Organist Liu Hsin-hung (劉信宏) is to play the biggest pipe organ in Asia on Double Ten National Day at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, the center said on Monday.
The center is to hold an open house event on Wednesday next week, three days before its grand opening, it said.
Visitors would be able to listen to recitals and performances by artists, including Liu, for free, the center added.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
Liu is to play Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, George Shearin’s I Love Thee, My Lord, Antonin Dvorak’s Humoresques, and Teng Yu-hsien’s (鄧雨賢) Variation on the Theme of Spring Wind.
The twin organ with 127 stops and 9,085 pipes was built by the German firm Johannes Klais Orgelbau.
The company called the NT$120 million (US$3.91 million) organ its “magnum opus.”
For optimal acoustic effect, the center’s concert hall utilizes a “vineyard style” layout with terraced seating surrounding the stage and ceiling panels whose height and shape can be adjusted, the center said.
TBLE Brass — Taiwan’s only comedy brass ensemble — is to perform a comical routine entitled All The King’s Men (國王的人馬) featuring classical music and physical comedy at the concert hall.
The center’s theater playhouse is to feature a musical and theatrical introduction to the center by Po You Set (?優座), a troupe that performs traditional Chinese opera and modern theater.
At the recital hall, Nous Chantons is to perform New York ... er, a musical about young Taiwanese living in New York City that is inspired by the episodic format of modern television.
The event is to run from 11am to 9pm, and the performances are to take place from noon to 6:30pm with walk-in admission, the center said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
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