Sun, Nov 13, 2005 - Page 18 News List

Hsu is a cultural warrior

Hsu Po-yun has fought hard to promote the arts in Taiwan, and was almost bankrupted in the process

By Derek Lee  /  STAFF REPORTER

Moreover, he maintains that since the center is publicly funded, it should not profit from any program it offers and should reduce ticket prices.

Hsu points out that the Really Useful Company, which is sending its cast to perform in Taiwan, is owned by an Australian who registered his company in London.

There are at least four different troupes performing The Phantom in the world and the Really Useful Company's cast is certainly not the best.

However, the center has been accused of overcharging the public by charging the highest ticket price for the musical in Asia.

The causes, Hsu said, could be that either the organizer is

charging too much, or the center is paying too high a price to the Australian company.

According to local media reports, the center paid NT$300 million for a total of 63 shows of The Phantom which puts the production cost for each show at between NT$8 to 9 million, much higher than the NT$6 million the show cost to put on in New York.

Hsu suggested that the center should, in the future, avoid

sponsoring any commercial program such as The Phantom and should only allow each group to perform for two weeks, with a possible one week extension.

Otherwise, the more than one thousand local performance groups that are desperate to stage their shows would suffer serious financial losses, and would not be able to find venues at which to perform to make enough money to survive.

In the 1980s, Hsu organized a series of performances called "New Environment of Asian Music" with his musician friends in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong and was invited to deliver speeches in many countries including the US, France and Poland.

After undergoing heart surgery earlier this year he decided to hold his much delayed concert. Many of his friends including Ju Tzong-ching (朱宗慶), the founder of Ju Percussion Group, and Tan Dun (譚盾), the Oscar winning musician, will come to Taiwan to participate in this music extravaganza.

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