The Hanoi Opera House (), or the Grand Opera House (, ) is an

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

in central

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It was erected by the French colonial administration between 1901 and 1911. Hanoi Opera House is one of three opera houses that the French built during their time in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, the others are

Haiphong Opera House Haiphong Opera House (Vietnamese ''Nhà hát lớn Hải Phòng'') is a French-built neoclassical opera house on Opera Square (''Quảng trường Nhà hát lớn'') in Hai Phong, which was opened in 1912. History The first performance of opera in ...

and

Municipal Theatre A municipal theatre is a theatre that is public sector, publicly owned. By contrast with a state theatre, such as the ''Landesbühnen'' of Germany and Austria, a municipal theatre is not financed by the state, but by the town or city in which it is ...

in Ho Chi Minh city.

Building

It was modeled on the

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

, the older of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

's two opera houses, and is considered to be one of the architectural landmarks of Hanoi. The main architectural style of the Opera House is

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

. As mentioned before, Hanoi Opera House was modeled on the Palais Garnier but with a smaller scale and using materials that are suitable with the environment. After the departure of the French the opera house became the scene for several political events, as well as the scene of street fighting during the fight for Hanoi. The Hanoi Opera House provides the names for the neighboring Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel which opened in 1999, as well as for the MGallery Hotel de l'Opera Hanoi, which opened in 2011. For historical reasons associated with the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel was not named the

Hanoi Hilton Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the capital and second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red and Black Rivers). As a municipality, Hanoi consists of 12 urban districts, 17 rural d ...

The Opera Company

Colonial period

The opera house is described in the memoirs of Blanche Arral who performed in the new Hanoi Opera House in 1902 while waiting for the 1902 Exposition of Hanoi to open. The opera had depended on touring artists performing French and Italian repertoire during the colonial period for a mainly French audience.

The Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB)

After the departure of the French the building was used for Vietnamese plays and musicals. The return of Western opera, and the first major non-French or Italian opera, was a performance of Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'' organised under Vietnam-Soviet cultural auspices in 1960, where the Russian vocal coach selected an untrained singer

Quý Dương NSND Phạm Quý Dương (Hải Dương, 1937 - 28 June 2011 at Hanoi) was a Vietnamese classical singer, and vocal coach at the Vietnam National Academy of Music. He was selected by Russian voice coaches as the singer to sing the lead baritone ro ...

as a fit for the

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

title role. Today the orchestra of the opera overlaps with the

Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (or Việt Nam National Symphony Orchestra; abbreviated VNSO, Vietnamese: ''Dàn nhạc giao hưởng Việt Nam'') is the foremost symphony orchestra in Vietnam. It is based in Hanoi, the nation's capital. T ...

, and calls on the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra of the

Hanoi Conservatory Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

. Famous singers of the company include the

Tchaikovsky Conservatory Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer Music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose music made a lasting impression internati ...

-trained soprano

Lê Dung NSND Lê Dung (5 June 1951 in Hòn Gai, Quảng Ninh – 29 January 2001 in Hanoi) was a Vietnamese soprano opera singer. She was a student at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and toured and performed widely in Eastern Europe. She won prizes at Sofia, B ...

, the youngest ever person to be awarded

People's Artist People's Artist is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Union republics, in some other Eastern bloc states (and communist states in general), as well as in a number of post-Soviet states, modeled after the title of the People's Artist of the U ...

of Vietnam in 1993. The Opera has seen many premieres of operas and musicals by Vietnamese composers. The operas of

Đỗ Nhuận Đỗ Nhuận (December 10, 1922 in Hải Dương – May 18, 1991 in Hà Nội) was a Vietnamese classical composer. He is known for the first homegrown Vietnamese opera - ''Cô Sao'' "Miss Sao." This and other more-or-less revolutionary the ...

- ''

Cô Sao ''Cô Sao'' ("Miss Sao") is a 1965 Vietnamese-language western-style opera by the composer Đỗ Nhuận Đỗ Nhuận (December 10, 1922 in Hải Dương – May 18, 1991 in Hà Nội) was a Vietnamese classical composer. He is known for t ...

'' ('Miss Sao') 1965, ''Người tạc tượng'' ('The Sculptor') 1971 and ''Nguyễn Trãi'' 1980, the works of

Lưu Hữu Phước Lưu Hữu Phước (12 September 1921 – 8 June 1989) was a Vietnamese composer, a member of the National Assembly, and Chairman of the Committee of Culture and Education of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Lưu Hữu ...

and the choral works of film composer

Đặng Hữu Phúc Đặng Hữu Phúc (born June 4, 1953) is a Vietnamese pianist and composer best known for his film scores. A graduate of the Hanoi College or university school of music, Conservatory, he has penned over 60 works, primarily for film and theatre. ...

. As well as works by returning emigre composers such as Nguyễn Thiên Đạo, a pupil of

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

in Paris. The National Ballet is also part of the Opera House company and stages Western classics such as ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

'' as well as traditional and modern Vietnamese dance productions.

Gallery

File:LUNE Hanoi Opera House 01.jpg File: Hanoi Opera House, 24 December 2016.jpg File:Hanoi Opera House - detail.jpg File:Hanoi Opera House 2018.jpg File:Mặt Nam Nhà hát Lớn HN.JPG File:Opera House - Hanoi - Vietnam.JPG File:Hanoi opera house. Made as a copy of the Opera Garnier in Paris (22334215449).jpg File:LUNE Hanoi Opera House 02.jpg File:Hanoi opera stage.JPG File:LUNE Hanoi Opera House 03.jpg File:Hanoi Opera House 2012 1.jpg File:Hanoï - Théâtre rue Paul Bert.jpg File:Hanoï - Rue Paul Bert.jpg File:Nhahatlonhanoi07.jpg

References

Notes Sources *Arral, Blanche (Trans: Ira Glackens; Ed: William R. Moran), ''Extraordinary Operatic Adventures of Blanche Arral''. Milwaukee, WI: Amadeus Press, 2002

External links

Performance at Hanoi Opera House

Hanoi Opera House – A Witness of Vietnamese History
{{authority control Historical sites in Hanoi Culture of Hanoi Opera houses in Vietnam Buildings and structures in Hanoi French colonial architecture in Vietnam Tourist attractions in Hanoi Theatres completed in 1901 Event venues established in 1901