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[ EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT ]

Theater

If Kids Theater (如果兒童劇團) has teamed up with Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra (台北市立國樂團) and The Taipei Folk Dance Company (台北民族舞團) to bring audiences The Unforgettable Legend (東方夜譚). The family production is based on a story written by popular Taiwanese folk author Sih-ma Jhong-yuan (司馬中原) and tells the story of a snake that teaches martial arts to a woodcutter and the consequent struggles he faces with his newfound fighting skills.

▲ Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25 Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號)

▲ Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm; tomorrow and Sunday at 10:30am and 2:30pm

▲ Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,000 and are available through NTCH ticketing

City Lights (城市之光) by Dream Work Clown Theater Group（夢想小丑劇團）is a production based on the movie of the same name written by Charlie Chaplin. The play mixes humor, stage magic and clown routines.

▲ Chiayi Performing Arts Center (嘉義縣表演藝術中心), 265, Jianguo Rd Sec 2, Minsyong Township, Chiayi County (嘉義縣民雄鄉建國路二段265號)

▲ Tomorrow at 2:30pm

▲ Tickets are NT$200 to NT$600 and are available through NTCH ticketing

Off Performance Workshop (外表坊) will perform a stage adaptation of Scener ur ett aktenskap (Scenes From a Marriage) and is the final performance of NTCH’s 2008 International Theater Festival. The play is based on the six-part television series written and filmed by Swedish director Igmar Bergman of the same name and tells the story of a husband and wife who go through a series of difficulties that eventually result in the breakdown of their marriage.

▲National Experimental Theater, Taipei City

▲Thursday at 7:30pm

▲Tickets are NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing

Classical music

NSO Forever Tales — Peer Gynt Wonderland (NSO永遠的童話皮爾金 — 昆蟲的異想世界), a mixture of music and theater intended to be enjoyed by the whole family brings together the prodigious talents of the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Chang Yin-fang (張尹芳), with TV host Tung Chih-cheng (董志成), theater director and comedian Chao Chih-chiang (趙自強), choreographer Wu Yi-fang (吳義芳) and members of the If Kids Theater Group (如果兒童劇團). This program, based on the well-known composition by Grieg, follows on from the highly successful Peter and the Wolf, Fire Bird and Carnival of the Animals.

▲Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm; tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm

▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City

▲Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,000 and are available through NTCH ticketing

New Sounds of Taiwan — Requiem for 228 (台灣新聲 — 二二八安魂曲) will see the Music Department of the National Taiwan Normal University (國立台灣師範大學音樂學系) perform Requiem for 228, a composition by He Fang-lug (柯芳隆). The concert will also feature a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica.”

▲Monday at 7:30pm

▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City

▲Tickets are NT$200 to NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing

Piano Duet-Duo d’Accord (和諧雙鋼琴) will feature the Taipei Symphony Orchestra (臺北市立交響樂團) under the baton of Martin Fischer-Dieskau and featuring gu zheng (古箏) soloist Hwang Hao-yin (黃好吟). The program includes Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Two Pianos in E Major, Ma Shuei-long’s (馬水龍) Searching, for Gu Zheng and Orchestra and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73.

▲Wednesday at 7:30pm

▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City

▲Tickets are NT$200 to NT$800 and are available through NTCH ticketing

Lu Si-qing with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra (呂思清與長榮交響樂團) will feature violin soloist Lu Si-qing (呂思清) performing a program that also includes a number of arrangements of Taiwanese folk songs by concert master Gernot Schmalfuss.

▲Thursday at 7:30pm

▲National Concert Hall, Taipei City

▲Tickets are NT$500 to NT$1,500 and are available through ERA ticketing

2008 Lin Yi-chun Gu Zheng Recital (2008林意君古箏獨奏會) features the celebrated young gu zheng (古箏) soloist performing a program of classics accompanied by Wan Hsiao-sung (萬筱嵐) on piano and Chuang Chia-chi (莊佳綺) on percussion.

