Two extraordinary features characterize this year's Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO), due to perform in Taipei on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23. The first is that, out of 100 orchestra members, 27 are from Taiwan, far and away the highest number from any contributing country. And the second is that, in an organization wholly dependent on private sponsorship, nothing, this year at any rate, comes from Taiwan.
“We are the only major arts organization in Asia not funded by a government,” says AYO director Richard Pontzious. “The concertmaster, Chou Chien-yin (周建瑩), is Taiwanese, as is the leader of the second violins. With 27 members — the next biggest presence is Japan's with 21 members — Taiwan should be proud. The AYO puts Taiwan's musicians on the international stage, and that should be important to all Taiwanese, most especially in these times. Yet we don't get a dime of Taiwanese sponsorship money.
“All orchestral members come to AYO on scholarships, and for all countries except Taiwan, sponsorship of those scholarships (US$2,600 each) comes from a sponsor in the local country, or outside the country but with links to that country. The question we ask each year is, why can't we get the Taiwanese — government or corporate or individuals — to sponsor our Taiwanese orchestra members?
“So we have to find funds for our Taiwanese instrumentalists from the general sponsorship money. But we think the way it is now is a huge embarrassment to Taiwan — a country that says it wants to be a player in the region.”
Precise totals for this year's AYO musicians are as follows: Taiwan 27, Japan 21, South Korea 15, Hong Kong 11, China 7, Thailand 5, the Philippines 4, Vietnam 4, Malaysia 3 and Singapore 3. The orchestra's top sponsors this year are Cathay Pacific, Barclays, Fuji Xerox and Standard Chartered Bank, with significant support from the Financial Times.
Pontzious spends much of the year auditioning aspiring members, and they are selected entirely on merit, without any quota system fixing in advance how many should come from each country. It is therefore all the more to Taiwan's credit that such a huge number of instrumentalists should this year be Taiwanese.
The AYO convenes in Hong Kong in mid-July, followed by a “rehearsal camp” lasting two weeks during which the music to be played on tour is prepared. Then during August the orchestra tours eight Asian cities, playing two programs in each. This year the venues are Taipei, Tokyo, Zhongshan and Foshan in China's Guangdong province, Hong Kong, Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai. All but the first two are in China.
It's possible that this last fact explains the lack of sponsorship money from Taiwan. In response to this suggestion, however, Pontzious asks why there are no potential Taiwanese sponsors stepping up and saying, “I'll sponsor the scholarships for Taiwanese musicians but could you play more concerts in Taiwan next time?” So far no one has asked him that.
"How much investment does Taiwan have on the Mainland?" he adds, clearly feeling passionate on the issue. "We dash between the Mainland and Taiwan with members from both more than any other cultural institution. Isn't it just good PR to show off Taiwan as a leader in cross-strait ties – not just in making money, but being involved in important educational and cultural exchanges that strengthen relationships and ensure a peaceful future?"
Pontzious himself is a remarkable figure. He founded the AYO, in collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin, in 1987. He's since collaborated with such musical celebrities as Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer and Alicia de Larrocha. He's fluent in Japanese and conversant in Mandarin, and in 2000 received a Bronze Bauhina Star from the Hong Kong government for his contribution to music and the arts. In the same year he received his private pilot's license!
The programs to be played in Taipei, both in the National Concert Hall, are as follows. On Tuesday, Aug. 22, Finnish conductor Okko Kamu will conduct Mozart's Symphony No. 25, two Mozart arias, followed by Mahler's Symphony No. 4. On Wednesday, Aug 23, Pontzious will conduct Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, Samuel Barber's Violin COncerto and Dvorak's New World Symphony.
Two young soloists will perform in each program. On the Tuesday it'll be soprano Ida Falk Winland, born in Sweden in 1982 and currently a student at London's Royal College of Music. And on the Wednesday the solo violinist in Barber's concerto will be Harvard University student Stefan Jackiw. Both are already very well known internationally. Winland, for instance, was invited to sing at Barbara Hendrick's wedding in 2003, while Jackiw, still only 20, has already played the Barber concerto in Russia's St. Petersburg as part of its Winter Festival.
The Mozart, Mahler and Dvorak symphonies are well-known, but Hanson's is less so, and even Barber's concerto is not often played in Taiwan.
Howard Hanson (1896-1981) provides another link with Sweden, along with the soprano soloist, as he too was of Swedish descent. His Symphony No. 2 is his best-known work. Subtitled “Romantic,” it's simultaneously melodic and substantial, just what many people believe symphonic music has to remain if it's not to lose what popular appeal it still retains.
Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) is best-known for his Adagio for Strings, a work that was premiered by Toscanini in 1938 and has been played at the funeral of just about every American president since. His Violin Concerto of 1941 is equally appealing, sumptuous in its lyrical first two movements, hair-raisingly difficult in its finale.
The two Mozart arias to be sung by Ida Falk Winland are in no way minor items. The first, Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben, is taken from an unfinished German opera called Zaide, written when the composer was 23. The second, Ah, lo previdi, is an extraordinarily wide-ranging and probing concert aria lasting a full 13 minutes. Nothing more ravishing could be imagined to bring an audience to its feet and conclude the first half of the concert.
All in all, these are events much to be recommended. Early booking is essential, however. Maybe it's the extended families of all those local musicians, but for whatever reason AYO concerts are well-known for being able to fill Taipei's National Concert Hall when more illustrious names fail. The orchestra's appearance in Taiwan, incidentally, is being presented by the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation.
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