Bắc Ninh
Road to become a “City of Music”
In recent years, Hai Phong has focused on preserving heritage, investing in performance spaces, encouraging musical creativity, and bringing arts education into schools and communities to realise its long-term vision of becoming the festival and arts hub of the northern coastal region, moving towards the title of “City of Music”.
According to Tran Thi Hoang Mai, Director of Hai Phong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hai Phong is not only a port city strong in industry, logistics, and marine tourism, but also rich in cultural industry potential.
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Hai Phong boasts a strong performing force. |
On the path of developing cultural industries, Hai Phong has the full resources and aspirations to become a city of music. This is not only a spiritual value but also a cultural asset, a creative driver, and a means of spreading identity.
Following the administrative merger, the city’s cultural space has expanded and gained greater opportunities for development, drawing together historical and cultural values, especially the traditional art forms of the cultured land of the East and the heroic port city.
Alongside this is a powerful performing force comprising professional art units such as: Hai Phong Contemporary Arts Theatre, Hai Phong Traditional Stage Theatre, Xu Dong Cheo Theatre, and units stationed in the area such as the Military Zone 3 Art Troupe and the Navy Art Troupe.
In recent times, the city has expanded “open performance spaces” such as the Bandstand, the city theatre square, and outdoor venues along the central strip of the city, bringing music closer to the people and laying the foundation for a diverse performance market.
For example, in late August, at the specially designated national relic of the Mac Clan Ancestral House, music lovers were immersed in the unique symphony of heritage—court music and traditional music—within the framework of the first Hai Phong Expanded Court Music Festival in 2025 (the first time it has been held in Hai Phong), which brought together art troupes from Hue, Cao Bang, Thai Binh, and Hai Phong.
Through these nights of performance, court music, once considered a “museum treasure”, stepped out from the stage into the community, becoming close and vibrant, leaving beautiful memories in the hearts of Hai Phong music lovers and visitors.
Participating in the Court Music Festival hosted by Hai Phong, musician and Meritorious Artist Hoang Trong Cuong, Director of Hue Traditional Court Arts Theatre, said, “Hai Phong’s successful hosting of the Court Music Festival was not only an opportunity for the public to clearly see how heritage is being preserved and developed in contemporary life, but also demonstrated the city’s determination and concrete actions on its journey to become a major music centre of the country.”
In recent years, the city has continuously left its mark with artistic works rich in creativity, reflecting its vision of developing performing arts towards professionalism and integration.
From the beginning of 2025 to the present, Hai Phong has launched many works, a testament to its ability to form distinctive stage productions capable of spreading, nurturing audiences, and affirming its identity.
Notable among them is a musical staged by the Hai Phong Contemporary Arts Theatre, assessed as a breakthrough in efforts to create a modern musical space imbued with traditional spirit.
Love, loyalty, and the will to defend the country were conveyed through the integrated language of musical theatre; a harmony of technique and emotion, where artists displayed versatility akin to a miniature Broadway imbued with Vietnamese identity.
Thanks to this, the love story of Cat Ba, told through the musical, captivated audiences from its debut and was highly praised by experts.
Alongside musicals, Hai Phong’s puppetry has also made significant progress with the play “The Flock of Swans”—a world classic staged by Hai Phong Traditional Stage Theatre in collaboration with People’s Artist Nguyen Tien Dung.
It is proof of a new direction for puppetry: adapting world classics, retelling them through the imaginative language of puppetry combined with modern light and sound effects and masterful performance techniques, while being expressed through traditional Vietnamese art.
According to many Hai Phong audiences and experts, with “The Flock of Swans”, Hai Phong puppetry and theatre are approaching international standards, and they captivate audiences by retaining a national spirit.
Hoang Mai further stated: “Defining the building of a City of Music is not just a slogan but a strategic process requiring long-term planning, methodical investment, and close coordination between management levels, artists and the community.”
Since 2013, the programme to introduce new works, organised twice a year by Hai Phong Musicians’ Association, has become a “nursery” for a new generation of young composers, strengthening the city’s creative position nationwide.
At the same time, the construction of specialised theatres, multifunctional performance centres, policies to attract and train professional artists, and the gradual expansion of academic music genres such as symphonies and instrumental music alongside popular music are all helping Hai Phong seize the great opportunity to become a vibrant, promising new artistic destination in the era of global integration; defining its creative identity and earning a place on the national and international cultural map.
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