Quang Thuan began composing songs and instrumental music. His first song was an expression of his feelings about Hanoi's autumn. Through the eyes of this student from Nghe An, Hanoi's autumn was both captivating and indifferent, encompassing first love with its many emotions: longing, yearning, anger, and reproach. In 1982, after graduating with honors, he was retained by the university as a lecturer in the symphony department and became a full member of the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra. A bright and promising future lay ahead for Quang Thuan.

However, in 1983, he decided to return to Nghe An – a decision that was incredibly difficult and unexpected for many colleagues and friends, especially in the artistic community at the time. Back then, it was already difficult for a symphony musician to live in Hanoi, let alone in a remote province in Central Vietnam. Yet, Quang Thuan was determined to leave the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, abandoning all his unfinished dreams and plans, and start over in Nghe An.

Quang Thuan once shared: "Only through suffering, tears, and bitterness can we find the emotions to write profound works that touch people's hearts. When I joined the orchestra of the Nghe An Song and Dance Drama Troupe, I was very disappointed in the beginning. I was used to performing in a large orchestra with modern instruments, but here, we lacked everything. Many of my colleagues had to quit the profession..."

But thinking back to the arduous study period at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, and the advice of his teachers and colleagues when he decided to leave Hanoi, his instrumental compositions were created one after another, selected by the troupe's leadership for performance programs such as "Returning to the Land of Ví Dặm" (female acapella), "Spring Colors of the Village" (woodwind instruments), "Autumn Melody" (wind quintet), "Sending Autumn Far Away" (string quartet), "Fragrance of Làng Sen" (choral)...

Quang Thuan's compositions have contributed to the troupe winning many major awards at national and regional festivals. In 2010, composer Quang Thuan won third prize in the songwriting competition about Nghe An. In 2011, he won the Excellence Award from the Vietnam Musicians Association at the North Central Music Festival with his work "Blue Eyes of the Lam River," the C Prize at the Ho Xuan Huong Award, and third prize in the songwriting competition for Nghe An youth... In recent years, with his new position and responsibilities as the Head of the Nghe An Song and Dance Troupe (now the Nghe An Ethnic Song and Dance Troupe), while managing and participating in artistic direction, general direction, arrangement, and staging of the troupe's major programs, he still doesn't forget to dedicate time to composing songs. For him, it's an opportunity to "express his feelings" to the music-loving public and to the passion he has pursued for so many years.

Thanh Thuy