The Vietnam National Academy of Music (formerly Hanoi Conservatory of Music) has had a historical journey full of milestones since its establishment in 1956. For you personally, a person who has been attached to the Academy for more than 20 years, what is the most important thing that keeps you at the Academy?
- For me, the Vietnam National Academy of Music is like a second home associated with family tradition.
My mother was one of the first generation of students trained at the Music Secondary School from 1956, and studied with the first teachers of the school. Later, she also held many positions, researched theory and composed here.
I myself also finished the elementary level at the school before going to Russia to study abroad. After graduating and returning home in 2003, I continued to be attached to and work at the Academy until now. Currently, my children are also studying at the school.
According to the family tradition of many generations, my personal desire to contribute to this school has naturally come in a very natural way.
Moreover, after going through many positions from lecturer, Deputy Head of Piano Department, Chairman of the School Council and now Director of the Academy, I still have many unfinished development strategies that I want to realize, in order to make the Academy worthy of being a leading national institution in training, performance and scientific research.
The Vietnam National Academy of Music has very unique characteristics in education and training. In my personal opinion, there will be very "hot" faculties such as Vocal Music, Piano, but there will also be some majors in instruments that are difficult to recruit students such as flute, lute, brass horn... Can you share more deeply about the characteristics of each training faculty at the school today?
- There are two faculties that always have uniform, large and strong enrollment, which are the Vocal Faculty and the Piano Faculty. The number of students participating in training from intermediate to university of these two faculties is about more than 300 students/faculty, depending on the years.
With flutes, lute... belonging to the Department of Traditional Musical Instruments, it is not as difficult to recruit students as many people think. When learning traditional musical instruments, students enjoy many incentives from the State, and are supported up to 70% of tuition fees, this is the State's way of supporting to preserve national identity and develop culture.
With brass instruments, it was indeed very difficult before. At one point, it took 2 years to enroll a student to learn brass instruments.
But now it is different, along with the increasing appearance of musical institutions, theaters have been and are being built, the demand for enjoying academic music is increasing, many new symphony orchestras have been established, and the demand for personnel for current orchestras is very large.
We have received a lot of orders, majors that were once difficult to recruit like brass bands are now very "hot". The recruitment signal in recent years has clearly improved significantly.
This year, our trumpet majors have recruited 30 students divided into about 5 different trumpet majors. This year, the extremely difficult major such as cor has recruited 5 students at the same time. This is a very good sign, because if we do not focus on training, symphony orchestras established will be forced to hire foreigners at very high costs.
From your perspective, how is the cultural industry affecting institutions specializing in education and training such as the Vietnam National Academy of Music?
- The impact is very large, because we are a place to train human resources for many stages of the cultural industry, from performing artists, composers, to research, criticism. When the cultural industry is invested and focused on as a key economic sector, education and training will be given more attention.
He is the son of musician Huy Du - who has revolutionary musical works that have stood the test of time such as "The Road We Take", "I Still March", "Burning Fire, My Love"... Mentioning his father, what do you want to share most?
- I am always proud to be the son of musician Huy Du - a person who dedicated his whole life and talent to dedicating himself to the Vietnamese Revolutionary music scene. Songs like "The road we walk", "I am still marching", "Burning fire, em"... are not only excellent musical works but have become part of historical memories, associated with the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism of the nation.
Many of his works have been honored, living forever in the hearts of many generations of Vietnamese people. I believe that, like the compositions of musicians of the same era, my father's music will continue to be sung for many more years, so that today's and future generations can better understand the heroic years, the patriotism, the will to fight and the aspiration for peace of the Vietnamese nation.
I lived with my father from birth until I was 15 years old, before going to Russia to study abroad. During that time, I not only heard almost all of his famous works but also had the opportunity to directly witness the creative process of a musician.
Every time he completed a new work, my father usually did not rush to take it to perform but invited colleagues, famous musicians, and writers of that time to the small house on Chau Long street to exchange and contribute ideas. At that time, I was just a little boy wandering around pouring water, carrying tea, preparing some food for the uncles, but it was in that inspiring artistic space that I was quietly able to listen, observe and absorb my love for music in the most natural way.
The image of my father sitting for hours by the piano in a small room, in the smoke of cigarettes, both playing and humming melodies and continuously erasing and editing each line of music has been deeply imprinted in my memory.
He doesn't sing well, and maybe I inherited that from my father. I can't sing, but luckily I found my way through the piano.
But it was those childhood years that became the cradle that nurtured my love for music and shaped my entire artistic career later.
The Vietnam National Academy of Music is one of the collectives nominated for honor at the program "Vietnam Glory 2026". Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huy Phuong shared: "This is a great honor for the Vietnam National Academy of Music to be nominated for the "Vietnam Glory" award. When selected for this award, I believe that it is proof of the unremitting efforts of the entire Vietnam National Academy of Music collective in many years of striving in the fields of performance, training and scientific research".
