The National Symphony Orchestra, which will be performing inside the
National Concert Hall on New Year's Eve, will have stiff competition right
on its doorstep. It has been a bad year for the performance arts in Taiwan,
and to lift morale the Chang Kai-shek Cultural Foundation is sponsoring a
massive performance arts get together in the plaza of the Chang Kai-shek
Memorial. There will be three stages, on which 13 groups, many of them major
names, will perform from 9pm through to the New Year. Best of all, the event
is free.
Many of the groups are donating their services for this event, accepting
only token fees, with the CKS Cultural Foundation providing the
infrastructure. It's all about supporting artists who have had a hard fight
through a year in which ticket sales at the National Theater and Concert
Hall have fallen by as much as 30 percent.
The event begins at 7:30pm with footage of past performances by the various
participating groups. There will be time to fill out a questionaire with a
great prize of tickets for 100 shows sponsored by the CKS Cultural
Foundation.
The actual performances will get started around 9pm with the Hung-Sheng Lion
Dance Theater getting everyone into the mood. They will be followed by the
National Chinese Orchestra, the Ju Percussion Group, Dance Forum Taipei, the
Godot Theater Company, Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera, Cloud Gate 2, Diabolo
Dancing Theater, National Kuo-Kuang Chinese Opera Company, the National
Experimental Chorus, Paper Windmill with the Green Ray Theater and the Han
Ensemble Children's Chorus finishing up around midnight when there will be a
countdown to 2002.
In the event of bad weather, low temperatures or possible discomfort,
raincoats (NT$20), inflatable cushions (NT$40) and warm packs (NT$15) will
be available. The event will also be broadcast live by Public Television,
portions of whose telecast will be rebroadcast in the US.
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