The Vietnamese National Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Wow, what an experience! Nothing could have prepared me for playing with this orchestra. I showed up the first day to rehearse, and was told that the orchestra would not be rehearsing the wind section that day. But at least we got to meet both of the conductors and they were really nice to us. So, I asked for my music which they photo copied for me and we went home. The next morning I showed up at 8:40 to warm up for the 9:00 rehearsal. I waited for 10 minutes and finally someone came to unlock the door. I was starting to wonder if I was in the right place. I went in the room and sat in the second bassoon chair. By about 8:54 I decided that I might as well start warming up, even if no one was there yet. And then the orchestra members started arriving—STARTED arriving at 9:00! I could not believe what I was seeing. In any professional orchestra in the US, the musicians will usually start showing up around 20 minutes before the rehearsal begins, and for sure everyone will ready to play 10 or 5 minutes early. So, people started trickling in… and I thought, well, they’d better hurry if the rehearsal is supposed to start like right now! But no. They mozied around, chatted with eachother, talked on their cell phones, and gradually got their instruments out. The conductor finally stood up and started yelling at people and a few minutes later the “A” was played (with no tuner, I might add) at 9:20. I was flabberghasted! And not only was the A given with no tuner, everyone was TALKING during it! So then about 5 minutes later the conductor said some things that I didn’t understand and the rehearsal began. People were talking to eachother, checking their cell phones, and TALKING on their cell phones throughout the rehearsal! And whenever the conductor stopped the orchestra to say something, everyone started chatting with one another and I was wondering if anyone was really listening to him. I for sure wasn’t, because I don’t understand a word of Vietnamese (luckily the first bassoonist speaks a little English and translated anything that pertained to me). And just when I thought that I had seen it all, the conductor stops the orchestra, pulls out his ringing cell phone, and answers it! Really, I could not believe it.

I told John all of this that afternoon and he just laughed and said, "well that's just how Vietnamese people are!" So, I guess that's the way they do things here!

But the interesting part about this is that they sound so good! The program for the concert was all Vietnamese traditional music. It was all new to me, and I thought it sounded wonderful! We also played some pieces with the opera chorus and they sang SOOOO beautifully!

Our performance was last week in the Opera House downtown. It was built by the French when they were here, and supposedly is a copy of the opera house where the Phantom of the Opera lived. It was pretty neat. The concert was given for the Vietnamese national day. We found out the day before that they were not selling tickets either, that it was by invitation only. So I was worried that John wouldn’t get to come but I should never have doubted, because John is so good at making friends with important people. So he did get to come, and it was a great night. The orchestra members were all really nice to me and I’m glad I was able to play with them. I hope I have more opportunities like this in the future.