Date: September 5th - 16th 2001

Place: Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

An American In Vietnam

Project Description
Composer, Arts Management Consultant and Columbia College Professor, James Kimo Williams was invited to Vietnam by the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music September 5th through September 16th, 2001.

Accompanying Kimo was Columbia College music professor and conductor, James Macdonald who conducted the Ho Chi Minh City Orchestra in concert, Columbia College television professor Ron Boyd, Columbia College television student Tamara Jackiw and Vietnam Arts Management Consultant Zung Dao.

The main purpose of this project was to present and document the premiere of two of Kimo's symphonies: Symphony For The Sons of Nam (SFSON) and his second string symphony, TwoGether. As well as to create a musical collaboration between the music conservatory and ArtSynergy.

Additionally, during this visit, master classes relating to composition, theory/conducting and the history of American Music were presented to the faculty and students of the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music. As part of her academic studies, Columbia College Television student Tamara Jackiw documented through film the events of this collaboration.

As part of ArtSynergy's mission to bring together new and existing audiences to discover or rediscover the cultural and artistic traditions of the U.S. and Vietnam, Hoag Coang a prominent Vietnamese composer presented his symphony along with works by Kimo.