▲Tomorrow at 7:30pm

vNational Recital Hall, Taipei City

▲Tickets are NT$300 and NT$400 and are available through NTCH ticketing

Into the Woods — Tzu-Ying Jennie Lin Flute Recital (野趣 — 林姿瑩長笛獨奏會) features Jennie Lin (林姿瑩) performing a program including Paul Taffanel’s Andante Pastorale et Scherzettino, Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune, Albert Franz Doppler’s Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise, Op.26, Tyzen Hsiao’s (蕭泰然) Fantasia (幻想曲”湖畔孤影”), Olivier Messiaen’s Le Merle Noir and Bartok’s Suite Paysanne Hongroise.

▲Thursday at 7:30pm

▲National Recital Hall, Taipei City

▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$800 and are available through NTCH ticketing

2008 Lan Wen-ying Piano Recital (2008藍文吟與俄羅斯鋼琴音樂) will see the celebrated pianist perform a program of Russian composers.

▲Sunday at 7:30pm

▲Taichung Chungshan Hall (台中市中山堂), 98 Hsuehshi Rd, Taichung City (台中市學士路98號)

▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,600 and are available through NTCH ticketing

Contemporary

Witch House (女巫店) features Lo Si-rong (羅思容), an award-winning poet and singer/songwriter from Miaoli, tonight. Lo’s music can be seen as a contemporary twist on the lyrical eulogies on nature found in traditional Hakka mountain songs and literature. Influenced by a free-flowing rhythm, she has written hundreds of folk songs in Hakka, Hokkien and Mandarin that bring a new vitality to traditional music. Following Lo, it’s the down-home, foot-stompin’ country blues of Muddy Basin Ramblers David Chen and Conor Prunty. Tomorrow, it’s Harmonica trio Sirius Sharp (天狼星口琴樂團).

▲7, Ln 56, Xinsheng S Road Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段56巷7號). Call (02) 2362-5494 or visit

www.witchhouse.org

▲Performances start at 9:30pm. Restaurant/bar with queer/feminist bookstore and large collection of board games open 11am to midnight Sunday to Wednesday; 11am to 1am Thursday to Saturday

▲NT$300 entrance includes one drink

Hong Kong grunge four-piece The Darlings and alt-rock singer Oliver Ching, also from Hong Kong, take to the stage on Sunday at The Wall (這牆). On Tuesday, it’s New York-based band Dynamite Club. This self-proclaimed “retard-core” band has a sound that’s reminiscent of Japanese punk outfit the Boredoms. One reviewer noted that virtually all the band’s songs “begin as something akin to blues rock, ascend into unrefined jazz-rock and then explode in a massacre of drum rolls and squawking, distorted guitars.” Frontman Kentaro has been known to provoke the ire of local law enforcement by stripping while performing at Formoz and other festivals. Also making an appearance on Tuesday is Vroom. Then on Thursday, it’s singer Tai Ai-ling (戴愛玲) and indie-rockers Neon, whose music video for Road Ahead has received air time on MTV.

▲B1, 200 Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or log on at www.the-wall.com.tw for more information

▲8pm tonight; 7pm tomorrow; 3pm Sunday

▲NT$300 on Sunday and Tuesday; NT$400 on Thursday. Admission includes one drink

Appearing tomorrow at Under-world (地下社會) is one-man electro-rock act Sonic Deadhorse, whose influences include Ennio Morricone, John Coltrane, The Stone Roses, Joy Division and Stravinsky. KZ, an alt-rock band with some catchy melodies, and pop-rock band Music Plant (留聲機工廠) play on Wednesday.

