American violinist Joshua Bell struck a harmonious note in Việt Nam last Friday night during his debut performance at the invitation of the Sun Symphony Orchestra. Speaking to the media after the ‘Fantastique!’ concert at the Hồ Gươm Opera in Hà Nội, the award-winning musician highlighted the power of music in strengthening relations between countries and cultivating humanity.

It's a pleasure to have you here with us. How do you feel performing here today in Hà Nội?

It's very special for me to be here. It's my first time performing in Việt Nam. I've been performing for 40 years and playing everywhere. I always wanted to come to Việt Nam, so it's very meaningful to be here. The public was so generous and nice and I'm loving my stay here.

Could you share a little bit about the piece that you played tonight?

This is a piece by Saint-Saëns*, who is one of my favourite violin composers but not played so often. Usually we play Tchaikovsky, Beethoven or Brahms, who are all great, but this brings something a little bit different and it's one of my personal favourites. And the conductor is French, American-French, and I thought it would be fun to do a French piece with him as well.

What is the effect that you hope the concert will have on the audience? What is the message or emotion you want to convey?

The beautiful thing about classical music is you don't need to understand the language to express something. I feel this music is universal and can really touch people. It does to me, and I hope it will to them as well. I think it's a wonderful thing to bring us together and bring our cultures together. When I was born it was in the middle of the Vietnam War, and growing up, I knew many Vietnamese people who had come over to the US, musicians. But it's amazing that now we are in a different place in the world and we're good friends. Music is very important to keep good relations with every country. It's beyond politics and it's important for humanity to have music.

That was something you said in your recent performance on TED Talk* as well. Does it influence the way that you play tonight?

It's the foundation of my philosophy. It's why I play music. Of course, I play music for my own soul, but because it means so much to me, I want to share it with everyone. I want every child to have music and every school should have music for children. It's great for their brain and for their humanity. I don't know the situation in Việt Nam with school children, but I hope music is more a part of their lives because that's very important to me. In the US I'm fighting for that.

Do you think there will be a future project here in Việt Nam?

Absolutely. I'm hoping to be invited back, so I hope the orchestra likes me! I like them, and I'm excited about the new opera house coming in two years, which looks incredible. This is a major thing and I want to come back and play there. So I told them ‘Please invite me anytime! I want to come back to Việt Nam.’ — VNS

 

 

Watch our interview with Bell:

*Camille Saint-Saëns – Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61

**'300 years of classical music in 18 minutes’, recorded at TED in New York on April 9, 2025, published on ted.com/talks on August 19, 2025.