Concert «Classical, Folk & Jazz»

   A piano trio that travels from an Eastern European lament to ragtime and blues in a single evening — that is the shape of this September programme in a museum hall in central Ho Chi Minh City. Two works, two centuries and three musicians brought together for one night: a chance to hear what chamber music does once it steps outside the concert-hall tradition.

   The players are violinist François Mathian, cellist Elaine Lee and pianist Ju Sun Young. The first half belongs to Café Music by Paul Schoenfield, written in 1986 on a commission from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, after the composer had spent a few evenings filling in at the piano at Murray's steakhouse in Minneapolis. That is where the material comes from: ragtime, blues, swing and a virtuosity that only pretends to be light entertainment.

   The second half is the Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, known as «Dumky». Antonín Dvořák finished it in February 1891 and took the piano part himself at the premiere in Prague on 11 April of the same year. Instead of the usual four movements there are six dumky — the Ukrainian word dumka means a lament in which grief keeps giving way to dance, and Dvořák let the form stay that way rather than forcing it into sonata shape.

   The organisers describe the evening as informal and easy to listen to, and that is a fair description: this is a sensible programme to start with if you have been avoiding classical concerts because they felt too solemn. Neither work asks for endurance — both hold attention by changing character every few minutes, from lament to blues riff and back.

   The concert runs in two halves with an interval and fits into roughly an hour and a half. The venue is a museum rather than a concert hall: Bảo tàng Lịch sử Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History) occupies a 1929 building designed by the French architect Auguste Delaval, and the performance space is on the second floor, reached by stairs — worth knowing in advance if stairs are a problem for you. There is parking at the museum, and guests are let in an hour before the music starts.

   The evening is put together by La — A Different Way of Music, a team that has been working in Ho Chi Minh City since December 2022 and builds its programmes around chamber formats outside the usual concert routine. If you have ever wondered what happens to classical music when it stops defending itself against jazz and folk, this evening gives a short and clear answer.