Press conference announces the first International Jazz Festival in Nha Trang City (Photo: Bao Tram)

Addressing Monday’s press conference in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong said through the festival, both the Ministry and Khanh Hoa Province want to introduce beautiful jazz tunes, promote Vietnamese jazz, and open exchange opportunities among domestic and foreign artists.

“In addition, the organizing board hopes to introduce more about the land of Vietnam, its culture, and people to international friends and create incentives for Khanh Hoa to attract more tourists and contribute to its local economic development,” said Dong.

Nguyen Van Nhuan, Director of the Provincial Department of Culture and Sports, said the festival presents a prime opportunity to stimulate tourism.

“We’ll do our utmost to successfully organize this inaugural event so that we can have a second and a third time to turn Nha Trang into a place of jazz music in Vietnam,” said Nhuan, adding, “To that end, Khanh Hoa has worked closely with the Ministry with a focus on technical issues because jazz is a sophisticated type of music. We’ve organized contract bidding to select the most qualified companies to ensure technical requirements are met for this international music festival.”

Hoang Anh Minh, the festival’s music director, said the organizers are working to invite famous American, Singaporean and Korean artists while the Vietnamese band of saxophonist Tran Manh Tuan, singer My Linh, Thu Minh, and Phuong Vy will likely perform in the program.