Traditional and contemporary Vietnamese instrumentalist and composer Van-Anh Vanessa Vo will perform at Hope College on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 11 a.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Vo devotes her life-long passion and mastery of the dantranh zither to the creation of distinctive music blended with a cultural essence that comes from the unique Vietnamese instrument. Among her accomplishments are the 2009 Emmy Award-winning soundtrack for the documentary “Bolinao 52,” which she co-composed and recorded, and the soundtrack for the Sundance best documentary and 2003 Academy Awards nominee “Daughter from Danang.” Vo also co-composed and recorded for the recent documentary “A Village Called Versailles,” winner of the New Orleans Film Festival Audience Award.

Vo began studying dantranh at age four, and graduated and taught at the Vietnam Academy of Music. In 1995, she won the championship in the Vietnam National Dan Tranh Competition, along with the first prize for best solo performance of modern folk music. She has since performed in more than 14 countries and recorded in many broadcast programs inside and outside of Vietnam. Her first CD, “Twelve Months, Four Seasons,” was released in 2002.

In addition to dantranh, Van-Anh also performs as soloist on the monochord (bau), the 36-string hammered dulcimer (dan tam thapluc), the bamboo xylophone (dant’rung), the k’longput, traditional drums (trong), and Chinese guzheng. She lives and teaches dantranh and other Vietnamese traditional instruments in Fremont, California.

Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 127 E. 12th St. between College and Columbia avenues.