Looking back at the 20th "Golden Bell of Traditional Opera"

For many seasons, Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) has had a policy that all performances of the final ranking night of "Golden Bell of Traditional Opera" are excerpts from Vietnamese historical opera.

And in the 20th competition (September 28, 2025), this decision created a positive effect, bringing a proud competitive atmosphere among the contestants, so that through their acting and performing the ancient song in the excerpt, they contributed to encouraging young people to look back to the heroic pages of history.

Thuy Duong was crowned convincingly.

At HTV Theater, the final ranking night ended with the convincing victory of contestant Dang Thi Thuy Duong (born 1993, Ho Chi Minh City). In the competition, Thuy Duong transformed into Queen Thuong Duong (excerpt of the same name by author Quoc Khanh), with the support of Meritorious Artist Ngoc Doi and artist Thanh Hong. With a soulful voice, deep and emotional performance, Thuy Duong received an impressive score of 99.58 points, won the golden bell, worth 150 million VND and the prestigious golden cup.

Nhìn lại — Contestant Thuy Duong in the Vietnamese historical excerpt "Empress Thuong Duong" directed by Meritorious Artist Ngoc Doi

The silver bell is Le Thi Ha Nhu (born 2006, Vinh Long) - the role of Ngoc Huyen in "The night before the auspicious day" and the bronze bell is Vuong Quan Tri (born 2009, An Giang ) - the role of Tran Binh Trong in the excerpt "The spirit of Tran Binh Trong". The prize-winning contestants showed great effort when transforming into Vietnamese historical roles.

Director Nguyen Minh Hai, Head of HTV's Arts Department, commented: "20 seasons of "Golden Bell of Traditional Opera" is a journey to keep the fire of Cai Luong art alive. This year, the contestants chose historical roles and practiced hard for a week to transform into the characters, touching the hearts of the audience and the sympathy of young people. That is the effort we strive for."

Let the "Golden Bell" ring far and wide

Summarizing the 20-year journey, People's Artist Thanh Nam commented: "Guiding contestants to historical reformed opera is a right step, helping them better understand the material of ancient opera and national spirit. This is also a way to keep young audiences from leaving reformed opera." People's Artist Trong Phuc said: "The Golden Bell at this stage has reached young audiences, making them love the novelty in the perspective of contestants of the same age about historical roles. This is a smart way of the contest organizers to supplement the foundation of traditional culture and national history for young people. The contest has opened the way and needs more spreading activities in schools and communities."

People's Artist Phuong Loan emphasized the creative element: "If we want the Golden Bell to resonate far and wide, we must not only compete well but also create conditions for young talents to have a real stage to develop. They need to approach singing troupes, practice and mature in a professional environment." Meanwhile, artist Thanh Hang said: "HTV and the theater industry need to coordinate more strongly to help the award-winning faces become pillars of the future theater."

Preserving heritage with youthful energy

The 20th "Golden Bell of Traditional Opera" finale not only found talented faces but also conveyed a strong message: Today's youth can completely stick with, inherit and renew the art of reformed opera, especially Vietnamese historical opera - where national spirit and identity converge.

To make the "bell" ring far and wide, it requires the cooperation of management agencies, theater industry, media and audiences, so that young talents are not alone on the journey to preserve a precious heritage of the nation.

For many years, besides the contest, there is the playground "Golden Bell Forever" but the quality of the plays has been declining, because the old scripts have been exploited, there is a lack of strategic investment to nurture the script supply for this playground. People's Artist Tran Minh Ngoc once expressed his opinion: "The Ho Chi Minh City Authors Association has many writers about reformed opera, "Golden Bell Forever" can order 12 Vietnamese historical scripts in a year. This is the opening for this playground to have more new perspectives on Vietnamese history through reformed opera art".

Since its debut in 2006, "Chuong Vang Vong Co" has become a unique cultural brand of Ho Chi Minh City, a "launching pad" for many promising singers to enter the professional stage. Saigon Bank for Industry and Trade (Saigonbank) has been a sponsor of this competition for the past 20 years.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the competition, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee awarded certificates of merit to 8 groups and 29 individuals who made outstanding contributions in organizing and accompanying the competition. HTV also honored many artists who have been associated with the program, contributing to preserving and promoting the value of Cai Luong art in contemporary life.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nhin-lai-chuong-vang-vong-co-lan-thu-20-2025-cai-luong-su-viet-la-lua-chon-cua-gioi-tre-196250930213216381.htm