After congratulating Taiwanese violinist Tseng Yu-chien (曾宇謙) on winning the silver medal in the violin category of the 15th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow on Wednesday last week, Tainan’s Chimei Museum said it would continue to provide violins of excellent quality to talented individuals for free.
Tseng, 20, beat contestants from Russia, Moldova, South Korea and Germany in Taiwan’s best-ever performance in the competition, which is held every four years. Despite only securing the silver medal, Tseng was in effect the top winner in the violin category as there was no nominated candidate for the first prize.
Tseng performed using a violin loaned from the Chimei Museum, which was crafted by Italian luthier Giuseppe Guarneri between 1730 and 1734.
The museum said it was honored that one of its violins helped Tseng win the silver medal in the prestigious competition.
The museum said in a statement that over the past 10 years it has loaned items from its collection of prized violins to students competing on the international stage to not only give back to the community, but also to realize one of Chi Mei Group founder Hsu Wen-lung’s (許文龍) dreams.
The museum currently has 1,362 violins in its collection and has allowed more than 3,000 violinists to borrow more than 220 violins over the past decade, the museum said.
The museum is just a facility where the violins are kept and protected, Hsu said, adding: “If prized violins are only kept in a safe, they are nothing more than well-preserved pieces of wood.”
“We hope to continue to freely provide violins of excellent quality to talented individuals who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of using such instruments,” the museum said in its statement.
Tseng has borrowed 14 violins from the museum since he was 11, according to the museum.
The violin used at the competition has been loaned out many times, the museum said, adding that it was loaned to violinist Hu Nai-yuan (胡乃元) in 2011 and to Tseng from 2011 to 2012, when he used it to win first prize at the Isang Yun Competition.
The museum said that Tseng’s choice of bow when he first borrowed a violin from the museum was the least expensive in the collection, adding that he is more focused on making the music he wants to and not on the name or brand affixed to his instrument.
However, the museum declined to comment on the price of the violin.
Additional reporting by CNA
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS