Published:  00:00 Thursday - October 29, 2009

The leading Japanese auto maker Toyota will hold a classic concert named after the company’s name in Ho Chi Minh City on November 7 to raise funds for young music talents in Vietnam. 

Toyota-Vietnam General Director Akito Tachibana said at a press briefing in Hanoi on October 28 that the event will entertain Vietnamese audiences with Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini and Dvorak masterpieces performed by the Prague Chamber Band from the Czech Republic.

It is one of the most famous classic music bands in Europe and the world as well, said the industrial executive.

Experienced conductor Charles Olivieri Munroe and soprano Marie Fajitova are expected to make the gala a special spectacular event.

Vietnamese soprano Nguyen Bich Thuy, who won the first prize at an international singing contest in Thailand in 2002, will also participate in the event.

The whole proceeds of the TV live broadcasted event will come to Toyota’s scholarship programme in support of young music talents in Vietnam under an agreement between Toyota-Vietnam and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The programme is expected to grant 90 scholarships to young music talents selected from five conservatoires across the country for 2009, the first year of its operation.

“We consider such an event an opportunity to increase our contributions to the Vietnamese society,” said the Toyota-Vietnam chief.

This is the 12^th consecutive year the Japanese auto giant has held such a charitable music concert in Vietnam and donated the total of their proceeds worth VND1.6 billion to cultural promotion and charitable activities in the Southeast Asian country.

The Director of the Art Organising Centre, Do Quang Quy, said the classical concerts sponsored by Toyota have provided opportunities for Vietnamese vocal music teachers and students to learn performing skills from big names in the world.

In addition to annual charitable programmes, Toyota-Vietnam has donated over US$13 million over the past 14 years of operation to various aspects of social life in Vietnam, ranging from culture to sports, education, traffic safety and environmental protection.