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Flautists of the world unite

From left to right: Andras Adorjan, Peter-Lukas Graf, Robert Aitken and Shigenori Kudo introduce the International Flute Festival that began Wednesday and runs until Tuesday. PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES

Taiwan, we learned this week, is the "flute capital of the world," and to celebrate this achievement there is a festival dedicated to this wind instrument.

Four virtuoso flautists from Canada, Hungary, Switzerland and Japan have joined forces with local talents and two Chinese musicians for the near weeklong International Flute Festival, dubbed "Floating in Spring."

It began on Wednesday with a performance from Shanghai's He Shengqi (何聲奇) and Beijing's Jin Ta (金塔) at the Novel Hall for Performing Arts; and will end at the same venue with a recital from Peter-Lukas Graf on Tuesday.

In between there are 10 scheduled concerts to be held in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, performed by the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra and the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra.

At a press conference earlier in the week, conductor, composer and flautist Robert Aitken boosted the event by saying it was impeccably organized.

"This must be the flute capital of the world. There is no other country where the flute is more successful or a better place to hold a flute concert," he said.

Asked to explain his comment, Aitken said Taiwan treated flautists well.

"It has to be something to do with heritage [the world's oldest playable flute was found in China and is said to be 9,000 years old]. Also, the peer pressure to perform and the number of players here is incredible, so there is a lot of competition and knowledge of the instrument," Aitken said.

"I agree," said Fan Man-nong (樊曼儂), the chairperson of International New Aspect Cultural and Educational Foundation, which is organizing the festival.

"In our middle-school music classes the flute and woodwind instruments are introduced to around 100,000 children every year. This has been happening for 40 years. Just look at the the number of marching bands we have."

Tonight, Andras Adorjan will give a flute recital in Taichung and Robert Aitken will play works from Franz Shubert and Johann Sebastian Bach, among others, at the Novel Hall in Taipei.

Tomorrow there will be an afternoon concert from the Flute Chamber Ensemble Enchantment at the Novel Hall, with Shigenori Kudo playing at the same venue in the evening.

The Concert of Flute Virtuosos will take place Sunday afternoon and New Force in Flute happens in the evening. There will also be a Mozart Memorial Concert in Kaohsiung starring Peter-Lukas Graf.

Performances in Taipei with Adorjan on Monday and Graf on Tuesday will end the festival.

Tickets are from NT$300 to NT$2,000. There will also be seminars and master classes from the visiting musicians. For further information about these and other related events call New Aspect on (02) 2709 3788 or visit www.newaspect.org.tw. Tickets can be purchased through www.artsticket.com.tw, or call (02) 3393 9888.

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