Theater
Yumiko Experimental Talk Show Part One — I Love You, Seoul! (首爾我愛你 – 倉庫實驗脫) by Yumiko House Theater is a play that raises the issue of cultural identity and adoration. It tells the story of a young woman obsessed with South Korean soap operas, leading her on a journey to Seoul and one of self-identity. The idea stems from the directors own experiences and is the first episode of Garage Theater's experimental talk show trilogy
* Guling St Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Alley 5, Guling St, Taipei (台北市牯嶺街5巷2號)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$280 and are available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artstickets.com.tw
Vampire Killer (暗夜殺戮者) is a collaboration between Japanese-based theater troupe Afro13 and Taiwan's Drama Club Company (劇樂部劇團). It is the story of a group of people surviving a disaster who are forced to give their most treasured beliefs and possessions to survive and adapt to their new environment and fight off vampires.
* The Crown Theater (皇冠藝文中心小劇場), B1, 50, Ln 120, Dunhua N Rd, Taipei (台北市敦化北路120巷50號B1)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artstickets.com.tw
The Half-Mile Great Wall (半里長城) by Ping Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班) takes a humorous look at the building of the Great Wall.
* Tainan Municipal Cultural Center Performance Hall (台南市立文化中心演藝廳), 332 Chunghua E Rd Sec 3, Tainan City (台南市中華東路三段332)
* Tomorrow at 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$500 to NT$2,500 and are available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artstickets.com.tw
Mom Is So Annoying (媽媽好討厭) tells the amusing story of two daughters who, after being scolded by their mother, wish that she would disappear. To their astonishment, she does in fact disappear and their initial feelings of joy soon turn to sadness as they anxiously await her return.
* Tomorrow at Concert Hall of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Nantou County Government (南投縣政府文化局演藝廳), 135 Chienkuo Rd, Nantou City (南投市建國路135號) and Thursday at Taichung County Seaport Art Center (台中縣立港區藝術中心), 21 Chungchen Rd, Chingshui Township, Taichung County (台中縣清水鎮忠貞路21號)
* Both performances begin at 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$200 to NT$400 and are available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artstickets.com.tw
The Fabulous World of Otaku (宅男的異想世界) takes a tender look at the sub-culture of computer nerds and their difficulties communicating with the outside world.
* Chunghsing Concert Hall, Taichung (台中中興堂), 291-3 Chingwu Rd, Taichung City (台中市精武路291之3號)
* Tomorrow at 3pm and 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,200 and available through ERA ticketing at www.ticket.com.tw
* At the Forum Auditorium (十方樂集音樂劇場演奏廳). 4, Ln 187, Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路187巷4號) * All tickets cost NT$250 and are available through NTCH ticketing or call Music Forum at (02) 2593-5811 * Tonight at 7:30pm Rueibin Chen Taiwan Piano Concert Tour (鋼琴大師陳瑞斌音樂會). Chen, a Chinese pianist who appeared on the musical scene 20 years ago, has been described as a musical genius. He will tour Taiwan to give three concerts in Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan and present a program including Beethoven's Sonata No.7 in D Major, Op.10-3 and Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight" in C-Sharp Minor, Op.27-2, Huang Hui-lin's (黃慧鈴) Formosa Ballade (福爾摩沙敘事曲), and Liszt's Sonata in B Minor. * Tomorrow at the National Concert Hall, Taipei, Sunday at Taichung's Chungshan Hall (台中市中山堂), 98 Hsuehshih Rd, Taichung City (台中市學士路98號), and June 15 at the Tainan Municipal Arts Center (台南市立文化中心演藝廳), 332 Chongshan E Rd Sec 3, Tainan City (台南市中華東路三段332號). * All tickets range from NT$500 to NT$3,600 and are available through ERA ticketing * Tomorrow at 7:45pm and Sunday and June 15 at 7:30pm Franz Chien Violin Lecture-Recital — An Adventure of Vivaldi's Summer (浪漫大師系列—錢國昌小提琴獨奏會—韋瓦第四季之夏季樂園冒險記). Chien will hold a Sunday matinee lecture-concert at the newly established Henry Mazer Hall (台北愛樂暨梅哲音樂文化館) in Taipei. Chien now teaches at the music department of National Taiwan University of Arts and is the principal violinist of the Yinqi Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (音契合唱管絃樂團). Chien will perform one of Vivaldi's best-known works Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, "Summer." * At the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Henry Mazer Music and Culture, B1, 7 Jinan Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市濟南路一段7號B1) * All tickets cost NT$250 including free beverages * Sunday at 2:30pm The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is currently reviewing candidates to take up the position of its musical director. The first selection concert on May 20 featuring Kerry Stratton as conductor was not very well received. NSO Music Director Selection Concert II (國家交響樂團音樂總監遴選音樂會二), the last of the two selection concerts, will be held on June 11 featuring Johannes Wildner. The concert will feature soprano Chen Yen-ling (陳妍陵) and violinist Wu Ting-yu (吳庭毓), Wildner will conduct the NSO and present a program including Wagner's Rienzi Overture, Puccini's Musetta's Waltz "Quando m'en vo" from "La Boheme" and "Si Mi Chiamano Mimi" from "La Boheme", Ravel's Pavane pour une infante defunte, Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. * At the National Concert Hall, Taipei * A ticket stub from any of the concerts organized by the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) in 2007 will get you in for free but free tickets must be obtained in advance at the Concert Hall box office from 12pm to 8pm * Monday at 7:30pm The Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is also currently reviewing five candidates for the post of music directorship. The first music director selection concert The Mellow Viola (台北市立交響樂團—醇美中提琴) will feature Emil Tabakov, who is well known worldwide as a guest conductor. The concert will also feature outstanding violist Lars Anders Tomter. Tabakov will conduct the TSO and present a program including Prokofiev's Suite "Lieutenant Kije," Op.60, Bartok's Viola Concerto, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 in E-Flat Major, Op.70. * At the National Concert Hall, Taipei * Tickets range from NT$200 to NT$800 and are available through NTCH ticketing * Wednesday at 7:30pm
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless