Though Haitang Typhoon did its best to dampen the festive spirit during the first half of the Taipei International Choral Festival, there are still several good reasons to make it to the National Concert Hall for the festival's last three days, rain or shine.
Those reasons are Denmark's Vocal Line, Canada's Winnipeg Singers and several local choral groups including the Semiscon Vocal Band, Formosa Singers, the Taipei Philharmonic Choir, and various school choirs.
Tonight's concert pairs Vocal Line with Taiwan's own Semiscon Vocal Band. The 30-member Vocal Line is dedicated to contemporary acapella ? jazz, pop and rock ? as well as some classical avant garde. If you were one of those kids in college that never missed a midnight acapella concert, you won't want to miss tonight's show, with arrangements from Joni Mitchell, Alicia Keys and more of your favorite singers. Acapella has a tendency to come out poorly in recordings, but Vocal Line's sound is stellar, which says something about how the group must sound live.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI ARTS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
The three-year-old Taiwanese acapella sensation Semiscon Vocal Band is set to give their Danish counterparts a run for their money. With their creative use of voices, texture, rhythm and harmony, Semiscon takes the concept of imitating musical instruments to a new level. One of their hits is Soul Bossa Nova in which different members imitate trumpets, saxophones and a drum set. Semiscon is a group of performers as much as it is a group of singers and they get full marks for personality.
For a change of pace,
tomorrow's concert features more traditional choral music from around the world, provided by the Winnipeg Singers and the Formosa Singers. Founded in the 1930s, the Winnipeg Singers are regarded as one of Canada's finest choral ensembles with a repertoire spanning from the Renaissance to the present.
The choir's formative gigs were regular broadcasts on CBC radio in the 1970s, where they explored both sacred and secular music. Each year the Winnipeg Singers commissions new works by Canadian composers, and tomorrow night's lineup also includes Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov and US composer Samuel Barber.
The Formosa Singers, who are dedicated to "expressing the essence of Taiwan in song," will treat audiences to new arrangements of old folk songs -- Hakka, Hokkien, Aboriginal and Japanese -- and they'll throw in a few contemporary world masterpieces for good measure.
For the most acts stuffed into one night, buy your tickets for the Festival's final concert on Sunday, which brings back acts from earlier in the week such as the Parahyangan Catholic University Choir from Indonesia and the Orfeon Chamber Choir from Turkey. The Vocal Line will also be performing, as will the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra. Solo acts include a soprano, a tenor and a rapper.
Tickets, priced from NT$300 to NT$1,500 are available through Artsticket: (02) 3393 9888, or www.artsticket.com.tw. The National Concert Hall is at 21-1 Zhongshan S Rd, Taipei
(
Late last month Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told the Philippine Senate that the nation has sufficient funds to evacuate the nearly 170,000 Filipino residents in Taiwan, 84 percent of whom are migrant workers, in the event of war. Agencies have been exploring evacuation scenarios since early this year, she said. She also observed that since the Philippines has only limited ships, the government is consulting security agencies for alternatives. Filipinos are a distant third in overall migrant worker population. Indonesia has over 248,000 workers, followed by roughly 240,000 Vietnamese. It should be noted that there are another 170,000
Hannah Liao (廖宸萱) recalls the harassment she experienced on dating apps, an experience that left her frightened and disgusted. “I’ve tried some voice-based dating apps,” the 30-year-old says. “Right away, some guys would say things like, ‘Wanna talk dirty?’ or ‘Wanna suck my d**k?’” she says. Liao’s story is not unique. Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics show a more than 50 percent rise in sexual assault cases related to online encounters over the past five years. In 2023 alone, women comprised 7,698 of the 9,413 reported victims. Faced with a dating landscape that can feel more predatory than promising, many in
“This is one of those rare bits of TikTok fitness advice with a lot of truth behind it,” says Bethan Crouse, performance nutritionist at Loughborough University. “Sometimes it’s taken a bit too literally, though! You see people chugging protein drinks as they’re scanning out of their gym.” Crouse recommends the athletes she works with consume 20-30g of protein within 30-60 minutes of finishing a resistance training session. “The act of exercising our muscles increases the breakdown of muscle proteins,” she says. “In order to restore, or hopefully improve them — and get gains such as increased muscle mass or strength —
“Far from being a rock or island … it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is ‘sponge.’ We’re permeable,” write Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie in their book Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. While the permeability of our cells is key to being alive, it also means we absorb more potentially harmful substances than we realize. Studies have found a number of chemical residues in human breast milk, urine and water systems. Many of them are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s natural hormones. “They can mimic, block
RSS