Pham Hoang Giang, who is serving as both scriptwriter and general director, said the opening ceremony of the Thang Long-Ha Noi Festival 2026 has been designed to combine traditional art with modern technology, promising to create a distinctive, fresh, and highly theatrical artistic space.
To convey the theme “Heritage Flow”, the creative team has sought to answer the question of how to tell the story of Ha Noi’s heritage through the artistic language of today, so that values that have endured for hundreds or thousands of years are not merely “put on display” but truly brought to life on stage.
For this reason, the programme does not follow a linear narrative or simply recreate historical episodes. Instead, it places traditional artistic materials within a continuous flow, bringing together the past, present, and future, as well as traditional art and modern forms of expression, to create an artistic space that is both rich in cultural identity and accessible to the public.
A notable highlight of the programme is its diverse stage language, combining music, dance, orchestral performances, and video clips with modern stagecraft to create multiple layers of visual effects and emotional impact.
The programme features artists from different generations and across a range of artistic traditions, including People's Artist Thanh Hoai, Meritorious Artist Van Ty, singer Tung Duong, Kieu Anh, singers Nguyen Ngoc Anh and Ngo Lan Huong, OPLUS, Quach Mai Thy, Phung Thanh Huyen, and Ram C, alongside a selection of international artists.
Audiences will also have the opportunity to enjoy artistic exchange performances connecting diverse cultural regions in Viet Nam and around the world. Through these performances, they can experience a Ha Noi that carries within it a thousand years of memories while confidently moving forward alongside friends from across the globe on its journey towards shaping the future. The programme thus conveys a message: heritage truly comes alive only when it continues to be sung, retold, reimagined, embraced, preserved, and carried forward by today’s generation.
