Opera House – City Theater

Officially known as the Opera House, the Opera House offers the "flamboyant" beauty of the architecture of the French Third Republic. The Saigon Opera House was built under the supervision of French architects Ernest Guichard and Eugène Ferret. The theater was inaugurated on January 1, 1900. The building is built two meters above the road surface with two layers of doors to prevent traffic noise.

Built in a parallel structure, the Opera House is located on the city center axis, connected to the subway station and roundabout in front of Ben Thanh market. The door of the theater is clearly influenced by the art of the Petit Palais built in the same year in France with many elaborate reliefs and reliefs. Much of the theater's decorations, from the reliefs and crystal chandeliers to the shiny granite floors in the foyer - are all imported from France. The oval auditorium, consisting of a main floor and two sub-floors above, has a total of about 800 seats. The interior space is carefully constructed to prevent echoes, thus preserving all the sound inside the theater.

The Opera House is the venue for many of the city's great cultural and entertainment events and activities, including ballet, concerts, traditional Vietnamese dance and drama. Currently, the Opera House has three famous Vietnamese art shows:

- A O Show: The name "A O" comes from "Village Pho", which means "village and city". The performance depicts the captivating beauty and cultural richness of rural life in Vietnam, in contrast to the country's rapid urbanization. The show is a unique combination of bamboo circus, acrobatics, dance and theater arts. Live music resounds Vietnamese labor songs. Collectively, the beautiful blend of these genres has created a unique theatrical language, expressing the essence of Vietnamese culture.

- Teh Dar: a performance that invites the audience to adventure into the enchanting world of the highlanders of Vietnam. Hunts, moonlight romances, stories of death and reincarnation in the jungle, all recreated with Vietnamese Bamboo Circus, daring acrobatics and hypnotic tunes from unique ethnic musical instruments that have been certified by UNESCO as cultural heritages. Meaning 'go around' in the dialect of the K'ho upland tribe, Teh Dar cherishes and preserves the diverse and beautiful cultural features of the Vietnamese tribe.

- The Mist: tells about the life of farmers in South Vietnam, expressed through neoclassical and contemporary dances. The cultivation of rice as a metaphor to appreciate the dedication of the farmer, from the misty dawn in the field, the hard work and will to rise from the muddy land, to withstand the storm, to moments of joy when harvesting rice. The Mist is an hour of emotion, with countless ups and downs, drawn by vibrant live music, colorful visuals and lighting effects.

The Opera House is only open to the public during events and performances, so most visitors can only visit and take pictures of the theater's exterior.

Address: 07 Dong Khoi, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

Website : http://www.hbso.org.vn/Default.aspx

Buy show tickets : https://www.luneproduction.com/booking?sid=1&lid=1