Various sorts of music festivals are held across Europe every summer in cities small and large. Germany’s Gezeitenkonzert music festival, which is held in a town just outside of Hamburg and ran for the first time last year, has been widely acclaimed and consists of more than 30 concert performances of renowned international musicians playing together. For this year’s festival, the Academy of Taiwan Strings has been invited to perform, making it the only Taiwanese group performing Western classical music that was invited to play at the festival.
The Academy of Taiwan Strings was formed in 1990 under the leadership of Cheng Sy-joun, who is also a well-known violinist. Cheng says that as Europe is in the middle of an economic recession and pervaded by protectionist policies, Mathias Kirschnereit, Gezeitenkonzert’s music director and a renowned pianist in Germany, has affirmed the significance of the Academy of Taiwan Strings by inviting the group to play at the festival. The Munich Philharmonic’s former principal violinist Ingolf Turban, who has previously performed in Taiwan, will also be showing his support for the group by performing several brilliant pieces from the violin repertoire with them.
Cheng says that for the concert the group will be performing Dancing Strings by Taiwanese composer Lee Che-yi, winner of the Golden Melody Award’s “Best Classical Music Composer” category, as well as well-known chamber pieces like Dvorak’s Nocturne for String Orchestra. It is anticipated that the group will be able to successfully represent Taiwan in this ancient city.
Photo courtesy of the Academy of Taiwan Strings
照片由台灣絃樂團提供
Aside from performing at a large cathedral for Gezeitenkonzert on Aug. 4, the Academy of Taiwan Strings will also be holding a concert in Hamburg on Aug. 10 especially for Taiwanese living in Germany.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
每逢夏天,歐洲許多大小城市都會舉辦各式各樣的音樂節,位於德國漢堡附近的城市去年開始舉辦的「潮汐音樂節」(Gezeitenkonzert),超過三十場表演節目邀請國際知名的音樂家共襄盛舉,廣受好評。今年再度舉辦,台灣絃樂團就受邀演出,成為台灣同樣演奏西方古典音樂的樂團中,唯一受邀演出團體。
台灣絃樂團成立於一九九0年,團長也是小提琴家鄭斯鈞表示,二0一三年在歐洲極為不景氣、瀰漫著保護政策的氛圍下,「潮汐音樂節」音樂節音樂總監、也是德國知名鋼琴家奇許耐瑞特肯定台灣絃樂團的成就,邀請樂團參與該音樂節,曾受邀來台演出的前慕尼黑愛樂首席小提琴家英格夫‧特本也力挺台絃,將合作演出多首小提琴的精采曲目。
鄭斯鈞說,此行除將演出台灣金曲獎最佳古典音樂作曲家李哲藝的得獎作品《絃舞》之外,也將演出德弗札克《小夜曲》等絃樂室內樂的經典,期盼能在德國千年古城呈現台灣之聲。
台灣絃樂團除於八月四日參加「潮汐音樂節」於大教堂外,另也將於八月十日赴漢堡進行一場為僑胞演出的音樂會。
(自由時報記者凌美雪)
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