Brazilian pianist Cristian Budu begins his first Asian tour in Việt Nam

Brazil is sending its rising star of classical music, pianist Cristian Budu to perform at Hồ Gươm Opera on October 30 to seal the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Titled 'Saudades do Brasil' (Missing Brazil), the concert is made possible by Embassy of Brazil in Hà Nội through the government’s cultural promotion program.

The event is part of a series of celebrations to commemorate the 35th anniversary of bilateral relations between Brazil and Việt Nam, to be completed at the end of this year.

Next Wednesday, the concert in Hà Nội, is the starting point of the first Asian tour of Cristian Budu. The Brazilian, born in Brazil to Romanian parents, will be performing under the baton of conductor Olivier Ochanine, a French citizen who has been conducting the Sun Symphony Orchestra.

The concert's programme will include pieces by important Brazilian composers Camargo Guarnieri and Heitor Villa-Lobos, as well as by French composer Darius Milhaud, a nod to the Sun Symphony conductor and founding musical director Ochanine.

Cristian Budu rose to stardom in 2013, when he became the grand winner of the Clara Haskil international competition in Switzerland. In addition to winning the main prize, the Brazilian pianist was also honoured with prizes from a public vote and from young critics.

Budu's name has graced the covers of the internationally renowned magazine Gramophone, which specialises in classical music, which included him in the select list of the 'Top 50 Greatest Chopin Recordings'. The magazine described him as: "A stunningly original pianist with musical insight and maturity comparable to colleagues twice his age".

His latest solo CD received the 'Editor’s Choice' in England and the '5-Diapasons' in France, and was also included in the latest update of two of the most prestigious lists by Gramophone: 'Top 10 Recent Beethoven Recordings' and 'Top 10 Chopin Recordings'.

For all these reasons, Cristian Budu is considered the greatest Brazilian pianist of the last four decades. Throughout his career, he has performed as a soloist in concerts held in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Romania, the Netherlands, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and, of course, Brazil.

In his home country, Cristian Budu heads several musical projects and social initiatives with the aim of democratising access to classical music. With this spirit, he both performs concerts in popular venues at affordable prices and also often plays in people's homes in order to bring them closer to classical music, leaving aside the formality that surrounds the genre.

Conductor Olivier Ochanine has been a regular figure on the classical music halls in Hà Nội since 2017. Born in Paris, he furthered his musical studies in the United States. Ochanine's music career has brought him to work not only in Europe and North America, but also in Asia. In 2015, Olivier Ochanine won the first prize of the 2015 Antal Dorati International Conducting Competition in Budapest, Hungary, in which he surpassed nearly 120 other conductors from 23 countries.

He also won the prestigious The American Prize (2015) in the Professional Orchestra Conducting division and came in second place that same year at the London Classical Soloists International Conducting Competition. Conducting the SSO in Việt Nam, Ochanine has collaborated with artists such as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Sumi Jo, Sergei Dogadin and Benjamin Grosvenor.

Prior to conducting SSO in Việt Nam, Ochanine was also the youngest musician to have been made Music Director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) in the orchestra's history. His stint with the PPO spanned two three-year terms from 2010 to 2016. During his tenure, the PPO performed numerous premieres and in June 2016, the orchestra made its maiden voyage to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The 'Saudades do Brasil' concert has been jointly organised by the Embassy of Brazil in partnership with Sun Group and Hồ Gươm Opera.

As part of the series of celebrations throughout the year, a Bossa Nova concert was performed last September in Hà Nội and, in April, friendly football matches were held in Đà Nẵng and Hà Nội, featuring former members of the Brazilian national football team that won the fourth World Cup title in 1994.