Preserving Culture with Knowledge
The Lạc Hồng Performing Arts Group was formed in Orange County in 1988 by professors Châu Nguyễn and Mai Nguyễn, former professors of the National Conservatory of Music in Saigon. Here are their stories.
PROFESSOR CHÂU NGUYỄN
Professor Châu Nguyễn studied music at the National Conservatory of Music in Saigon, where he studied traditional musical instruments, harmony, and orchestration. Upon his graduation in 1967, he was selected by the board of directors of the conservatory to teach Vietnamese traditional music. Whilst teaching at the National conservatory of Music, he also participated in musical and performing arts festivals in the country, and was a member of delegations representing Vietnam in other countries.
In 1987, Professor Châu Nguyễn emigrated from Vietnam to Garden Grove, California, where he was reunited with many of his former students. Together with Professor Mai Nguyễn, he founded the Lạc Hồng Performing Arts Group, with his former students as some of the first members. In addition to performing and teaching, Professor Châu Nguyễn also specializes in composing, scoring, arranging music for groups and producing different forms of Vietnamese performing arts, including the new form of choral orchestra in traditional music. Professor Châu Nguyễn’s passion for Vietnamese arts stems from seeing the dwindling presence of traditional music in Vietnam, as well as within the Vietnamese community in the United States. He expresses his desires to transfer the knowledge and ways of Vietnamese music to the next generation by celebrating the culture and art. |
PROFESSOR MAI NGUYỄN
Professor Mai Nguyễn is a former music professor of the National Conservatory of Music in Saigon, where she specialized in teaching students the đàn tranh. After the Vietnam War, she immigrated to Houston and began teaching traditional music during her spare time. During her time there, she formed a small performing ensemble.
She then came to Garden Grove, California in 1984, where she continued to teach the đàn tranh. In 1987, along with Professor Châu Nguyễn, she founded the nonprofit Vietnamese Traditional Art Development Organization. Together, they began building and developing the group by giving traditional Vietnamese music lessons. In 2021, Professor Mai Nguyễn was featured in a documentary film along with seven other musicians in the Little Saigon area. Songs of Little Saigon is a documentary about Vietnamese Americans whose musical talent, hope and resilience propelled the rebuilding of their lives in Southern California after fleeing a war-torn Vietnam. The film explores how these refugees have gone on to become musically active leaders and role models in the Vietnamese community they now reside in. 
SONGS OF LITTLE SAIGON |