(To Quoc) - On the evening of December 28, the Vietnam National Academy of Music will hold a special concert "The sound of the piano still resonates" to commemorate People's Teacher Thai Thi Lien, one of the 7 people who participated in the establishment of the Vietnam Music School (now the Vietnam National Academy of Music), the first and longest-serving head teacher of the Piano department of the school.
People's Teacher (ND) Thai Thi Lien was born on August 4, 1918 into a prestigious intellectual family in Saigon. Her father was engineer Thai Van Lan, one of the first Vietnamese engineers to graduate in France. Her sister was Thai Thi Lang, the first Vietnamese composer and pianist to graduate from the Paris Conservatory of Music in both performance and composition. Her brother was lawyer Thai Van Lung, a member of the first National Assembly, a martyr who died in 1946 and his name was given to a street in the center of Ho Chi Minh City.
Thai Thi Lien studied piano from the age of 4 at a convent school and primary school for French children for 7 years. From the age of 11, while studying at Marie Curie High School, she entered the professional path with teacher Armande Caron, who won the first prize in piano at the Paris Conservatory, a student of Professor Isidore Philipp of the Paris Conservatory, and won the first prize in piano performance in 1883.
As an excellent student of Armande Caron, at the age of 16 she had her public debut performance at Saigon City Hall.
In 1946, she went to France with the intention of continuing her higher studies in music, but with the historical events of Vietnam, she left Paris for Prague in 1948 and studied piano performance at the Prague Conservatory, one of the oldest music schools in Europe. She graduated with honors in 1951 from Professor Ema Dolezalóva's class with a large performance program including works by D. Scarlatti, JS Bach, LV Beethoven and B. Smetana.
In late 1951, she followed her husband to Viet Bac to join the resistance and work at the Central Art Troupe. In early 1954, she joined the Peace Choir in Shanghai, China, recording programs to be broadcast on the radio when the capital was taken over that fall. In late 1955, she and singer Minh Do went to Czechoslovakia to record with Supraphon the first music disc of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
In November 1956, she was one of the seven musicians who founded the Vietnam Music School and was the first Head of the Piano Department until her retirement in 1977. During more than 20 years of working at the School, including the war years and the difficult and deprived evacuation areas, she compiled the curriculum, textbooks, trained and coached the first lecturers, and directly trained many generations of lecturers and piano artists. Many of them have become famous artists, musicians and teachers such as Nguyen Huu Tuan, Hoang My, Phuong Chi, Tuyet Minh, Kim Dung Tran Thu Ha and Do Hong Quan. The most prominent among them is Dang Thai Son, her youngest son, who is the first Asian to win first prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition.
From left to right: People's Artist Quoc Hung, Deputy Director in charge of the Vietnam National Academy of Music; two children of People's Artist Thai Thi Lien: Professor, People's Artist Tran Thu Ha and Architect Tran Thanh Binh share about the special concert "The sound of the guitar still resonates forever"
In addition to her teaching career, she has been a tireless performer. She was the first to perform recitals in Hanoi in the late 1950s, and participated in concerts with experts from the former Soviet Union such as Professor Khodjaev (violin) and Fedoshenko (violin) at the Hanoi and Hai Phong Opera Houses. She performed not only in large, brightly lit auditoriums, but also in moonlit concerts in the courtyard of the evacuation cooperative, such as thematic nights with Chopin works or the Weber Trio concert with Professors Vu Huong (violin) and Le Bich (flute).
During her lifetime, she said her greatest assets were her three children. In addition to People's Artist Dang Thai Son, another famous "former student" of hers is her daughter, Professor. People's Artist Tran Thu Ha - former Head of the Piano Department, former Director of the Academy of Music, Hero of Labor in the Renovation Period. And her son, architect Tran Thanh Binh, although not pursuing a musical career, still left his mark at the Academy of Music as an architect, the author of the design of the entire new facility and the Modern Concert Hall.
People's Artist Thai Thi Lien and her son - People's Artist Dang Thai Son
Professor, People's Teacher Tran Thu Ha shared that my mother had only two wishes in her life: how to care for and educate the next generation of piano students and build facilities for the School of Music. On January 31, 2023, she passed away in Hanoi. Her life was like a legend, and that legend was written with a rare record: an artist over a century old still teaching and performing. She was not only the mother of three children but also the mother and legendary teacher of many generations of Vietnamese pianists.
The music night "The sound of the piano still resonates forever" with the participation of lecturers - artists of the Piano Department of the Vietnam Academy of Music, representing generations of lecturers - students of the department. From the first generation of students who learned from her directly, now in their 80s, such as Meritorious Artist Kim Dung and Meritorious Artist Tuyet Minh, to the younger generations - key lecturers of the Department today, students of students such as Dr. Dao Trong Tuyen, Head of the Department, Associate Professor. Dr. Nguyen Huy Phuong, Chairman of the Academy Council... From students - children such as Professor, People's Artist Tran Thu Ha to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the sounds of the piano resonate endlessly.
In particular, part II of the program is a special gift from People's Artist Dang Thai Son to his mother with her favorite songs.
Source: https://toquoc.vn/tieng-dan-con-mai-ngan-vang-tuong-nho-nha-giao-nhan-dan-thai-thi-lien-20241223195848268.htm
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