Vietnamese student wins champion at int'l opera competition

Ninh Duc Hoang Long, a 25-year-old Vietnamese national studying in Hungary, out-sang approximately 150 other contestants from countries such as Japan, Romania, the UK, China, and others to take home first prize at the 49thSimándy József International Singing Competition on Monday in Szeged, Hungary.

Long won the crowd and the panel with his 'Hazám, hazám' performance in the 18-25 age bracket, securing a victory and a purse of 300,000 Hungarian forints (US$1,092).

The Simándy József competition is widely recognized in the opera music scene as a well-established international competition, attracting the participation of world-class talent in its 18-25 and 26-35 age brackets.

Ninh Duc Hoang Long was born in 1991 in the Red River Delta province of Ninh Binh in northern Vietnam.

He attended the Vietnam National Academy of Music before enrolling at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary, via a governmental scholarship program run by Vietnam and Hungary.

Long was awarded a scholarship from Liszt Ferenc Academy for being among ten outstanding students in 2015.

(Translated by Nguyen Thuy)