Research Seminar | Dr. Le-Tuyen Nguyen

Vietnamese Musical Heritage: 

From the Mekong Delta to the Mountain Forest

Abstract
A special lecture-recital featuring a new repertoire of Australian music with Vietnamese cultural influences. Written for the guitar by Vietnamese-Australian composer Le-Tuyen Nguyen, these compositions incorporate traditional music of Vietnam, from the Lý folk songs of the Mekong Delta to the instrumental Gong music of the highlands. Based on ethnomusicological research, each composition explores the musical and technical possibilities of the guitar as an expressive medium, weaving together Vietnamese material and Western art music styles.

The lecture demonstrates how Vietnamese musical materials and social contexts are selected and used as a source of inspiration in the compositional process. The discussion also highlights the influence of Euba’s theory of creative ethnomusicology and Bartók’s compositional principles in the transformational process of Vietnamese traditional music into contemporary composition.

Presenter: Dr. Le-Tuyen Nguyen
Currently a Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University, Dr Le-Tuyen Nguyen is an Australian composer, researcher, and teacher. He studied music and education at the University of New South Wales and completed his doctorate at the Australian National University. His research focuses on creative ethnomusicology, practice-based research, Australian music with Asian influences, and Vietnamese traditional music.

His compositions and arrangements include solo instrumental works, art songs, choral works, and small chamber works. Le-Tuyen has worked in leadership positions within the New South Wales Department of Education and as a Teaching Fellow at the Australian National University School of Music.