Piano Recital «RESONATE»

   A piano evening where Chopin and Liszt share the programme with Rihanna, film scores and the performer's own pieces. That sounds like a stunt until you see the running order — the recital is built to widen the line between classical and contemporary rather than pick a side. The venue is a mid-sized hall on Hao Nam Street, close enough that you hear the pedals as well as the notes.

   The pianist is Nguyễn Phương Nhi, German-trained and the founder of PiaNhissimo, a music-education project aimed at bringing classical piano to a wider audience in Vietnam. Part I is straight repertoire: Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3, Chopin's Waltz in C sharp minor Op. 64 No. 2 and Ballade No. 1 in G minor Op. 23. Part II turns: a «Viennese Fantasy» improvised on themes by Mozart and Beethoven, piano arrangements of «Diamonds» and «I Will Survive», her own «Valse Infinie», and music from «Pirates of the Caribbean» — plus an encore written into the programme.

   Tickets are priced by row rather than by section: front row of level 1 costs 600,000 VND, second row 400,000, third row 250,000, and the front row of level 2 is 300,000. For a solo recital that difference is mostly about how much of the instrument you hear.

   Whether you have followed classical music for years or have never sat through a full recital, this is an easy first one: each block has its own colour and none of them outstays your attention. You will be closer to the keyboard here than in most Hanoi concert halls. Tickets are sold through Ticketbox.