▲B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.upsaid.com/underworld for more information

▲Bands start playing after 9pm. The bar is open from 8pm daily, except Mondays

▲Entrance tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday is NT$300 and includes one drink. Sunday is free. Before midnight on Tuesdays and Thursdays, drinks are buy-one-get-one-free

Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) presents the Unlimited Rock ’n’ Roll Spirit of Jazz Concert (爵士的搖滾精神不設限音樂會) tonight, featuring jazz pianist Chang Kai-ya (張凱雅), guitarist Geddy Lin (林正如), drummer Toshi Fujii and Lin Hou-chin (林后進) on acoustic double-bass. Tomorrow it’s percussion virtuoso Rich Huang (黃瑞豐), the so-called “Drum King of Taiwan,” with bass player Yohei Yamada, guitarists Eric Chuang (莊智淵) and Geddy Lin, and Dong Shun-wen (董舜文) on saxophone. Monday is Open Jam Night. Pop-rock acts New Yorker (紐約客) and Color Band play on Tuesday. Singer/guitarist Wing (羅文裕) and singer Debbie Hsiao (蕭賀碩) perform on Wednesday. Thursday is United Nations Night (聯合國之夜), with Passiwali (巴西瓦里) and Bibi Chao (趙之璧) and her band.

▲B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1), next to Taipower Building (台電大樓). Call (02) 2368-7310, or visit www.riverside.com.tw

▲Shows start at 9:30pm

▲NT$400 tonight and tomorrow; NT$350 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Admission includes one free drink. There is a one-drink minimum on Monday

Tomorrow at Bliss, it’s Loaded, an expat rock five-piece that plays the “classic songs of yesterday, today’s top 40 hits and even some one hit wonders.”

▲148, Xinyi Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市信義路四段148號), one block east of Dunhua South Road (敦化南路). Call Bliss at (02) 2702-1855 or log on at www.bliss-taipei.com. For more information on live performances at Bliss, go to www.myspace.com/blisslivehouse

▲Tonight and tomorrow at 10pm. Bar/kitchen open from 7pm daily. Ladies night Fridays; women get one free cocktail of their choice

▲Entrance to the bar is free. Cover for the live music upstairs is NT$200

Exhibition

Exploring Asia — Episode One of the NPM Southern Branch (探索亞洲 — 故宮南院首部曲特展). To herald the coming of the museum’s southern branch in Chiayi County, which is under construction, the exhibition serves as the first instalment of a series of thematic presentations on Asian cultures and arts to be held in the new branch. Themes range from Buddhist Sculptures, Fabrics, Textiles to Tea Cultures and Traditions to Western Trends in Asian Culture.

▲National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院), 221, Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市至善路二段221號). Open Monday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm; Saturday until 8:30pm. Call (02) 2881-2021

▲Until June 25

Floating Formosa (漂流島嶼). The exhibition features paintings, sculptures, installation works by 10 artists from the Taiwan Contemporary Exhibition Curators (台灣當下策展群), a new artist group that aims to look at contemporary Taiwanese society from a humanistic perspective.

▲Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30am to 5:30pm; Saturday until 8:30pm. Call (02) 2595-7656

▲Until April 27

Encounter Plateau — Sound Installation by Wu Tsan-cheng (遇域 — 吳燦政聲音裝置展). The artist’s latest work is a continuation of the exploration of the art of sound that started with his first sound-installation piece, Nightingale, in 2006.

▲Taipei National University of the Arts ─ Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (台北藝術大學關渡美術館), 1 Hsuenyuan Rd, Peitou Dist, Taipei City (台北市北投區學園路1號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Call (02) 2893-8871

▲Until April 27

Splendor of China — Song and Yuan Dynasties (玉潤玄光 — 宋元名窯瓷器展). On loan from entrepreneur Hung Min-chang’s (洪敏昌) famed collection, the displayed porcelain wares from the Song and Yuan dynasties introduce visitors to the beauty of porcelain art that peaked during the Song Dynasty.

▲National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei City (台北市南海路49號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Call (02) 2361-0270

▲Until May 18

Truly Hero (英雄本色). Featuring works by nine local artists, the exhibition focuses on the generation of Taiwan’s contemporary artists who emerged in the 1980s as a new force that took nourishment in the nativist literature movement that examined Taiwanese identity after the lifting of martial law.

▲Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), 7F, 219, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段219號7樓). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 6:30pm. Call (02) 2771-3236

▲Until April 22