Violinist Wang Chien-tang (王建堂) was awarded a gold medal in the string division at the Osaka International Music Competition earlier this month for his performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, becoming the first Taiwanese classical musician to win the prize.
The 16-year-old competition is a major international event that attracts competitors from prestigious music schools such as the Toho Gakuen School of Music and the Tokyo University of the Arts.
Wang has never studied music abroad — unlike the majority of gifted young Taiwanese musicians — and is a doctoral candidate in National Taiwan Normal University College of Music who studies under renowned violinist Nanette Chen (陳沁紅).
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University
“Musical education in Taiwan has its own system. When I reach a goal, I want to focus only on getting to the next stage. I do not want interrupt my progress by studying in another country and be distracted by having to adapt,” Wang said when asked why he did not pursue opportunities abroad.
However, he said he planned to continue competing in international competitions to broaden his horizons.
Chen said she would characterize Wang as “a late bloomer rather than a prodigy,” who is the “shy and quiet type” of musician who by virtue of his “hard, meticulous work... finally attained precision in his pitch and technical mastery.”
Wang previously took first prize and the prize for assigned composition recital in the Hong Kong International Music Festival in 2012, and the young musician award from the National Theater and Concert Hall. He was also a finalist or semi-finalist in many competitions held in China, South Korea and the US.
Wang said he wants to be a music teacher in Taiwan so he can pass his art on to the next generation.
“I have found fulfillment in music,” he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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