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Friends and drums make a good mix

Performance notes What: Percussion and Friends (打擊樂與他的好朋友們) When and where: Taipei performances are tomorrow at 7:30pm and on Sunday at 2:30pm, National Concert Hall, Taipei; the Taichung performance is on March 23 at 2:30pm, at the Taichung Chungshan Hall (台中市中山堂), located at 98 Hsuehshi Rd, Taichung City (台中市學士路98號); the Kaohsiung performance is March 29 at 7:30pm at Kaohsiung Cultural Center's Chih-Teh Hall (高雄市立文化中心至德堂), located at 67 Wufu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City, (高雄市五福一路67號) Tickets: Taipei performances are NT$300 to NT$1,100; Taichung and Kaohsiung performances are NT$300 to NT$900. Tickets are available through NTCH ticketing

Ju Percussion Group (朱宗慶打擊樂團) opens the season with a show called Percussion and Friends (打擊樂與他的好朋友們). The performance begins tomorrow night at Taipei's National Concert Hall.

The program includes the compositions of six well-known composers who work in contemporary percussion and orchestral music and features six different soloists - the "friends" of the title.

"Our springtime performance

features more mainstream compositions than the May performance, which is more experimental in nature," said Ju Percussion spokeswoman Jamie Lin (林靜蓉).

Lex, the first piece, was composed by Michael Daugherty and is named after one of Superman's most vexing foes, the arch villain Lex Luthor. The movement features a violin solo by Su Shien-ta (蘇顯達) and includes four referee whistles.

Five Pieces for Clarinet and Percussion Orchestra is the second piece. It begins with the sedate and somber With Spirit and Slowly and works up to a feverish pitch, ending with As Fast As Possible. Chen Wei-leng (陳威稜), who is the Taipei Symphony Orchestra's principle clarinetist, will play the solo of the composition, which was composed by Philip Parker.

National Cultural Award-winners Lina Yeh (葉綠娜) and Rolf Peter Wille have been Taiwan's foremost piano duo for over 25 years. They will perform Display VII (Portrait of a Pilgrim) Op. 42.

"Imaginary sounds and rhythms of the jungle were on my mind when I wrote Jungle Heart," wrote composer Jacob ter Veldhuis in a preface to the composition. The wild percussion elements contrast with the controlled notes of the flute played by soloist Jinny Liu (劉慧謹).

Zhong Kui Marrying his Sister Off (媚影), by Taiwanese composer Liu Yu-yun (劉昱昀) seeks to capture the feelings of nervous brides. The work will be performed by Ju Percussion artistic director and virtuoso pipa (琵琶) player Wang Shi-rong (王世榮).

The final piece is Stephen Melillo's Voice for Bassoon and Percussion and features solo-bassoonist Hsu Chia-Chu (徐家駒).

The show's finale brings all soloists onstage to play from Japanese popular musician and composer Koji Sakurai's O.W.

"It's happy and full of life and a perfect way to end the performance," Lin said.
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